Automation gets worker past the door

I wish I could have been there the first day Tony D'Apolito pushed the handicap accessible button beside the door to the Mahoning County Administration Building in Youngstown.
"The button is in! I struggle no more!" He beamed over the phone when he called to tell me his wonderful news. "No more kicking my shoes against the door! No more waiting! It's a beautiful thing!"
Since May 1995, Tony has been a bailiff for the prosecutor's office in Youngstown. For most of those years, the office where he reported for duty each day was located in the county courthouse.
"I would roll up the handicap accessible ramp, hit the buzzer, and a deputy would open the door for me," Tony says, sharing his morning routine.
Almost two years ago, the prosecutor's office was moved to the administration building on Boardman Street.
"There was no one around," Tony says, with his ever-present, good-natured smile.
Some mornings, Tony would catch the eye of someone inside to open the door. Other mornings, he would ask a passer-by to assist him.
"I felt like I should give them a tip," he chuckles.
Installation requiresmeasuring for accuracy
Often, Tony would find himself struggling with the door alone. Pulling the heavy door open, swinging his chair around and precariously rolling himself through, with the door banging against him at every move.
"I'm a grown man," he said as he shared his desires with someone in the office. "I'm tired of struggling with that door."
It was a little more than a month after Tony had shared his frustration about the door when I got the phone call from him.
"The installer asked me about the height for the button," Tony says. They placed it where he could easily reach. Then, again using Tony as the sample, they measured the amount of time that was needed to push the button, wheel to the door and enter the building before the door closed automatically behind.
"It's a beautiful thing!" Tony beams.
Talking with this man, a former detective with the Youngstown Police Department, I realize the bright, shiny button is not nearly as bright, shiny or beautiful as the man pushing it.
"I've been in the chair for 21 years," Tony shares. "I don't want the chair to get in the way of anything. I don't want people to see the chair; I want them to see the man."
For twelve years, Tony was a policeman for the Youngstown Police Department.
"As a young patrolman, I used to look up to him," says Detective Sergeant Tom Parry of YPD. "He was the most sharply dressed patrolman down there. You could shave with the creases on his uniform. He was meticulous in everything he did."
After 12 years on the force, Tony left law enforcement to pursue a more prosperous living in construction.
"I worked as a police officer. I was on the Bomb Squad!" Tony shares the irony of his story. "I never got hurt."
Accident on the job changes his future
On June 2, 1983, Tony was supervising the resurfacing of a bridge in London, Ohio, when he was hit by a car.
He was paralyzed from the chest down. His hand movements are restricted as well.
"I was such an active guy," he shares. "Such an aggressive guy. It completely changed my life. I didn't know if I could do anything."
"I want to live life to the fullest," Tony says. "I won't quit."
"By the grace of God," he says he lives every day, blessed with the support of his family.
"[My wife] Patty makes my world flatter," Tony banters with his usual humor.
The D'Apolito children, T.J and Deanne, were 9 and 5 at the time of his accident. Today, they have made him a grandfather four (and a half) times over.
"The button is really a minor thing," Tony concedes, in retrospect of his life, though his eyes still light up when he talks about it.
The bright, shiny opener simply represents another hurdle that Tony has overcome and one of the many attributes that make this man an inspiration to all.
gwhite@vindy.com