Testing Accessibility

 From USA Today:

“Traveler's epic Europe trip puts wheelchair accessibility to the test”

Carden Wyckoff got her first glimpse of the Seine River in Paris in a most unusual way. An "assembly line" of strangers lifted her up over a barrier so she could get closer to the water. In Barcelona, when Wyckoff became lost and couldn't find her way home, two strangers escorted her to her hotel. Wyckoff's European travels were highlighted by many acts of kindness from people she met along the way. But exploring the world in a wheelchair required a level of patience she didn't know she had. "I learned that I had freedom and I had legs again and kind of this whole new revelation to explore the world," Wyckoff said. Wyckoff uses a power wheelchair. She was born with Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), a progressive neuromuscular disease.  "I'm one of 5% of the type of muscular dystrophy that have infantile onset, meaning I developed it at a young age and I showed signs of it at a very young age. So I'm a special snowflake in that sense," she jokes. When Wyckoff graduated college, she was walking but falling frequently. She knew she would soon need an assistive device, but resisted for awhile. Once she began using her first assistive device, she realized that her wheels gave her new freedom to safely explore the world. "I'm independent at this point. So why not travel the world and learn what it's like with my new legs, I guess as wheels, and figure out what the world has to offer and see how the world does accessibility," she said. She jetted off to Ireland, Germany, Spain and more in the summer of 2018. And she did it alone. Wyckoff does a lot of work to make her home state of Georgia more accessible. She's working with city officials to help bring an accessible taxi service to the city of Atlanta. She regularly notifies local officials when sidewalks and streets need to be fixed to help people with disabilities get around easier. Wyckoff also serves on the board of directors for the FSH society, a nonprofit organization that supports research and education regarding FSHD. When she evaluates a city for its accessibility, she breaks it down into four categories: transportation, sidewalks, access into places and restrooms. What she learned when she traveled through Europe is that every country has different disability laws, so when crossing borders on a trip, it's important to be prepared to encounter vastly different scenarios. "I would say for the most part in Europe, it's old. And so that's something that we don't think about when we're in America," Wyckoff said. "They have laws just like America does to protect historical integrity. So they've done their best in a lot of historical facilities to provide an alternative option for people with disabilities, though it's not a hundred percent perfect." Wyckoff hopes her trip will encourage more people with disabilities to go explore the world. "You can travel outside of your world and the world is a little bit more accessible, though not perfect, then you think it is," she said.

^ This shows that anyone can go anywhere they want to. ^

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/humankind/2019/07/31/travelers-epic-europe-trip-put-wheelchair-accessibility-test/1825169001/