Keys to enjoying what the US has to offer travelers in wheelchairs include careful research, planning ahead, and ability to improvise.
By Andrea Jehn Kennedy
Even after nearly a decade of traveling with my husband Craig, who uses a wheelchair, I still feel like the hardest part is the preparation—likely because I know that the better prepared we are, the easier it is on the road. But the months, weeks, and days leading up to a big trip seem to occupy my time more than they would if we were not traveling with a wheelchair. I look forward to the day that we no longer need to say that, but until then, we plan ahead… far ahead.
First, we make sure our lodging is the best it can be, taking into account this information just can’t be found entirely online. We’ll search for the bed and breakfast with the wheelie symbol or the hotel chain we’ve stayed at before. But as most Action readers, I’m sure, know, this doesn’t always guarantee suitable access. We always follow up with a phone call to make sure the bathroom has what we need, the bed is the right size, and the additional amenities (i.e., the breakfast room, the swimming pool, or the beach) are accessible. If not, we prepare for this by finding other options. For instance, we’ve been known to take breakfast in our room if the dining room is on a different floor, and the B&B hosts are usually happy to accommodate.
Second, we make sure we have accessible transportation. Thanks to awareness in the disability-travel industry, we can now rent a car or van with hand-controls nearly everywhere we want to go. But when we can’t, we have our own portable set that packs in the suitcase and fits to every medium-sized or larger vehicle. If we aren’t renting a car, we make an extra call to the bus, shuttle, or train company to enquire about access. It may take an extra reservation to ensure we get one of the vehicles in their taxi or shuttle fleet that is either lower to the ground or has a lift, but so long as we plan ahead, we’re taken care of.
Next we look for activities to do while we’re there, and call ahead for those as well. We’ve found helicopters with lifts, rafting and kayaking companies with adaptive experience, adaptive golf carts, and ATV tours with automatic-transmission machines wherever we go.
Ask the Locals
It always helps to have locals’ suggestions, too. We try to factor them in in the planning phase, but having a cell phone to make those extra research calls while on the road is key. In Hawaii, it took half a dozen calls to find a company that would take a wheelchair user on their catamaran trip. Even the concierge at the hotel was unable to help us, striking out on all the calls she made for us, which shows it pays to be the one calling. Our persistence paid off, as it was easily the highlight of our adventure in paradise.
There are many other instances like this where it has taken us several calls to find the right company willing to try something new: sea kayaking in Alaska and Maui, whale watching in Monterey, and hot air ballooning in Orlando are just a few. When someone tells us we can’t do something, that’s like the red cape to our bull-like persistence. We simply don’t take no for an answer, and it always pays off.
We’re not content to sightsee from our car or skip hikes because they’re not accessible. If we can’t view it from the ground, we’ll go flight-seeing from above. If we can’t see the shoreline from a wheelchair, we’ll view it from a kayak or catamaran at sea.
Adapt and Be Flexible
It’s good to know how to improvise and adapt to circumstances as they arise. By accepting that you will have to adapt and brainstorm as you go along, you can make the activity company’s job easier and improve your experience. I owe a lot of our success to Craig’s attitude. If he can’t transfer onto something because the distance is too far, he doesn’t mind asking for help. I’ve seen him lifted over the basket to go hot air ballooning, carried onto a bus for the drive back from the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, and scrunched into a log-barrel water ride at Universal Studios. Being flexible is part of the adventure.
But of course we’re always happiest when we fi nd accessible options. For example, the Durango-Silverton train has an adapted car for people with disabilities complete with a motorized lift and ADA-compliant restroom inside. We had the car to ourselves on this amazing ride through the narrow valley along the Animas River, and thanks to a little research ahead of time, we could fit it into our schedule. You can easily take the 3-hour train ride back to Durango along the same route if you’d like to, but our adventure led us to ride the one-hour bus ride back over the winding “Million-Dollar Highway” surrounded by dozens of 14,000-foot peaks and stunning views below. Craig would agree that being carried on and off the bus by perfect strangers was worth it.
Accessible Treasures
When finding adaptive options isn’t so easy, however, we fall back on the amazing National Parks System, which you can always count on for excellent accessibility and fun. From improved, paved trails down to waterfalls (Yosemite, California) to lowered binocular stations (Arches, Utah) to free beach wheelchair rentals (Great Sand Dunes, Colorado), the federal government has made sure that people with disabilities are as welcome at our national parks as anyone else (www.nps.gov).
Some of our favorite parks are thankfully within driving distance. Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico have some of the most amazing and most accessible national treasures this country has to offer. Nearly every region has one, and you can even find them in American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. All have Accessibility Guide downloads to ensure you know what parts of the park you can see.
But where the National Parks are void, the State Parks system is also quite dependable for access. California is the best example. California has been taking great strides in improving access at all their State Parks over the past three years, and spent a large part of their budget on including their access information online: www.parks.ca.gov.
But here’s another point where you need to be prepared for the other type of accessibility—vacancy. The popularity of California’s State Parks system keeps their parks overbooked all summer, so booking in advance is a must. Using their phone system over their online system was also smart, as we were actually referred to a better park for accessible showers in the Tahoe area by a friendly park ranger (Donner Memorial State Park).
Whenever we hear that traveling America with a wheelchair is hard, we chuckle. Traveling with children is exponentially harder. As with anything, once you get the hang of it, it’s smooth sailing most of the time. The obstacles we confront are only due to our lack of research or unforeseen changes such as construction. With a positive attitude, preparation, and persistence, touring this great country is as easy as you make it out to be.
Andrea Jehn Kennedy writes Action’s Travel column.
