A Florida couple found they did not have rights under the Americans With Disabilities Act to use their golf car.
A Florida couple gave up on their fight to use a golf car for disability-related reasons.
Due to a vascular disease in his legs, Lawrence Boudreau struggles to walk while his wife, Wanda, has bad knees and shingles-related nerve damage. According to a story in the Tampa Bay Times, the Hudson, Fla. couple, who live off their monthly Social Security checks, could not afford mobility scooters. But they could afford a used golf car. They thought they would be able to use it as a mobility device under the Americans With Disabilities Act, but last fall a Pasco County Sheriff’s deputy wrote Wanda a ticket for driving the golf car on a sidewalk along a highway. (She had previously been pulled over by the same deputy and given a warning.)
According to the story, the Boudreaus believe federal law counts them as disabled and a golf car as an “other power-driven mobility device” that they can use in places it would otherwise be prohibited. Wanda had a printout of the ADA guidelines when she was ticketed, and Lawrence said he had previously called the sheriff’s office and been told the car was fine. However Wanda was ticketed for violating a Florida statute forbidding any non-human-powered vehicle on sidewalks other than a motorized wheelchair. Florida’s statute does not mention golf cars.
“While the Pasco Sheriff’s Office is sympathetic to Ms. Boudreau’s mobility challenges, the Pasco Sheriff’s Office is unaware of any provision in the Americans With Disabilities Act which allows a person seeking an accommodation to violate the law,” a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office told the newspaper.
The Boudreaus reached out to Disability Rights Florida, the State Attorney’s Office and others in an effort to get permission to use the car. They also tried to fight it in court, although eventually found that an appeal would cost more than the ticket, which they then paid.
A representative for Disability Rights Florida told the newspaper that the decades-old ADA continues to be unevenly applied in different communities. She suggested looking at various cases on an individual basis – there might be an excellent case for a disabled person to use a golf car on a sidewalk.
The Boudreaus told the newspaper they have been mostly homebound since the ticket, as they don’t want to get another one. Their daughter bought them a three-wheel scooter, but both had struggled with it, tipping it several times. “It’s been so exasperating for the both of us here, and we’re depressed because we basically can’t get out of the house,” Lawrence told the newspaper.
