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It's summertime. And like millions of Americans, I'm going to visit a theme park, or two or three, over the next couple of months. I love fast rides -- the more screaming, the better, as far as I'm concerned. Roller coasters, log rides, and water slides are my favorites. It may surprise you to know that an estimated 590 new rides are introduced annually at the 200-odd big theme parks that now dot America. That's roughly three new rides per park per year. And here's something perhaps more surprising: Most of the rides are now accessible to people who use wheelchairs or have impaired mobility.
That's right. The Big Five of the theme-park industry -- Disney, Busch Gardens, Six Flags, Hershey Park, and Paramount King's Dominion -- all have made concerted efforts in recent years to make their facilities more accessible to the disabled -- from hotel accommodations to bathrooms to restaurants and from fun houses to swimming pools to roller coasters. To attract disabled consumers in wheelchairs, most parks charge them half-price admission, allow wheelchair users to ride twice if they wish, and provide a refillable 32-ounce bottle of water for an extra buck. "We want everybody to come to our parks," says Deborah DeMarco, spokesperson for Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Va. Busch Gardens, Disney, and Hershey Park all publish brochures on their accessibility services.
During the last few summers, it has been refreshing to see more disabled consumers at the parks than in the past. Take Tommy Carson, a 43-year-old lawyer from Baltimore who uses a wheelchair. Last weekend, he rode the roller coaster with another wheelchair-assisted friend at a local Six Flags in Maryland. Transferring into the roller-coaster seats was difficult for them, but friends helped. (Most park staff still aren't allowed to assist because of liability insurance -- a problem that has to be addressed.) Once seated, an attendant tightened the straps for them. "I love the thrill of riding a roller coaster. It's the wind beating against my face. The speed makes me feel alive," Carson says.
NEW GUIDELINES.
What's behind the push to make theme parks more accessible? I spoke with Richard Skaff, deputy director of San Francisco's Office on Disability. He is a member of an advisory committee to the Architectural & Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (ATBCB), a federal agency that helps businesses and governments meet the accessibility requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Working together, the theme-park industry and the ATBCB have been formulating a whole set of accessibility guidelines. "Many of the parks, especially Disney, have made great strides," Skaff says.
For people wearing temporary casts on their legs, arms, wrists, or other parts of their bodies, access to rides may still be restricted. There are insurance concerns that the casts can hurt other passengers in a quick stop or an accident. And unfortunately, there are still some smaller parks that are either too new or don't care to know about making their facilities accessible.
But representatives from all the big theme parks are working closely with the ATBCB. Next up, an accessibility code for newly constructed and altered recreation facilities not covered by the current guidelines. The new section will cover amusement rides, boating facilities, fishing piers and platforms, golf courses, miniature golf, exercise equipment and machines, bowling lanes, shooting ranges, swimming pools, wading pools, spas, saunas, steam rooms, benches, boats, and ferry docks. The guidelines are expected to be issued during the first half of 2001.
COOPERATIVE EFFORT.
Skaff and other advocates think there's plenty more to be done. For example, getting around an amusement park is still a difficult task for a blind visitor. Reading materials for blind and visually impaired people should be printed in Braille and large print and put on cassette tapes. All staff should be trained to know how to deal with blind people and their seeing-eye dogs.
Also, TDDs, which allow the deaf to receive telephone messages by printed word, must be available on the park grounds, talking computers must be available for speech-impaired individuals, and theme-park staff should be better trained on working with mentally retarded and dyslexic people. And while they're at it, companies could hire more people with disabilities, especially students. Skaff also urges theme parks to run TV and print ads about their accessibility and work with disability organizations in their area to promote accessibility features.
All in all, the effort by park authorities to cooperate is refreshing. Madeline Heinz is a 24-year-old student at Richmond University in Richmond, Va., and she is blind. Madeline recently visited nearby King's Dominion with her seeing-eye dog, Roxie. "I found a greater degree of cooperation among the staff at King's Dominion when it comes to welcoming me to their park. Even Roxie is welcome. I can take her into the restaurants and entertainment theaters without a fuss." Heinz has written to a dozen parks in the Northeast and Southeast suggesting they publish their information in Braille. Busch Gardens, Hershey Park and Paramount responded and said they're looking into the issue.
BARRIERS CRUMBLE.
And that's not all. In the early '90s, when Harold Shurgard visited Hershey Park and King's Dominion, they did not have TDDs in their hotels and restaurants, signing was an unknown language, and there were no assistive-listening devices in park theaters. Today, the world has changed for Shurgard, a deaf 50-year-old chemical engineer at Hayes Chemical Co. near Philadelphia. He knows a half-dozen parks -- including his two favorites -- that have installed TDDs and offer interpreting services and assistive-listening devices. "For decades, I felt like a stranger when my family and I went to the parks. Slowly, the barriers are coming down."
These are real strides. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Accessibility is good business. Now which way to the log flume?
What do you think about these issues? Visit BW Online's Assistive Tech Forum and join in a discussion. Or drop John a line at JMMAW@aol.com EDITED BY DOUGLAS HARBRECHT
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