Geocachers who use wheelchairs

[+happyviking]

Are there any other cachers who use wheelchairs out there? Any experiences to share?

 

I'm a fairly new cacher (only 75 caches so far) but I really enjoy it. Any advice or tips or ideas from more experienced cachers would be appreciated.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

Define "use wheelchairs"... We all have different levels of capability, desire and determination!

 

I am a 53 y.o. one-legged fat man with nerve damage from a broken neck. I use a wheelchair full-time at home and most of the time when I am out and about. I geocache, however, primarily on crutches... though if I can get to the cache in my chair I do.

 

I cache (and hunt and fish) pretty regularly with para and quadraplegic friends, most often with UglyInjun... a para with a pretty impressive caching profile.

 

While I have made a few hundred finds in my chair, he has over 1000 and has been in the game far shorter than I.

 

Check out www.handicachers.com, a site dedicated to sharing info on accessible caches.

 

Have fun out there!

[+happyviking]

Define "use wheelchairs"... We all have different levels of capability, desire and determination!

 

I am a 53 y.o. one-legged fat man with nerve damage from a broken neck. I use a wheelchair full-time at home and most of the time when I am out and about. I geocache, however, primarily on crutches... though if I can get to the cache in my chair I do.

 

I cache (and hunt and fish) pretty regularly with para and quadraplegic friends, most often with UglyInjun... a para with a pretty impressive caching profile.

 

While I have made a few hundred finds in my chair, he has over 1000 and has been in the game far shorter than I.

 

Check out www.handicachers.com, a site dedicated to sharing info on accessible caches.

 

Have fun out there!

 

That's great - thanks for the reply. I'll check out the website.

[+thedeadpirate]

These days I cache mostly with my power chair if the cache is more than a couple hundred feet from parking. I take my crutches with me in order to hunt the cache when I get to ground zero, generally. I usually just use crutches if the cache is less than 100'.

 

Terrain can be deceptive. While someone may be able to push a chair several hundred feet across pavement, 50 feet' over grass could get the arms burning a bit.

 

Even inside the house there is quite a bit of difference rolling over carpet vs rolling over hard wood floors. I would say you could hide the cache several hundred feet back on a paved walking path, but no more than 5' or 10' across loose soil.

 

But if someone is confined to a chair and cannot stand, you need to be aware of how high and how low you place the cache.

 

The handicaching site is a good place to look to get an idea of how to place your cache or what possible rating it would be.

Edited August 22, 2008 by GeoBain

[+whistler & co.]

We do not use a wheelchair, but we know people (non-cachers) who do, and it really really really annoys me when someone rates a cache "1" for terrain (ostensibly wheelchair accessible up to the cache itself) yet there are curbs, steps, ditches, or bushes to whack between the available parking and the cache. I realize the reviewers have a lot to do, but MissPlaced used to always ask cache owners if their newly-submitted 1-star terrain cache was truly wheelchair accessble (and she provided a link to an article on the the Handicaching site for reference). After the first time she did that, we made absolutely sure to take note of the terrain from car to cache and to rate it accordingly.

[+FourRiverRatz]

What should I do when I go to a cache that is rated a 1, or says right in the description that it is wheelchair accessable, and really isn't? I have done a few that are like the above poster say..over the curb...way down low under a pair of steps (where I, not in a wheelchair, had to get down on my belly to get) etc? should I e-mail the reviewer..leave a note on the page (sooner or later they are bumped down) e-mail the owner? I always hated to seem like a trouble maker, so I have just let it go.

[+whistler & co.]

Usually, I just make a comment in my find log. I have also occasionally emailed cache owners and politely explained that a 1-star cache ought to be wheelchair accessible, then I mention why that particular cache is not. I also include the link to Handicaching. There is no need to be impolite or bother the reviewers, in my opinion. Unless the cache owner is actively promoting the cache as wheelchair accessible by using that attribute icon, it's probably just a matter of not realizing what the terrain ratings mean.

Edited August 22, 2008 by whistler & co.

[+Mocadeki]

It also bothers me when I see caches rated 1 for terrain that are not wheelchair accessible. I liked the fact that MissPlaced would always ask. I will usually say it's not a true 1 in my log.

[+TotemLake]

Don't take the 1/1 verbatim. You will need to look at the age of the cache. If it is an older cache, likely the 1/1 rating was before it became acceptable as a wheelchair rating and was grandfathered in. These may require a little bit more effort than is possible from a wheelchair stance.

