New York City could soon be more accessible than ever ... and YOU can help!
Photo by: clemmesen (Stock Exchange)

Howdy, all! On today’s Disabled Travelers blog we’re going to take a look at some of the news items about disabled travel that popped up while I was on hiatus. After that, I’d like to share some information about my recent travels and close by asking YOU, the viewer, to help me decide what to cover next in the blog. After all, the holidays are coming and some of the busiest travel times are right around the corner. How can I help you make the most of your trip? We’ll talk about this and much more in today’s edition.

Some of the Latest News on Disabled Travel Around the World

A lot happened in the wide world of disability travel while I was away: both good news and not so good news. From Examiner.com, a controversy is brewing over New York City over the Taxi of Tomorrow initiative. This program is intended to select a modern, purpose-built taxi to eventually take over the entire New York fleet. The fleet currently stands at 13,000 cars, but only about 240 can accommodate wheelchairs!

This is a big deal, and not just for New Yorkers: millions of travelers visit NYC every year! But don’t fret; there’s still a chance that, with a little more attention and effort, the “taxi of the future” will be more accessible than ever. Want to help? The Taxi and Limousine Commission wants your feedback on the Taxi of Tomorrow, so go ahead and write in! You won’t regret it, and I’ll be sure to update when the final design is unveiled!

One of the most challenging parts of travel for any wheelchair user is ensuring the well-being of your chair, particularly if you use an electric wheelchair. Exciting news out of the United Arab Emirates: a solar-powered wheelchair broke a distance record, taking a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for longest motorized wheelchair journey after traveling just under 900 miles across part of the desert country. The new record holder, Mr. Haidar Taleb, has suffered from polio since age four. Though his chair was custom-designed for the race, could mass production be far behind?

Traveling in the UK? Throughout England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, trains are ubiquitous. In fact, it’s possible to travel the length of Britain and arrive in Scotland in as little as two hours by means of the national rail system. But not all trains are created equal: and if you’re thinking about visiting Wales, you might want to look at other transit options. A recent BBC report revealed trouble on the trains for wheelchair users in Wales. The expose was conducted by Simon Green, chairman of the Bridgend Coalition of Disabled People. Green’s work has elicited comment from the local rail authority, which claims to be spending 85 million pounds to improve their stations in Wales.

Your Turn: A Peek at the Future of the Disabled Travelers Blog

I’ve been going through your recent comments and I’m very happy to see so many of you are interested in seeing our blog keep rolling along! I’d especially like to mention a comment from Catherine, who shared her new blog about holidays for the disabled. Great work, Catherine! I hope you’ll keep it up. I was also asked some great questions; I’ll talk more about Rebecca’s query, which places I’ve found easiest to travel, at length in a future post. For now, I’d like to mention my upcoming travel plans.

My last big trip was the European holiday I discussed a bit on the blog, taking in London, Berlin, Stockholm, and Krakow. Recently, I got to enjoy a great trip to Mission Bay in San Diego, which really opened my eyes to the terrific vacation opportunities there! My next “big” adventure is quite a while in the future, and I’ll be visiting Monaco, which I talked about in a previous post. With luck, some of my good friends will be joining me – but it’s a BIG excursion for such a tiny country, so it won’t be for quite a while!

Now that we’re back, I’d like to hear from you. Where have YOU found the best travel opportunities? Disabled hotels? Places to enjoy – or avoid? And just as importantly, what would you like to see me do next with the blog? I look forward to hearing from you, and hope to visit with you again next week …

Si

New York's Central Park
Photo by: InsdorfG (Stock Exchange)

Good day, all! As the northeast deals with one of the biggest winter storms in recent memory, I hope everyone is safe and sound where they want to be for this holiday season. We here at the Disabled Travelers Blog are settled in for some great seasonal celebration. I just thought I’d pop in and continue our wheelchair accessible journey through NYC right quick – this time putting together a little access guide for a few of the city’s most iconic attractions. In the last part of our City series, we mainly covered getting there and getting around; now it’s on to disability access around the classic sights.

You just can’t think of New York without thinking of the Statue of Liberty, so let’s talk accessibility around Liberty Island. The whole shebang is under the care of the National Park Service which – though its websites can sometimes be a bit buggy – is a great bunch of folks. They have information for disabled travelers here. At the moment, the statue’s crown is closed, and the climb requires a fairly high level of mobility. But Liberty Island itself has been carefully sculpted to be level and wheelchair accessible.

