Selectmen Move Meeting to First Floor Following Accessibility Complaint-July 23, 1985

On July 23, 1985, the Norwood Board of Selectmen relocated their scheduled evening session from the third-floor chambers to a first-floor room in Memorial Hall. The venue change was instituted in response to an accessibility request from handicapped resident Thomas DiFrancia, a resident of Norton Drive who uses crutches and cannot climb stairs. The accommodation followed a newly adopted board policy stating that public meetings would be shifted to accessible ground-floor spaces if specifically requested in advance by disabled citizens. However, rather than smoothing relations, the policy ignited a sharp controversy. Thomas DiFrancia condemned the procedure as inherently discriminatory, arguing that individuals with disabilities should not be singled out or forced to make special advance phone calls every time they wished to participate in civic governance.

Expressing deep frustration with the administrative arrangement, Thomas DiFrancia announced his intention to file a formal discrimination complaint against the town with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD). “It’s singling handicapped people out,” Thomas DiFrancia stated firmly. “I don’t feel that because of my handicap I must call every time I want to attend a meeting.” In prior correspondence with municipal leaders, he had demanded that all board meetings be permanently moved to an accessible ground-floor location until a long-planned elevator was finally installed in the municipal building. Although he confirmed he would attend that night’s session on the first floor, he reiterated that his broader opposition to the ad-hoc accommodation policy remained unchanged, setting the stage for a notable civil rights showdown over municipal accessibility standards.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger