NY City Mayor steps into the battle zone with visitors and locals with disabilities

October 24, 2011 By AccessAnything 

Hot off the press from United Spinal – we at Access Anything fully support equal access for all travelers, and think Bloomberg has gone way too far with this one.  Join us in speaking up against his ignorance.

New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg has recently made incredibly offensive remarks directed at wheelchair users who want greater access to the city’s yellow taxi fleet.
Bloomberg stated that “it’s too dangerous” for wheelchair users to hail a cab in New York City and that most drivers would “pretend they didn’t see them”. He also said wheelchair users “sit too far from the driver to establish a dialogue” and therefore “they would not tip well”.
It’s time to call out the offensive remarks of Bloomberg by showing your support for a fully-accessible NYC taxi fleet. Sadly, only 231 of the city’s 13,000 taxis are accessible to wheelchair users. The New York Daily News is taking an online poll regarding the desirability of accessible taxis.
Read the NY Daily News article here – and VOTE to give riders with disabilities a chance
United Spinal has advocated for accessible taxis in New York for many years. But this fight reaches far beyond the city’s front lines. If NYC creates an equitable system of accessible public transportation then other cities both small and large will follow.
You need not be a New York resident to take the survey as it affects our entire community. So please let your voice be heard by taking this important survey that only takes a few seconds to complete.
Background reading on this issue:
http://www.spinalcord.org/push-for-cab-access-grows/
http://www.spinalcord.org/key-to-hailing-a-cab-in-nyc-tip-well-and-hide-your-wheelchair/

No Yoke in New York

We recently returned from a two day visit to New York City, and the access we found there was leagues better than we'd expected, especially their modes transportation, the subject with the most need of improvements in the US.

Our first tour was at Yankee Stadium, where the access goes above and beyond the ADA thanks to a staff well-educated on impeccable customer service. We took Vega Transportation, the premier accessible van service in the area, to get from Newark, where we were on business, up to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Although more pricey than the subway, Vega is way more reliable than any other transportation we found, so if you use a power chair or scooter, need to get to a more specific destination, have a big entourage with you, or the need for a more limo-type service, Vega is definitely the way to get around the city quickly and easily. Once in the stadium, we got a free tour (offered to all PWD who as) to Monument Park, 1st base-line batting practice, the Museum, and a tour of the entire park, as well $5 bleecher seats. Craig, a die-hard Yankee fan since the womb, was brimming with excitement from the moment we entered Gate 2's Yankee Lobby.

On day two we took the train from Craig's sister's flat in Prospect Park in Brooklyn to Times Square, to pick up Gray Line Tours. All of their “hop-on, hop-off” buses have lifts and friendly tour guides, each with their own personal encyclopedia of New York knowledge. This is hands-down the best way to see New York City and learn about the sights; at your own leisure, over a course of two days, with as many knowledgeable tour guides as you can cram in and cheaply. Tours take off from their office on 4^2nd St., where you can also buy discounted passes to various sights like Liberty Island, the Met, Broadway, Empire State, and more, or get a package deal for a 72-hour bus pass and a dozen other sites included.

Back to the subway topic- while it is true that only a small portion of the NYC subway system have accessible stops, we found it very easy to manage our day around these stops by planning our trip in advance. Visit the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA)’s website to find a list of the accessible stops, and plan your trip accordingly. The site is very helpful right down to which elevators are temporarily out of service, which at the time of our trip, there were only three that were. We also found that the “way-finding,” or signage, in the subway system is superb. The elevators and some exits would be hard to find in the maze of this underground system without proper signage, and we give our hats off to MTA for excellent way finding. There are also text-capable payphones at the accessible stations for persons with hearing impairments. In addition, if you are there for an extended period of time, there is a discount pass to the subway system that you can also find on MTA’s link above.