On a very related note, handicapped travelers can also enjoy Ellis Island and rest assured that the entire ferry system can accommodate standard wheelchairs and any requests for additional assistance. Guide animals are welcome, and wheelchairs are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Handicapped accessible parking is available from a number of facilities nearby.

You might want to drop by good old Central Park, and while you’re there, who can pass up the Central Park Zoo? All buildings there are wheelchair accessible, and they have a handy chart that describes the nearby terrain to give you a better idea of what’s right for you. The Zoo also offers a limited number of free wheelchairs. Some of the exhibits are well-suited for those with visual and auditory impairments as well.

For all sorts of information on New York’s Chinatown, try this Internet guide. There’s not much here on disability access, but you can get a great idea of what to expect from the restaurants and hotels. There are some great events every year, including the traditional Chinese New Year held in January or February according to the Chinese lunar calendar. If in doubt, call ahead. There’s another great guide right here, run by local maintainers.

Last time I talked a little about the great accessibility of New York’s Broadway theaters. Not only is there plenty of wheelchair accessible seating in many theaters, but also accommodations for the hard-of-hearing and visually impaired available at a large portion of shows. But let’s switch gears and swing ‘round to some of the great television events you might get to attend in NYC.

As part of a feature on NYC in August 2002, World on Wheelz reported that mobility impaired access at Ed Sullivan Theater – home of “Late Show With David Letterman” – wasn’t very good. Bear it in mind, just in case. Sadly, Conan O’Brien no longer tapes in New York, but if Jimmy Fallon is an acceptable alternative, NBC Studios is said to be wheelchair accessible by a number of specialist tour operators.

Well, friends, there’ll be more to come as we count down the days to the New Year here on the Disabled Travelers blog. As always, if you have any questions, don’t forget to write. Adventure on – and stay out of the cold!

Si

Brooklyn Bridge, New York
Photo by: Fabio Arangio

Hello, everyone! Since we explored London just a little while ago, I thought it would be great if we turned our attention toward America’s most cosmopolitan city, New York. Naturally, digging through all the great sights, accommodations, and tours that you’d need for a full New York City access guide will take more than one post! So consider this the first in an ongoing series all about handicapped travelers in the Big Apple. We’ll be revisiting it throughout the coming months and offering a big wrap-up sometime in the future. For now, let’s get started on disabled travel in NYC!

You just can’t expect to get around in the city without using its subways and buses, and luckily, disability access is a big deal here. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has a Guide to Accessible Transportation which includes information on reduced fare programs for disabled travelers using the city’s buses, subways, and railways. The MTA page also gives a concise rundown of the accessibility features in major stations. There is also a door-to-door paratransit service that offers mobility impaired access in cases where passengers cannot use the public transit options for some or all of their trips.

Once you know that you can get around, you naturally need somewhere to go. This is where things get tricky, because there are so many great options, it’s hard to know what to cover first! One of my favorite attractions in any great city is the theater, so let’s start there. Thanks to the Theatre Development Fund, there are plenty of programs for improving theatre accessibility for the hard-of-hearing, those with visual impairments, and audience members who require wheelchair accessible seating. This is great if you plan to catch one of Broad’s famous Christmas shows this year.

If you are going to be in the area, you’ll probably be interested to know how wheelchair access will shape up at this year’s spectacular New Year’s events. According to NYC Tourist, there is a special viewing area for handicapped visitors along the northwest side of 43rd Street. The nonprofit Times Square Alliance offers Frequently Asked Questions for New Year’s events, which includes a map of access points for traveling quickly and easily to the accessible viewing area. There are also many other useful pointers on dining, shows, and safety during the annual revelry.

Frommer’s has a good introduction to NYC travel full of more general disabled traveling tips. There are two fantastic Internet resources for finding wheelchair accessible hotels in New York. When We Travel has a database of hotels that self-report as having expanded facilities for wheelchair access all around New York state. Moss Rehab Resource Net has a listing of New York hotels with telephone numbers and web addresses. The Society for Accessible Travel & Hospitality is a handicapped organization that encourages accessibility in the world of accommodations and travel, and offers a lot of great information on a variety of topics.

Well, we’ve taken our first bite of the Big Apple! That’s it for today, but there’ll be more on accessible accommodations, places to see and things to do in New York in future posts. Next time, we’ll be continuing our journey through the wide world of disabled travel with a new topic. Thanks for reading, and keep adventuring.

Si