Being Accessible

To explore the accessibility of some of my surroundings, I spent a half an hour in a wheelchair doing various everyday tasks. Some of these tasks were a little easier than others; even going between two buildings is not as easy as it seems. One of the main things that I noticed is that many of the doorways were not ADA standard, if the wheelchair would have been a little bigger it probably would not have fit through. The biggest aspect I noticed was that many ramps are not the one inch high for every one foot long standard, some are extremely steep and very difficult to maneuver. Elevators also proved tight with little turning radius, though some elevators were far more accessible than others.

Example of ramp

Another simple task that I had troubles with was entering and exiting certain restrooms. Those without automated doors I had to reach out to grab the door handle, then try to push myself through. I have pretty decent upper body strength but a person without this would not be able to enter this space at all. Some stalls were even more difficult, with the same issue, it was very cramped. Most sinks were accessible and within reason, almost all of the public restrooms I encountered were pedestal style so it allowed for leg room to roll under. For the most part, however, not many things were 100% ADA accessible, and it was cumbersome to try to maneuver through these spaces.

Cramped entry into stall