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111 Center Street
Middleboro, MA 02346
Phone: 508-946-1736

botanicalboutiquedowntownmiddleboro-020.jpgBotanical Boutique & Gifts, a shop in downtown Middleborough sells unique woman’s accessories. Yet it is another business in downtown Middleborough that is NOT wheelchair accessible due to a small step at the entry door. If we brought my EZ Access Threshold Ramp that came for free with my EZ Access Suitcase Ramp I would have been able to get into the store.

ez-access-threshold-ramp02.jpg

The EZ Access Threshold Ramp is 36″ wide, portable, lightweight, durable and free-standing. It’s ideal for doorways and raised steps; it’s adjustable for heights ranging from ¾” to 6″ high. It’s intended for indoor or outdoor use.

botanicalboutiquedowntownmiddleboro019.jpgRic, Tony and I did enjoy seeing some of the neat items they had placed outside on the sidewalk in front of the store. Tony bought a cute hat we spotted on an outside display for Kellie. It was reasonably priced at $5 and exactly Kellie’s style.

botanicalboutiquedowntownmiddleboro-021.jpgWe also saw a cool ‘Live Free or Die’ sign. It reminded us of New Hampshire which is one of the few states in the U.S. that doesn’t have a seatbelt law because New Hamphire’s motto is ‘Live Free or Die”.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, “businesses that provide goods and services to the public are already required to remove structural barriers to access by people with disabilities when removal is “readily achievable”. A one step entrance is considered “readily achievable”. The ONLY Massachusetts city or town that I know of who enforces this is the  Cambridge Commission for Persons with Disabilities and Cambridge Human Rights Commission  due to an ‘ordinance amendment’ the Cambridge City Council unanimously passed on March 3, 2008. The town of Middleborough does not have an ordinance amendment which allows enforcement of the ADA.

I give Botanical Boutique & Gifts ZERO STARS for wheelchair accessibility. In order to earn any Stars, they would need to replace the step with a cement slope so persons in wheelchairs can access the store. OR they could place an EZ Access Threshold Ramp at the step which would allow wheelchair access to the store.