Many restaurants are closed to him. Same with motels, strip malls, even the bathroom at his doctor's office.

Joe Raetano, a wheelchair-using 66-year-old with only one useful hand, has tried reasoning with local property owners and managers. He has politely encouraged them to install a ramp, cut a curb or widen a toilet stall, as required under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. They have politely ignored him.

This fall, the mild-mannered general contractor adopted a tougher approach: lawsuits. Raetano has sued 27 commercial-property owners near his Clearwater apartment, including 10 along a stretch of Main Street in Dunedin. Every business he visits these days is a potential target. He estimates three of every four properties don't comply.

Critics use a variety of epithets for such suits: Legal extortion. Drive-bys. Welfare for lawyers. Many question the motivations of ADA vigilantes such as Raetano and the lawyers who take their cases. "Unfortunately, some attorneys have taken it for a ride," said Dave Goldfarb, an ADA defense expert in Miami.

But Raetano says he doesn't get a penny for his efforts. And he claims milder measures simply don't work.

"People have to get hit over the head with disability," he said.

There is no sign outside the Heritage Oaks office complex in Dunedin that says "Able-bodied only." For the disabled, there might as well be.

During an exterior tour of the sprawling, one-story building, home to Raetano's physician and nearly a dozen other professionals, barriers to wheelchair access are everywhere.

Handicapped parking spaces are in short supply. The few that are available lack an adjacent access lane, which wheelchair-accessible vans like Raetano's need in order to unfurl a ramp. He has to park diagonally across two regular spaces and then wheel himself back to the building.

Some curb cuts are dangerously steep. In the absence of concrete wheel stops, many parked cars nose into the narrow sidewalk, making passage difficult.

Midway through the tour, Heritage Oaks' lawyer, tenant Bob Tankel, walks over to introduce himself.

"I have no beef with [the ADA]," he tells Raetano with a smile. "Why would I? It's the law."

Although Tankel adds that he looks forward to fixing the problems, his court filings have taken a less obliging tone. One flatly denied that Heritage Oaks violates the ADA. Another argued that Raetano had no right to sue because his visits to the complex amounted to criminal trespassing.

"People who think the courtroom is about justice are watching too much TV," Tankel said later.

Mintek Mobile Data Solutions President Lind Hutton, who heads the Heritage Oaks owners association, admits his office probably isn't ADA compliant, but he questions whether it should have to be.

"We're not a Publix grocery store here," he said. "I sometimes think this would be like somebody saying that my house isn't compliant."

Title III of the ADA does not apply to private residences. But the list of covered property types is extensive, including hotels, homeless shelters, restaurants, bars, theaters, stadiums, grocery stores, shopping centers, funeral parlors, zoos, schools and golf courses.