[+happyviking]

Thanks for all the great thoughts here. I checked out the handicaching.com website and added a review for a cache I just found yesterday.

 

I wonder if they would be able to work with Groundspeak to add their link to the cache page on geocaching.com. Then, we could just click the "check accessibility" link and other cachers would also be made more aware of access issues just by their own curiosity about the link. Just an idea.

 

I am a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair full-time. I often cache with my wife and son, so they sometimes need to make the final grab once we locate the cache. Sometimes, I go on my own, however, so access is important. Yesterday, for example, I found 4 caches but could only reach one of them. Since I was on my own, I had to leave the other 3 for another day when my family is with me. Still, I got to see some nice viewpoints.

 

Anther idea that might be helpful is for the cache hiding guidelines on geocaching.com to include something like this: "If, when you are hiding your cache, you have a choice of good hiding spots, please consider choosing the one that is most accessible to someone using a wheelchair."

 

Anyway, it's great to see and hear from other disabled cachers.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

What should I do when I go to a cache that is rated a 1, or says right in the description that it is wheelchair accessable, and really isn't? I have done a few that are like the above poster say..over the curb...way down low under a pair of steps (where I, not in a wheelchair, had to get down on my belly to get) etc? should I e-mail the reviewer..leave a note on the page (sooner or later they are bumped down) e-mail the owner? I always hated to seem like a trouble maker, so I have just let it go.

 

Unfortunately the 1 terrain rating is a guideline, not a rule, and it is therefore suggested rather than enforced, and even then rather unevenly, if at all.

 

I know for a fact of one ex-Reviewer who tried to address this issue by questioning every 1 terrain submission for accessibility and was told to stop doing so!

 

That leaves us not knowing what to expect.

 

Handicaching.com doesn't get much attention; relatively few caches get detailed there, and only a very small percentage of cachers care enough about the issue to address or even consider it in their listings.

 

Then, of course, comes the real problem... for those who do care and do consider it when placing and listing caches there is no easily understood definition of accessible other than a flat paved parking lot! Every one of us in wheelchairs have different capabilities. I can bump my wheelchair over a curb without problem and negotiate fairly rugged and steep terrain, other wheelchair users can't, so what's accessible for me does not apply to all. The able-bodied have even more difficulty evaluating what is accessible, so if you find one that says it is but isn't they are not trying to mislead you, they just don't know how to evaluate the terrain for us... not their fault, I often can't either!

 

Even with my disabilities I have never found a way, and believe me I have given this a LOT of thought, to rate something in a way that will accommodate 'the disabled' as a whole.

 

Looking back over my 2500+ finds I doubt that I would rate 300 of them as wheelchair-accessible, and that many only because I choose to hunt mostly park-n-grabs.

 

What that means for handicachers is that we must maintain an open outlook and use the capabilities we have to the fullest.

 

If I get to a cache site and see that I can't easily get to it I ask myself how badly I want it. Am I willing to get out of my wheelchair or set down my crutches to slide along the ground, up a steep hill for example? Sometimes. If I decide it's not worth it I move on. The trick is to enjoy the trip to the cache site, even if you can't get to the cache.

 

I sometimes cache with a high-level quad, he can't move anything but his face, but he loves to go to the site and watch the cache hunt. He uses a mouthstick-driven electric wheelchair that will go over some pretty impressive terrain, so while he can't find or sign the cache he is there to see it. If he can enjoy geocaching anyone can!

 

Of course another trick that works well for me but may draw flames from readers is four-wheel drive! You wouldn't believe how many high-terrain-rated caches I can make into a drive-up in my 4wd Durango!

 

As far as the able-bodied and how you can help, a politely-worded email asking the owner to reconsider the terrain rating isn't a bad idea.

 

If you really care about the issue you can take the time to rate your finds on handicaching.com.

 

Mostly you can lead by example by rating anything that's not wheelchair-accessible 1.5 or higher.

[Mr.Yuck]

Don't take the 1/1 verbatim. You will need to look at the age of the cache. If it is an older cache, likely the 1/1 rating was before it became acceptable as a wheelchair rating and was grandfathered in. These may require a little bit more effort than is possible from a wheelchair stance.

 

This is absolutely correct. If I'm not mistaken, the "1 star terrain is handicap accessable" credo was hammered out right here in these forums. I might have been around at the time, but if I was, it was before I started participating in the forums.

 

Man, I've come across some doozies rated 1 star terrain that were placed in 2002 and earlier. Not even remotely close to wheelchair accessable.