Reasonable access for mobility-disabled persons is more than widening the door

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) introduced enforced accommodation s implemented by retail businesses for disabled shoppers. Despite such legi slation, disability advocates and disabled shoppers report that access rema ins incomplete. In this article I investigate an apparent dilemma facing re tailers: that architectural interpretations of the ADA do nor create the re asonable access that mobility-disabled shoppers actually desire. Despite th is law, I propose that reasonable access depends heavily on a commitment by individual retailers to interpret the ADA in terms of consumer experience. Critical ethnography is used to uncover the multiple sides of this issue t hrough the voices of retail students simulating disabilities, retail stride nt teams accompanying disabled students, and retail managers discussing dis abilities access. Analysis of these data exposes numerous contradictions be tween structural compliance and desired consumer access. Based on those con tradictions, a Reasonable Access Framework is proposed that potentially cou ld assist retailers in developing a code of reasonable access based on thei r own professional standards. Public policy implications are also presented .