ACCESS TO JUSTICE: St. Joseph County adds new signage to improve courthouse accessibility

"If done correctly, inclusion and accessibility should be no more difficult to find than the standard experience of a person entering into that space," said Emily Voorde. "Something we call universal design."

Voorde is a wheelchair user. ABC57 first introduced you to her back in May as she tried to get inside the courthouses in St. Joseph County, taking us on a time-consuming, exhausting scavenger hunt just to find an accessible entrance.

We learned a few things that day: the blue accessible entrance signs around the courthouses are misleading, there's no information on the county's website showing how to access the courthouses if you can't use the stairs, security couldn't point Voorde in the right direction on how to get inside Courthouse Two or Three, and there's a lack of signage inside the nearby County-City Building, which is the accessible entrance to Courthouse One.

Around the same time our story aired, county leaders told us they started working on a plan to fix these issues.

Last week, county leaders approved new exterior signs showing a clear path to the accessible entrances at all three county courthouse buildings.

These maps will be located in multiple places along West Washington Street, South Main Street, West Jefferson Boulevard and South Lafayette Boulevard. We're also told the current blue accessible entrance signs, which Voorde said are misleading, are being removed.

In and around the County-City building, new plaques are now up that read:

"Courthouse accessibility for disabled persons, consult the building security team in the County-City building main lobby for assistance."

A county spokesperson told ABC57 they're working with security to make sure everyone knows where the accessible entrances are located.

"I'm glad to see that the county is investing in signage that will allow Disabled and older visitors to accessibly visit the courthouse," said Voorde in a statement Friday to ABC57. "Information is power. These signs will minimize the stress and uncertainty visitors with disabilities face during what's likely an already stressful visit to downtown. Though long overdue, this action exhibits the county's responsiveness to feedback and commitment to serving all residents."

Because the new maps are in production right now, it'll be a few weeks until they can go up in downtown South Bend. As for the county website, no word yet on when that's going to be fixed.