CORRECTION

A front-page story Thursday about a lobbyist who uses a wheelchair gave the wrong name of her employer. It is the Alliance of Disability Advocates.

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In most ways, Julia Leggett is like any other lobbyist trying to persuade lawmakers to vote for bills she's pushing.

But when she tried to talk to some legislators, they had to push furniture out of their tiny offices to make room for her wheelchair. When she wanted to testify before a committee, she was hampered by microphones positioned for people who are standing. And when she tried to monitor votes last week on the first bill she helped get through the state House, she was told to move because her wheelchair was blocking an aisle in the visitors gallery.

Leggett, 41, cannot walk long distances because of a hereditary disease that makes her joints extremely loose. Leggett also suffers hearing loss that makes it difficult to hear debates at times.

When she showed up at the Legislative Building this year as a lobbyist for the nonprofit Alliance for Disability Advocates, Leggett wasn't planning to tackle the building itself. She was there to push bills. But she says the challenges she has faced trying to do her job in the past few weeks have broader implications for open government.

"The only way we are ever going to have a truly transparent government is the day everyone can get into that building and have full and equal access to that building," she said.

Leggett has asked state Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, a Carrboro Democrat, to intervene with government officials. "It's good that she's there to help us see where we have shortcomings," Kinnaird said.

Rene Cummins, the alliance director and Leggett's boss, said Leggett shouldn't have to worry about activities as basic as finding a good place to sit.

"It's a government institution," Cummins said. "They have the responsibility to address barriers."

Leggett was active in political campaigns and college campus politics before she got her lobbying job. She knew quite a few legislators from her earlier work, but she didn't consider all the obstacles to doing her job that are part of the buildings.

The legislative complex can be an inhospitable place for people with disabilities. Tasks that others find routine are hard or impossible for Leggett, who has used a wheelchair since 1996.

A computer set out for the public to track bills is perched on a ledge so high that it can be uncomfortable for people of average height to use. Not all the bathroom stalls big enough for wheelchairs are marked.

Cables crisscrossing the Legislative Building floor for a school technology expo earlier this year turned enclosed courtyards into an obstacle course that forced Leggett to lift her wheelchair every few feet.

When she wanted to talk to a legislative committee last week about a bill that would encourage schools to offer American Sign Language as a course for credit, Leggett had to improvise by snaking a rostrum microphone to her mouth. The two biggest committee rooms have wireless microphones, but no one in the room knew they were available at the sign language hearing.

Having Leggett working in the legislature is forcing officials to think about how to make the buildings fully accessible, Kinnaird said.

At a meeting this week, Legislative Building administrators and officials from the agency that enforces accessibility codes and fire codes in state buildings figured out where Leggett could sit in the gallery so she could see the votes and still leave room for people to get by in case of an emergency.

The galleries meet state accessibility codes, but Leggett says the space set aside for people with handicaps is an example of segregation, not accessibility.

"Something that's segregated or special seating is not equal access," she said.

State code requires that building renovations include plans for people with limited mobility to get in and out. People can get into the two buildings where legislators work without climbing steps.

Employers must change workspaces to accommodate employees with disabilities, but it is not clear what the state would be required to do for someone like Leggett, who works in state buildings but does not work for the state.

Leggett celebrated her first victory, unanimous approval of the sign language bill in the House, with Rep. Laura Wiley, a High Point Republican who is one of its sponsors. Both used sign language.

Though her year didn't start out this way, making government more accessible to people with handicaps has become one of Leggett's causes.

"I would really love to see that building become the model of complete and total inclusion," she said, "and really become the people's house."