Travelling by Wheelchair

February 14, 2008 – 6:54 pm

Traveling always a person a sense of excitement and satisfaction. Visiting new places, eating in a large restaurant or watching your favorite football match in the stadium is a great way to spend leisure time. But for disabled persons, especially those in a wheelchair, these activities can be overwhelming and difficult. But there are things that people with disabilities can do before the trip to make the experience more relaxed, comfortable and pleasant. Say for instance you think of a meal at the restaurant that you saw in the ad, offering great food. You can call for a reservation, and to ensure that they have facilities that accommodates disabled people. You would not want to arrive at the restaurant and found that they do not have ramps and as a result they have to get into the restaurant. Nor is it surprising to find that their bathrooms, the average size of the people not only for you and your wheelchair. So it is good to call ahead to make sure that you have a great dining experience. Here are a few questions you can come to calling a reservation at a hotel or restaurant. First, ask if they have elevators or stairs. Have they ramps or lifts to all floors of the building? You can also ask how big their doors are and what kind of buttons, latches or handles them. How big is their bathroom? And a number of other questions that you think you need to know. If the restaurant or hotel has problems with the care of disabled persons, you can try to talk to the management for the necessary adjustments. Most business places today are required by the Americans with Disabilities Act to have necessary facilities for the disabled persons or adjustments in order to take account of them. But of course, every disabled person is unique. Hence, your needs will really depend on your environment. If you live in a rural hotel, you can not expect them to offer the same services offered by those in urban areas. But still, they have to adjustments to accommodate. So before you on your journey, it is important to the necessary preparations to ensure that you have a great experience. You do not regret that you have chosen the hotel or restaurant, because they do not offer the necessary accommodation. If you can be sure to make the most of your travel experience.

  1. 2 Responses to “Travelling by Wheelchair”

  2. You write about “Traveling by Wheelchair” and only mention hotel or restaurants? How did you arrive to this hotel or restaurants? Traveling entails planes, trains, and automobiles. When booking be sure to inform the airline that you are travelling in a wheelchair, so that they reserve you an aisle chair, making it easier to get into your chair (and out again). All electric chairs must be stowed as checked luggage so it is important to minimize the possibility of damage during transit. Remove seat cushions and any other parts that could easily become separated. Disconnect and remove any battery wires that may be visible to the ground crew. They have been known to remove them before they load the chair into the cargo hold. Airlines much prefer gel or dry cell batteries to traditional acid filled ones. Some airports have wheelchair transportation services available for disabled travelers like a bus equipped with wheelchair lift.

    Unfortunately for disabled people, security measures restrict public access beyond passenger screening to ticketed passengers only. However, airlines are allowing “persons with special needs” to be accompanied by an assistant or guardian. If friends or family members want to accompany an elderly or disabled person to or from the aircraft gate, they need to obtain permission from the airline. It never hurts to ask. Have fun and God bless you.

    By AbdulKarim Almutary on Feb 29, 2008

  3. nice comment by abdulkarim almutary.

    a useful one.

    thanks

    By abdullah on Mar 17, 2008

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