Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I read with sadness Karen Clendenin’s letter to the editor in the June 6 issue of the Gazette-Journal. She shared her struggle of moving her daughter with physical disabilities in a wheelchair at the Mathews Court House area and the new Put-In Creek boat dock and ramp.

As a recent newcomer to the Mathews community, I am aware that many people visit the Chesapeake Bay. As a nurse practitioner, I support the American Nurses’ Association Code of Ethics to ensure the right of people with disabilities to live in the community without barriers to access public places. Recent disability statistics (Stoddard, 2014) report that the percentage of ambulatory disability in the U.S. working-age population was 5.3 percent.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) issued American Disability Act (ADA) standards that apply to facilities in new construction and alterations (United States Access Board, 2010). The standards became m...