Wheelchair Friendly

[+parkmoy]

I always have difficulty deciding on this cache attribute. Does it mean that the cache can be retrieved by someone sitting in a wheelchair? Or does it mean that the vicinity of the cache can be reached by wheelchair?

 

I would appreciate hearing some views on this.

[+keehotee]

I always have difficulty deciding on this cache attribute. Does it mean that the cache can be retrieved by someone sitting in a wheelchair? Or does it mean that the vicinity of the cache can be reached by wheelchair?

 

I would appreciate hearing some views on this.

 

I've always taken it to mean accessible to somebody in a wheelchair...... getting to the vicinity isn't going to count for much if the cache is 8 feet overhead in a tree!!

Edited May 27, 2009 by keehotee

[+Bear and Ragged]

Retrievable, from the chair. eg more than 2 feet above the ground, no higher than 4 feet above the ground.

 

Handicaching for more information.

"Handicaching aims to improve the accessibility of Geocaching for disabled people all over the world."

 

You can give your cache a handicache rating.

[+parkmoy]

getting to the vicinity isn't going to count for much if the cache is 8 feet overhead in a tree!! rolleyes.gif

 

I should have explained myself better. I was thinking of people who could leave the chair for a short time/distance and also those who had a helper who could do the final bit under instruction.

 

Would the rating apply there?

[+keehotee]

getting to the vicinity isn't going to count for much if the cache is 8 feet overhead in a tree!! rolleyes.gif

 

I should have explained myself better. I was thinking of people who could leave the chair for a short time/distance and also those who had a helper who could do the final bit under instruction.

 

Would the rating apply there?

 

I think you'd have to rate it higher than a 1 if only to differentiate from those caches that are accessible - but maybe put a note in the description?

[+Guanajuato]

Retrievable, from the chair. eg more than 2 feet above the ground, no higher than 4 feet above the ground.

 

Handicaching for more information.

"Handicaching aims to improve the accessibility of Geocaching for disabled people all over the world."

 

You can give your cache a handicache rating.

I'd have thought 'wheelchair friendly' would be a combination of the getting to the vicinity & retrieving the cache. So any stiles or narrow gates or steep rocky slopes would preclude it being 'wheelchair friendly'.

None of us are disabled, but we do have a small child in a pushchair and our other daughter was in a wheelchair for a couple of months after a tendon transfer operation. Handicaching can be useful for possibly indicating ones that are pushchair accessible. But that's not stopped us going for ones that most definitely AREN'T wheel/pushchair friendly.

 

Personally, I'd only put the wheelchair friendly icon if the cache was on a good tarmac path (we tried a couple on rough paths with our daughter after the op - boy was it hard work!) without restrictions and reachable from a wheelchair - bit of firm grass might be acceptable. I think 'Pushchair friendly' covers the same stuff, with the exception of being reachable from the chair. Pushchairs are also a bit easier on rough tracks (or at least proper all-terrain ones are!).

 

I'd suggest you look at Handicaching too - maybe rate your cache & put a link on the cache page. Or maybe just put a paragraph on the cache page explaining that its wheelchair accessible to the site, but may need assistance/getting out of chair to find.

 

Just my two pen'orth - there are others FAR more qualified to comment on what makes a wheelchair-friendly cache!

[+burtsbodgers]

I always have difficulty deciding on this cache attribute. Does it mean that the cache can be retrieved by someone sitting in a wheelchair? Or does it mean that the vicinity of the cache can be reached by wheelchair?

 

I would appreciate hearing some views on this.

 

Hi

I personaly would only rate a cache as wheelchair friendly if the whole thing could be achieved by someone in a wheelchair.

the hunt the retrieval the calculations etc.......

Although a lot of wheelchair users will have someone wth them, they should be able to do all sections.

I also feel that it would be unfair to expect them to have to ask assistance from others while doing caches that are rated as being wheelchair friendly.

 

I would imagine that it woul be quite difficult to set a wheel chair series!

although i have thought about it!

Hope my thoughts help

Peter

[+Dorsetgal & GeoDog]

 

I would imagine that it woul be quite difficult to set a wheel chair series!

 

 

In fact, not difficult at all .... take a look at my Curse of the FTF Dorset series.

 

So far 10 caches, set by 10 different caching teams and to my knowledge only one setter is actually a wheelchair user themselves.

 

Basically the idea of the Curse series is for the FTFer to set the next cache, this idea started in USA and I heard about it on the Podcacher Podcast. Just to add some spice to it, and cos I have a vested interest in the resultant caches, for this series, I made it a rule they all had to be wheelchair accessible. Credit to everyone involved and so far they have all achieved this.

 

As some posters have stated, a cache with terrain 1 should be possible to execute, from start to finish by a wheelchair user alone. If everything except the grab can be done alone, then consider a terrain of 1.5 but please state that assistance is needed.

 

I get a bit frustrated seeking terrain 1 caches only to discover this aspect of the cache has not been fully thought through by the setter. Thankfully, things are actually much better here in the UK than they were a few years ago, our reviewers have been known to kick back caches which are given terrain 1 by the setter and then use the not w/c accessible attribute, and I thank them for that.

 

My most recent difficulties were in other countries, where perhaps the reviewers are not so hot on this aspect.

 

Basically, the one thing I ask for as a wheelchair user, is accurate information either on the cache page, or if this will be deemed a spoiler for others, a note to say contact the cache owner for fursther details.

[+Bill D (wwh)]

On reading this thread, I question my own approach to wheelchair accessibility. I tend to rate a cache 1 for terrain if it's reachable by wheelchair, but if a wheelchair user might not be able to access the container (perhaps because it's at ground level, for example) I say so on the cache page.

 

My reasoning in taking this approach was because if a wheelchair user was limiting searches to terrain 1 I didn't want to exclude caches that they might be able to do from their search results. I now wonder though whether I should rate caches like that as perhaps 1.5 - I'd be interested to hear comments from wheelchair users as to their preference with this.

[+HouseOfDragons]

I have trouble with this because I don't really know whether a cache is wheelchair accessible or not. For example, there's one in a phone box. It's at the right height and it's completely accessible by level paved areas but you have to get in a phone box (although just opening the door would probably be sufficient, if a little unstealthy!). A small survey on a different website yielded the response that it would be tricky to get a wheelchair in a phone box but I'm still not sure.

 

[+Dorsetgal & GeoDog]

I have trouble with this because I don't really know whether a cache is wheelchair accessible or not. For example, there's one in a phone box. It's at the right height and it's completely accessible by level paved areas but you have to get in a phone box (although just opening the door would probably be sufficient, if a little unstealthy!). A small survey on a different website yielded the response that it would be tricky to get a wheelchair in a phone box but I'm still not sure.

 

 

I have a sporty type wheelchair and like many others it will not fit in a phone box. However, that hasn't stopped me completing phone box based caches in the past ... I remember one in London where I needed to note some numbers down and I couldn;t get inside, so I simply peered (lerrily) through the window.

 

I have managed to retrieve a few caches (nanos as I recall) in phone boxes by managing to wedge the door open against the wheel of my chair and reaching in.

 

That said, not every wheelchair user is as agile as me, and there are some who are more agile.

 

I think it is fine if you put that a cache is w/c accessible if based in a phone box as long as somewhere you add the rider, w/c users may need to stretch to retrieve the cache alone.

 

Information is the greatest asset here

 

When I see caches indicated as definitely NOT accessible, I do still try some of them, but not alone.

 

Thanks to everyone who is taking the time to think about their cache page descriptions ... it certainly helps!