Traveling and Accessibility

In general when most people think of disability and accessibility they think of people who use wheelchairs and need ramps and facilities. Think about it, how often do you see those signs with wheelchairs on them? It is most certainly an adventure to travel with a visual disability. Are there steps? Where is the door or restroom? Please keep in mind this is all generally speaking and my personal observations. Years ago I was visiting the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where they have a NASCAR museum. It is a wonderful museum. All of the cars are behind ropes, understandably so. All of the information about the artifacts was on big plaques inside the ropes. They were definitely information rich. I love information, if I could see them I would have read all of them. First, the signs were too far away and second the print was smaller than what I am able to read from that distance even with a monocular. I asked at the information desk if they had an enlargement of what was written on the plaques or an audio described version of the exhibits. The response was no but we can let you touch the cars if you would like. No thank you, I just want the information. So I looked at all the fast cars but could not learn about them.
I was recently at Niagara Falls which has a mini history museum of the falls in its welcome center. I asked if they had an audio described tour and was told no but they had something for the deaf and did I need that. It is tough not to be snotty and say nope I can hear. But that does no one any good. So I politely smile, explain what I would benefit from and say no thank you. My husband often says it is not our job to educate people. He is correct it is not but if we don’t educate others as we go along how will they know and who will?
In the end my point is this accessibility does not have to be expensive. Let us look at the NASCAR museum for example. A volunteer could take a laptop and type up all of the information on the plaques. Then they could be brailled, printed in larger fonts or read onto a digital recorder. These are all options that would probably cost around $100 and take minimal effort. This same thing could be done for the Niagara Falls exhibit. Think about it if you make things accessible for those who use wheelchairs you are opening up the market for those who walk with canes, walkers or are rolling children in strollers. If you work toward accessibility for those who are blind or have low vision you are marketing toward the senior population. The same could be said for those with hearing loss. Let it be said that if I ever win the lottery I am going to travel the country as a consultant and help make museums and fun places accessible not only for people who are blind or have low vision but for all concerned.

Audio Description see
www.artsaccessinc.org