Last, we were short on time to get back to Newark Airport to fly out, and took the subway from Brooklyn to Times Square Station, where $15 Coach USA shuttles to the airport leave every 15 minutes, and are half price to riders with disabilities. To get one with a lift, you have to call 48 hours in advance and know your time of departure; easy enough.

One last resource that we didn’t use is Access-A-Ride, MTA’s additional “paratransit” service for people with disabilities. Because you do have to apply to use this system in advance, and our important subway stops were all accessible, we didn’t do so. But if you know you’re going to need reliable transportation, they're easy to contact and cheap to use Access-A-Ride if you need it.

Don't let daunting NYC keep you from traveling, it's an awe-inspiring city of great access.

Camping in the Adirondacks, New York

Due to an overwhelming response to the Top Five Camp Sites in the summer issue of The Traveler, we have been given a nice thorough list of links and locations for camping in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. A special thanks to everyone who sent us information on New York, as always we look forward to our return, this summer in August. Also look for our upcoming article on Lake George (at the southern tip of the Adirondack Park) in Venture Travel Magazine's fall issue.

First visit the Accessible Recreation page of New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)'s website for destinations, coordinators, recreation, and fishing; NY recommends you contacting specific DEC coordinators directly, as they are the most informed on the state's outdoor access in general.

Camping (and the plethora of it available!) can be found just inside that first link at http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/34038.html; you can count about 35 accessible camping locations in the counties of Clinton, Delaware, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Oneida, St. Lawrence, Sullivan, Ulster, and Warren!

Also don't forget about the John Dillon Park, associated with Paul Smith's College, which is open until the end of August, and all 200 acres are 100% accessible and impressively designed for visitors with disabilities. We covered this park in the May 2006 issue of The Traveler, and the park's wonderful access includes camping and picnic pads, fishing and hiking access, and bathrooms with lowered shower heads and grab bars. We continue to use this model as the best example of accessibilty in the outdoors and inclusive design for public use areas, and are thrilled to hear from a professor at Paul Smith's that the park is still thriving in it's 7th year of operation.

As many of you know, upstate New York is Craig's birthplace and will always remain very close to our hearts. If you live in the area, please make sure to check out the wonderful camping and outdoor fun the Adirondacks have to offer!

Lake George NY

We're usually lucky to visit Lake George New York several times a year; Craig is from the area, and yet we've (gasp!) never reported to you on its access...
LG is a lovely little town tucked into the bottom corner of the Adirondack Park Reserve, an hour north of Albany, and neighboring Vermont. The lake itself is 32 miles long and an impressive site in itself with clear cool water that freezes every winter. Discovered in the mid 1600s, Lake George is rich with early settlers' and early US military history including the battle of Lake George in 1755 and was dubbed the most beautiful lake that Thomas Jefferson had ever seen.
There's plenty to do in the area that's accessible, including taking a ride with the Lake George Steamboat Company, and the usual lake and nearby mountain activities like fishing, hiking, camping, mini golf and golf, kayaking and boating, and of course shopping in "the village."

My first visit to the area was for Craig's sister's wedding in 2001, and I must include this is an absolutely lovely destination-wedding location. But what endears me, a non-yank, to the area has been the peacefulness of the community in general. The views across the wide placid lake are of the surrounding mountain range, the roads are winding and secluded, and the locals are just like ours, with that small town feel, super nice and out for a good time. Then again, I've never been in July. I hear it's pretty crazy-full of tourists, but we're quite used to that in Steamboat!

Two historic forts are located on either end of the town, Fort Ticonderoga to the north end, and Fort William Henry to the south with loud and colorful re-enactments of past historic battles.

Don't miss nearby Bolton Landing, even cuter than Lake George, which is home to the Adirondack Extreme Adventure Course and the Lake Georg Kayak Company which offers some options for people with disabilities!

Ironically, it was quite hard for us to find access information online at any of the websites we searched, so you can wager we'll be making an impact in that arena if we can!

To view picture of Lake George, click here, we'll be adding to our fall album while we're there from May 13-19!