honestly, i'd have never guessed you could make machu picchu wheelchair accessible given the terrain, but we've apparently done that now. it still requires someone to accompany you i suppose, but...
honestly, i'd have never guessed you could make machu picchu wheelchair accessible given the terrain, but we've apparently done that now. it still requires someone to accompany you i suppose, but still! (also, i think this demonstrates pretty clearly that not at least trying to be accessible to people with disabilities is basically inexcusable at this point)
This is a good idea. However, it would have been nice to see a picture or diagram of the new wheelchair they've designed, rather than relying a textual description.
This is a good idea. However, it would have been nice to see a picture or diagram of the new wheelchair they've designed, rather than relying a textual description.
Yeah, I'm not sure why they went with generic Machu Picchu pictures. Here's a picture from the tour company's website. Edit for image description: A group of four people pose for the camera at the...
Edit for image description: A group of four people pose for the camera at the top of stone steps, surrounded by stone ruins. One person sits in a specialized wheelchair; it has very long poles that stick out horizontally from the front, curving up at the end. Another member of the group stands between these poles, holding on to one of them.
(I'm still practicing at alt text; this was tricky, since normally instead of having to describe a wheelchair you can just write something like "a person sits in a wheelchair.")
Ohioan here. In the Hocking Hills is a wonderful place called Old Man's Cave. Really, it's more than just that one cave, but that's what everyone calls the totality. This is DEEP ravines, small...
Ohioan here. In the Hocking Hills is a wonderful place called Old Man's Cave. Really, it's more than just that one cave, but that's what everyone calls the totality.
This is DEEP ravines, small rivers, large creeks, waterfalls, sheer cliffs with dirt/rock paths. All winding for miles through think woods.
Well, at least until a number of Handicap advocacy groups cried that it wasn't compliant with ADA regulations. So in went miles of either pressed and rolled crushed rock paths or actual blacktop paths. Plus concrete ramps scissoring up and down the hills. Paths that had been used for hundreds (many date back a couple thousand years) of years were blocked off behind new stone walls or ugly metal fencing.
Now it looks like a "wilderness" area at a commercial amusement park instead of being out in nature.
The crappy thing about this... even after all that work, maybe two or three people a year who aren't "able bodied" visit. And even then they bitch and moan that it's just too hard for them to get into the caves and back out to their cars.
That's entirely on the stewards being morons - ADA doesn't have any say over natural features. Can you imagine a ramp and road being paved through the Grand Canyon?
That's entirely on the stewards being morons - ADA doesn't have any say over natural features. Can you imagine a ramp and road being paved through the Grand Canyon?
This is really cool. I don't use a wheelchair, although I've considered getting one to enable me to get out more often. There are a lot of travel experiences that I would have trouble doing (or...
This is really cool. I don't use a wheelchair, although I've considered getting one to enable me to get out more often. There are a lot of travel experiences that I would have trouble doing (or that would make me feel horrible afterwards), and it's nice to see that people are finding ways to make such classic locations more accessible.
It was also heartening to read that they're very aware that accessibility is not a one-size-fits-all thing. Less-nuanced approaches or discussions about disability and inaccessibility often fall short in this regard, assuming that if there's a ramp then the event or location is accessible.
honestly, i'd have never guessed you could make machu picchu wheelchair accessible given the terrain, but we've apparently done that now. it still requires someone to accompany you i suppose, but still! (also, i think this demonstrates pretty clearly that not at least trying to be accessible to people with disabilities is basically inexcusable at this point)
This is a good idea. However, it would have been nice to see a picture or diagram of the new wheelchair they've designed, rather than relying a textual description.
Yeah, I'm not sure why they went with generic Machu Picchu pictures. Here's a picture from the tour company's website.
Edit for image description: A group of four people pose for the camera at the top of stone steps, surrounded by stone ruins. One person sits in a specialized wheelchair; it has very long poles that stick out horizontally from the front, curving up at the end. Another member of the group stands between these poles, holding on to one of them.
(I'm still practicing at alt text; this was tricky, since normally instead of having to describe a wheelchair you can just write something like "a person sits in a wheelchair.")
Thank you!
Ohioan here. In the Hocking Hills is a wonderful place called Old Man's Cave. Really, it's more than just that one cave, but that's what everyone calls the totality.
This is DEEP ravines, small rivers, large creeks, waterfalls, sheer cliffs with dirt/rock paths. All winding for miles through think woods.
Well, at least until a number of Handicap advocacy groups cried that it wasn't compliant with ADA regulations. So in went miles of either pressed and rolled crushed rock paths or actual blacktop paths. Plus concrete ramps scissoring up and down the hills. Paths that had been used for hundreds (many date back a couple thousand years) of years were blocked off behind new stone walls or ugly metal fencing.
Now it looks like a "wilderness" area at a commercial amusement park instead of being out in nature.
The crappy thing about this... even after all that work, maybe two or three people a year who aren't "able bodied" visit. And even then they bitch and moan that it's just too hard for them to get into the caves and back out to their cars.
That's entirely on the stewards being morons - ADA doesn't have any say over natural features. Can you imagine a ramp and road being paved through the Grand Canyon?
This is really cool. I don't use a wheelchair, although I've considered getting one to enable me to get out more often. There are a lot of travel experiences that I would have trouble doing (or that would make me feel horrible afterwards), and it's nice to see that people are finding ways to make such classic locations more accessible.
It was also heartening to read that they're very aware that accessibility is not a one-size-fits-all thing. Less-nuanced approaches or discussions about disability and inaccessibility often fall short in this regard, assuming that if there's a ramp then the event or location is accessible.