Many of those with disabilities working as testers in the study never got past an initial phone call. "Hearing-impaired people were discriminated against approximately 50 percent of the time when using a telephone-operator relay to search for rentals," said HUD. "Mobility impaired people using wheelchairs faced discrimination about a third of the time when they visited rental properties."

The study was conducted in Chicago, not because it was thought to be any different than anywhere else in the nation in terms of discriminatory practices, but because of the presence of a strong group of disabled people who could carry out the testing.

Deaf people using the TTY system to inquire about advertised rental units were refused service in one out of four calls. When leasing agents accepted TTY calls, users received significantly less information, than comparable hearing customers, about the application process, said the study.

The study also found that renters needing to make access modifications were told they couldn't, even though the Fair Housing Act requires this. Nearly 20 percent of housing providers with on-site parking refused to allow a designated parking space for a wheelchair user. A third of the advertised rental properties in the Chicago area were found to be inaccessible to wheelchair users as well.

Floyd May, of HUD's Fair Housing office, said he wasn't surprised by the results. In 2004, nearly 4 out of every 10 housing discrimination complaints nationwide involved people with physical or mental disabilities.

The Chicago Tribune reported on one of the survey's test cases. When a woman in a wheelchair came to the door of a rental unit, the landlady "very abruptly stated, `No wheelchairs here. You can't come in.'"

The disabled tester continued. "She asked me twice, 'Can you walk?' I told her no. She said, `No wheelchairs here. No way in. Apartment's too small.'"

"Later that day, a non-disabled tester visited the property, took an elevator up to see three apartments and left with information about rents, security deposits and fees," the Tribune reported, citing the study's findings.

Bruce Reynolds and Tania O'Neil told the Chicago Tribune their landlord had tried to force them out repeatedly. "One day the owner came up to change a light bulb and batteries for our smoke alarm," Reynolds told the Tribune. "Then he went downstairs and said to the manager, `Why are you renting to crippled people? They belong in a nursing home.'

"They didn't want to work to accommodate people with physical disabilities. And they didn't believe that we could care for ourselves."

"In all, wheelchair users in the study were denied opportunities to inspect apartments 30 percent of the time," reported the Tribune.

More about the study from HUD

Read Chicago Tribune story

Theme park workers stopped her, because she does not have any legs.

The same thing happened at the Stanley Falls Log Flume, the Congo River Rapids, and the amusement park's train -- which includes a section for wheelchair users.

"Everybody else got to ride, but I couldn't just because I don't have legs," Jessica later told the St. Petersburg Times. "I couldn't even get on a kiddie ride."

Jessica's mother was irate.

"You got to be kidding," said Phyllis Rogers. "This kid jumps off diving boards."

Jessica was in Tampa to compete in the National Junior Disability Championships. Earlier that day she had competed in the 25-meter breast stroke in an Olympic-sized pool.

Jessica was born with lumbosacral agenesis, a rare condition that stunted the growth of her spinal cord and her legs, which were later amputated. She left her prosthetic legs home in Virginia.

She returned to the Championships the next day, but this time sporting a sign urging other athletes to boycott Busch Gardens.

The amusement park refunded the cost of the family's tickets.

A Busch Gardens spokesperson said Jessica was banned from the rides for safety reasons, based on recommendations of the individual attractions' manufacturers.

The Tampa Tribune reported that safety guidelines vary from one amusement park to the next.

"There are no uniform standards for guests with disabilities," explained Kathy Fackler, a consumer safety advocate with Saferparks.

The Tribune noted that the U.S. Department of Justice and the amusement and recreational industry are negotiating over access standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act. While the federal anti-discrimination law sets general standards for access to rides, it does not deal with more specific issues such as loading and unloading ride vehicles and who can access certain rides.

Related:
"Disabled girl barred from theme park rides" (St. Petersburg Times)
"Amputee Ride Policy Up To Parks" (Tampa Tribune)

In his 106-page report to Mayor Gavin Newsom, the Board of Supervisors, and San Francisco Health Commission, Controller Ed Harrington said that the city can better meet the needs of its citizens -- while saving millions of dollars -- by scrapping plans to rebuild the huge facility and instead provide "a mix of long term, skilled nursing, in-home and community-based services."

Harrington wrote that, with a population of about 775,000, San Francisco institutionalizes approximately one out of every 700 residents in Laguna Honda.

"The City has effectively institutionalized more of its population, across a wider spectrum of needs, than anywhere in the country. By DPH's (Department of Public Health's) own assessments, a significant fraction of the Laguna Honda population does not need hospital-based long term care and could be effectively treated in another setting -- at home or in the community."

The report noted that the U.S. Department of Justice has ordered San Francisco to change how it provides long-term care or risk losing federal Medicaid money. The Department found last year that the state is violating the ADA by failing to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court's 1999 Olmstead ruling. That decision found that it is illegal to unnecessarily place and keep people with disabilities in nursing homes and other institutions.

Among other things, Harrington recommended that the city build three smaller nursing homes, with less than 200 beds in each, on the current Laguna Honda site.

"With the changes outlined in this report, we estimate that the City could, at minimum, avoid a $3 to $5 million expense to build skilled nursing beds at General Hospital, and, at an absolute minimum, reallocate $14 million annually by getting patients out of hospitals and into the right level of either skilled nursing or community based care."

Mayor Newsome refused to take a position on the report when asked by the San Francisco Examiner.

The oldest nursing facility in California, Laguna Honda was built in 1867 as San Francisco's Alms House. At 1,200 beds, it is the largest publicly-owned nursing home in the country.

In 1999, San Francisco voters approved a bond to help pay for a new $401 million facility to replace Laguna Honda.

In October 2001, approximately 600 activists from the disability rights group ADAPT and other groups from around the nation gathered in San Francisco to protest the plans to rebuild the aging facility.

Related:
Report by Health Management Associates - PDF file (Office of the Controller)
"Report calls for dividing new hospital into three" (San Francisco Examiner)
"Laguna Honda Hospital -- Largest Nursing Home In US" (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)

NASHVILLE, JULY 25, 2005-- The Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Memphis Chapter plans to lead what it calls a "Nonviolent Direct Action Demonstration" to show opposition to TN Gov. Phil Bredesen's refusal to allow TennCare protesters to have food or beverages brought to them. The group is in the 36th day of its sit-in.