ORLAND - For Jean Phillips, friendliness is the key to gaining better awareness of, and access for, people with disabilities at some Orland locations. No whining, no lawsuits (yet), just friendliness. "There's nothing worse than a whining disabled person," Phillips said from her wheelchair in her Orland living room Friday. "It makes all of us look bad. The things we need are important! We're not nitpicking." Phillips met with Orland City Manager Joe Riker, City Councilor Tracy Quarne and four other individuals Thursday night at the first meeting of a newly formed committee to discuss disability-access issues in the city. The committee was formed after Phillips wrote a letter in March to the City Council, saying the city needs to be brought up to Americans with Disabilities Act standards. In response, the council approved formation of the committee. She described the meeting and the committee as friendly. "We're a very friendly committee," said Phillips at her home Friday morning. "We want the community to know that. Somebody had to point these things out." She said the city lacks adequate accessibility to people with disabilities in places such as public restrooms, city parks, curbs and parking spaces. Phillips and committee member Gerard Brandmeyer said they want to work with the committee to bring about changes in a friendly way, rather than through lawsuits that would end up costing the city money. The goal of the committee is to have the city of Orland become disability-friendly, they said. One of the places Phillips said isn't disability friendly is the public swimming pool at Vinsonhaler Park. There is no wheelchair access into the building or into the pool area, although there is an opening and a parking space marked for people with disabilities to get into the park behind the pool. Once inside the park, using the restroom is a problem, she said. The entry to the restroom is too narrow for her wheelchair. The park isn't the only public place where Phillips can't get into the restroom. Restrooms in Memorial Hall and in some area schools are also inaccessible, she said. Carnegie Center's restroom where the committee meets is also wheelchair inaccessible. "Having no bathroom in Carnegie is useful," Brandmeyer said. "It makes the point. It gives (the issues) a sense of urgency." Downtown Orland also lacks adequate parking accessibility for people with disabilities, Phillips said. She said there are only three handicapped-parking spaces, none of which are van-accessible. Sometimes she has to circle around to find available parking, or park in the parking spaces in the middle of Fourth Street. Safety then becomes an issue in those spaces because crosswalks are at the street corners. Wheelchairs and access weren't always an issue for Phillips. Now 56, she got polio when she was 4 years old just three months before the vaccine was issued. She spent years walking with braces and crutches. Ten years ago, she was stricken with what she said is post-polio syndrome and lost the ability to walk. The syndrome is also affecting her upper body muscles, and she suffers from a lot of pain. Now she has to rely on the motorized wheelchair she uses. She uses crutches to help transfer her body from the wheelchair to her bed. "It was a hard pill to swallow to have to start using the chair," Phillips said. "The chair was my enemy. It was work, work, work." The mother of three grown daughters, Phillips is an adviser to the board of Far Northern Regional Center, a division of state Department of Developmental Services. She also works in schools with children in special education programs. Now, with the help of Brandmeyer, Riker and others, Phillips said she hopes the committee will bring about positive change. Already, a member of the committee has agreed to contact the county and Caltrans about accessibility problems in Orland that are those agencies' jurisdictions, she said. And City Councilor Tracy Quarne is a liaison with the Police Department's Public Safety Commission, Phillips said. Both Phillips and Brandmeyer agreed with each other that the friendly approach to the inaccess is best. "We just want simple accessibility, without a scene - the easiest way," Phillips said. To Brandmeyer, aggressiveness is definitely not the way to get accessibility needs met. "I think in a lot of ways, militancy is personally taxing," said the 72-year-old former college professor. "There's a personal cost to you, to your psychic health, to get militant." For now, Phillips and Brandmeyer said they're happy with the committee's initial meeting, and they said they don't need to ask why the city hasn't met all its ADA standards. "Now that we have the committee, as time goes by and if things don't start happening, then we'll ask why," she said. Staff writer Barbara Arrigoni can be reached at 896-7757 or barrigoni@chicoer.com.