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Planning a Visit to Accessible National Parks By Rosie Wolf Williams
Kristin Secor has a love for travel, and regularly visits national parks across the country. But Secor was born with a rare form of muscular dystrophy that affects her muscle strength and mobility. She also has scoliosis and is on a ventilator to assist with her breathing. So, she uses a wheelchair or a mobility scooter when she is away from home. Despite her physical limitations, Secor finds ways to travel and enjoy the outdoors. On her blog, “World on Wheels,” she encourages people with disabilities to travel by offering resources and recounting her own experiences, including her trips to National Parks.
“Using the tracked chair gave me a sense of freedom and independence that I hadn't been able to experience in a long time.” "From that point forward, every time the NPS built a new facility or started a new program, or did a major renovation of an existing facility, the project had to bring the facility up to the current accessibility standards," says Jeremy Buzzell, manager of the National Park Service's Accessibility Support Program. In 1968, Congress passed the Architectural Barriers Act, which requires federal entities to make their facilities accessible. The Rehabilitation Act in 1974 requires them to make their programs and services accessible. "This hike is something that would not have been possible with other mobility equipment due to the inclines, tree roots and rocks," she says. "Using the tracked chair gave me a sense of freedom and independence that I hadn't been able to experience in a long time." If you are traveling to a specific area of the United States, go to NPS.gov and enter the state in the search box. From there, you can see a list of all the National Parks in that state. Each park has a drop- down menu under the Plan Your Visit category that includes the section labeled Accessibility. "The website will give you an idea on the accessibility for each place, accessible lodging options within the park, and more," says Secor.
When she visited Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore in Northern Michigan, a free local program allowed her to use an all-terrain chair with bulldozer- like tracks to go on a two-mile hike through the woods and up a hill so she could enjoy views of Lake Michigan.
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