GET ANSWERS: Do Stores Provide Wheelchairs?

8:39 PM, Jan 10, 2011   |    comments
  • Share
  • Email
  • Print
  • - A A A +

When you're out shopping, you may notice some stores providing wheelchairs or motorized carts for handicapped customers.

But not many.

17-year-old Cody Honeycutt says he's able to do some of the same things as other kids his age, but that doesn't mean it's easy.

"It just aggravates me, because I go a lot to different places, and I can't go in," he says.

Cody has a rare genetic bone disease and says he's been in a wheelchair for years.

"I found that tag over here with my name on it at the Wal-Mart. It said 'bike tag' on it, I said, 'Well, I can fix that!'" Cody jokes.

He says Wal-Mart and a few grocery stores are the only local places that provide a wheelchair for handicap use.

"It's disappointing to know that I can't go in like normal people, but it becomes normal after a while," he says.

And Cody isn't the only one looking for help in the stores.

"Lots of times during our busy peak hours, we don't have enough," says Dustin Wood, manager at the Kroger on North Street in Macon.

He says there's no rule about stores providing wheelchairs for customers; it was a decision their store made.

"It's very important for them to be able to get out and be independent, be able to shop on their own, get the stuff they need and live their life," says Wood.

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, stores must be handicap accessible, through things like reserved parking spaces, wheelchair passenger loading zones, and handicap accessible entries, but it says nothing about supplying wheelchairs.

"It's important for more handicapped people to get out and do the stuff that regular people do," says Cody.

The Americans with Disabilities Act also has rules about having handicap accessible ramps and handrails where necessary.