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The Power of Persuasion

By Erin Hanrahan

Valley News Staff Writer

West Lebanon — At 7 a.m. sharp yesterday, J.C. Penney kicked off what it called a “Doorbuster,” one of several so-named sales each year that feature special store hours and coupons.

Normally during those big events, staff at the Lebanon Penney’s store really do have to keep an eye on the front door, said store manager Andrew Benton, but not because it might bust. The glass doors there are sturdy — so sturdy that Benton said his employees have to look out for shoppers who need a hand opening them and getting in.

That began to change a few weeks ago, when Penney’s joined T.J. Maxx and Jo-Ann Fabrics in a small movement to install automatic doors at large retail chains along 12A. Nonprofit advocacy centers in Vermont and New Hampshire have applauded the stores’ efforts, saying the improved technology will make those buildings more accessible to hundreds of disabled shoppers.

But Benton said it wasn’t hundreds of shoppers who convinced his store to make the $5,000 upgrade. Instead, he said, the change really came about from one soft-spoken patron, Judy Pollock Hallam of Meriden, who patiently and politely petitioned her way up the corporate ladder.

Pollock Hallam, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1995, said last week that she never set out to be a standard-bearer. When practical, she said, she has been happy to knock on store doors or call ahead to see if someone can let her in. But most big-box stores have at least two sets of doors, and her knocks, she said, would often go unanswered.

By 2000, Pollock Hallam’s condition had worsened, and she was using a wheelchair most days.

“It’s awfully difficult to move your chair with one hand and hold the door with the other,” she explained slowly, using her hands to demonstrate the cumbersome task. Though she has since bought an automatic wheelchair, multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease that affects the nervous system, had also affected her arms, limiting her ability to pull doors open.

Despite her difficulties, though, Pollock Hallam said speaking up did not come easily. In all kinds of weather, she waited outside stores for other shoppers or clerks to help, not wanting to cause a fuss. “My mother always told me, be ladylike, don’t make waves,” Pollock Hallam, 59, recalled. “She would say, ‘You can’t change it, dear.’ ”

But her father had offered different advice. “If you don’t let people know what’s bugging you, you’re not being fair to them,” she recited.

Before long, Pollock Hallam realized she was not helping stores by leaving in frustration instead of asserting herself. She saw other people who shared her situation. And friends were boycotting stores on her behalf, she said, when she had never given the stores a chance to change. Asking for modifications became almost a responsibility, she said, and she began talking with Benton, and Robert Farnsworth, the store manager at T.J. Maxx.

“I think it has empowered me, just on a personal level,” Pollock Hallam said. “It has taught me that it doesn’t hurt to speak up, and that ‘No’ can be an answer.”

Stores Say Yes

As it turns out, all three stores Pollock Hallam has approached so far have agreed to put in some kind of automatic door. Lisa Greb, a spokeswoman for Jo-Ann Fabrics, said that company is still researching options, while T.J. Maxx installed a button last spring that automatically opens doors. J.C. Penney followed three weeks ago, and Pollock Hallam said she hopes to ask Borders next.

Outside of T.J. Maxx yesterday, shoppers of all ages sang the praises of automatic doors.

“I have three kids, so it’s definitely useful for me,” said Blythe Keane, of Corinth, who said it can be tough to maneuver a stroller through conventional doors while also keeping children’s fingers out of harm’s way.

Ingrid Braulini of Grantham said she finds automatic doors useful whenever she’s carrying large items.

In a perfect world, there would always be someone there to hold the door for someone in need, said Carolina Bowen of Lebanon. But Pollock Hallam and others say that’s simply not practical every day.

Power doors have been around at grocery stores since the 1950s, said Cheryl Killam, an accessibility specialist for the New Hampshire Governor’s Commission on Disability, but they are not mandated by New Hampshire or federal building codes. The American With Disabilities Act of 1990 requires new and remodeled stores to meet certain standards of accessibility, Killam said, but those standards do not affect front doors because of varied weather conditions.

Although not required, automatic doors make good sense for big businesses, Killam said. There are 51.2 million disabled people in the United States, according to a 2002 census, and the Department of Labor says that population has about $175 billion in discretionary income. “That’s a lot of money. Why would you want to eliminate that money from your sales by remaining inaccessible?” Killam asked.

Pollock Hallam, though, recognizes that automatic doors cost money, and said she hadn’t approached any smaller stores about installing them. On Route 12A, employees at Newbury Comics pointed out that they can see and hear people at their front door from the cash register. Killam said some small stores also install doorbells to be more accessible, rather than incur the cost of automatic doors.

But Sarah Launderville, home and community access manager at the Vermont Center for Independent Living, said even small stores should be working toward fully accessible entrances, since the Americans With Disabilities Act was passed nearly two decades ago. “It’s been a long time now since they’ve been made aware that they have to be accessible,” she said.

Clyde Terry, who runs the parallel organization in New Hampshire, Granite State Independent Living, said his agency tries to educate businesses on how they can become more accessible, but also works to empower people to speak up.

“Change comes one person at a time,” he said, “and if there’s an individual who wants to promote social change, that’s great.”

A Singular Success

Back in Meriden, Pollock Hallam advocated just as fervently for kindness and patience, and said she never forgot to thank those who helped her as she navigated the mazelike world of corporate bureaucracy. Changes to chain stores have to go through corporate “home offices,” managers said, in a process that can take years.

“They finally listened, and that’s the bottom line,” Pollock Hallam said.

In the end, her success surprised her. “I don’t belong to a group or an association of any kind,” she said, “but I do notice other people struggling.”

Killam and Benton said Pollock Hallam’s independence might be, in part, what made her so successful. By addressing companies herself, Killam said, she represented a real face and a real customer, instead of a state agency.

“There are a lot of people who turn to me and ask me to do it for them,” Killam said, “and I don’t have any authority. I get a lot of ‘Yes, yes, yes’ and no action.”

With Pollock Hallam, that kind of brush-off would never work.

“She’s just a very nice person,” Benton said. “I don’t think anyone could not understand where she’s coming from.”

Published 11-18-07 in the Valley News. Reprinted with permission.