Undercover elders rate businesses

Portland nonprofit Elders in Action sends undercover volunteers to rate businesses on their ability to accommodate seniors.

The elder spies check menu and sign readability, the availability of unisex bathrooms, and chairs to sit in while waiting for transit.

A business that makes the grade gets a decal for its window and can use the insignia in its marketing and advertising. Elders in Action adds the newcomer to its paper and online directory, which grows by about 25 new listings a year.

A business found wanting has six months in which to make improvements before volunteers revisit it. Among those who learned the hard way that Elders in Action means business were the Oregon Zoo (its signs were deemed hard to read) and the Portland Center for the Performing Arts (the low benches outside its auditorium were hard to rise from). Both made changes and earned certification.

Read more at The New York Times.

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