In disability community, mixed feelings about amenities fight

When Concordians considered the much-discussed amenities building at Town Meeting, Sandy Crawford said, she stayed home.

When the matter advanced to a townwide ballot, she left the question blank.

Crawford has a physical disability and said she objects to school officials framing the proposed bathroom building at Acton-Carlisle High School project as “some kind of referendum on people with disabilities and their rights to access public facilities.”

She’s not alone. Many wonder how Acton got here.

CCHS leaders want to add a building with 16 toilets at the school’s Memorial Field stadium. They say the structure would bring the sports complex into compliance with the state plumbing code and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Voters rejected Acton’s $1.42 million share of the project this summer. As the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) considers a new funding request, some residents mourn a missed opportunity.

“The community amenities building could have been a celebration,” Crawford told The Acton Bridge, “and now it feels like kind of a dumpster fire.”

​The concrete amenities building would replace three portable toilets at CCHS. School leaders have raised the risk of lawsuits and backed the project on moral grounds.

After voters rebuffed the School Committee’s latest proposal, panel Chair Tracey Marano said she was “embarrassed and disappointed that voters voted against ADA-compliant restrooms.”

Marano, via a spokesperson, said Tuesday that the existing facilities don’t meet state rules or the district’s obligation “to create an equitable, inclusive, and welcoming environment.”

She said officials have collaborated with the Commission on Disability and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Commission “to ensure the finished project supports all community members, including those who face a wide variety of challenges.”

Marano said both panels have backed the building. DEI has formally endorsed the project. On the Commission on Disability, Chair Jean Goldsberry confirmed “everyone’s in favor.”

Goldsberry said it’s “something that’s for everyone.”

Fellow commissioner Peter Nobile said the proposal goes beyond “accessibility compliance” and “there should be nice, workable toilets next to a big stadium.”

Nobile has multiple sclerosis. He said “mobility is a challenge” for him and the lack of good bathrooms is part of the reason he doesn’t visit Memorial Field.

Crawford was born without most of her fingers and toes. She said her experience has made her “more empathetic to the suffering [of] others.”

She said she’s not opposed to an amenities building. “But I do have a problem with the fact that I think the School Committee did not do their homework,” she said.

Doubts and delays

The School Committee yanked one proposal before Town Meeting in 2024 amid cost concerns.

Their 2025 concept was cheaper, but officials missed a deadline for CPC funding that could have shrunk the cost to taxpayers. Eleventh-hour questions about whether the sewer system could accommodate the new building cast more doubt.

This time, the School Committee didn’t back down.

“The arm-twisting leverage really was on the backs of people with disabilities,” Crawford said, “forcing people into a false choice about, ‘If you support people with disabilities, then you must support this building.’”

Some opponents and public officials have suggested that the high school address the problem with more accessible portable toilets. School officials say portables wouldn’t satisfy plumbing requirements.

Jennifer Brooke, another Commission on Disability member, is no fan of portables. “They’re gross,” she said, and their wobbly nature can be dangerous for people who struggle with walking.

While she’s unsatisfied with the status quo, Brooke said, “It’s very frustrating when disability rights, needs, [and] culture gets used as a bludgeon or a means to an end… I think that’s happened with the amenities building.”

Brooke said she wished project supporters had reached out earlier in the process. Problems also go beyond bathrooms, she said: Her teenage son uses a wheelchair, and she said she doesn’t take him to Memorial Field because steep hills make it hard to get back to their car.

“The bathroom building will be great,” she said, “but only if you have the stamina to get to it.”

Nobile supports the amenities building. He still shares others’ frustrations, saying, “I recognize what it’s like to be used as a foil or a shield for people, and it’s really unpleasant.”​

Funding sources

The School Committee’s latest bathroom proposal calls for $1.42 million in Acton CPC cash. Leaders want $432,345 from Carlisle’s CPC and have $350,000 reserved for a possible sewer hookup fee and any cost overruns.

Administrators hadn’t announced a sewer solution as of last week, and CPC members say that’s crucial to their decision.

The CPC decides which applications to bring to Town Meeting for final approval. This year’s requests top $5 million. Members project only a $3.5 million total budget, possibly omitting some projects.

CPC will review the amenities request in greater detail this month.

Nobile said the amenities building might have benefited from extra conversations that could have addressed roadblocks such as those surrounding the sewer hookup.

Goldsberry noted ongoing efforts like the installation of new park benches in West Acton and Acton Center, which can be used by all but are especially important for people with mobility challenges who need a place to stop and rest. Brooke cited adaptive bikes in the Minuteman Bike Share program.

“Acton is really trying to focus on making itself as accessible as possible, and there’s certainly work to be done, as there is with many towns,” Goldsberry said.

Alongside expressing their concerns, people who spoke to The Bridge about accessibility conversations made a point of lauding volunteer board members and school staff for their work.

“It’s easy to throw pot shots at people who are volunteers and just trying to do the right thing,” Nobile said.