What makes a good cache for a person with a disability?

[+rassilon256]

The recent article on wheelchair accessible caching was great to see. I have no personal experience of disability but have a few friends and family who are or have been in wheelchairs or otherwise had their mobility impaired, and I think it's important that those of us without such experience are reminded to think about that perspective.

 

This is not a discussion about the wheelchair accessible attribute and T1 rating, they're well discussed elsewhere on the forum. Anyway these really only cover whether the geocacher can reach the geocache. To me a more interesting question is: assuming you can get there, what makes a geocache special to a person with a disability which might not be the same for a person without one? It would be lovely to hear from some people in this situation or who cache with people who are.

Edited November 6, 2022 by rassilon256
Nonsensical grammar

[+niraD]

1 hour ago, rassilon256 said:

To me a more interesting question is: assuming you can get there, what makes a geocache special to a person with a disability which might not be the same for a person without one?

The people I've known with disabilities have been as varied as the able-bodied people I've known. So I would expect the interests of geocachers with disabilities to be just as varied as those of able-bodied geocachers. Some will enjoy historic locations; others, scenic views; others, clever camouflage; others, public art; others, challenging puzzles; and so on.

[+cerberus1]

4 hours ago, rassilon256 said:

assuming you can get there, what makes a geocache special to a person with a disability which might not be the same for a person without one?

It would be lovely to hear from some people in this situation or who cache with people who are.

 

I have a nephew in a wheelchair.  His interests are the same as any of us, other than the T ratings to get him there.

[+rassilon256]

Thanks both for the responses. I guess what I was trying to get at is not so much the theme of the cache as the physical nature of it.

 

As a kind of anti-example, we don't really have LPCs in Australia but I found one that I understand was very typical when I visited California a few years ago. It was under the skirt of a lamp-post on it's concrete pillar about 3 feet off the ground, in the middle of a carpark. I can imagine that caches like that are convenient for people with limited mobility because you can get right up close to it whether you do that in a car, a chair or on foot. I can also imagine that, even if they all had great reasons to bring you to carparks, the same thing over and over would be boring.

 

So my curiosity is more about how you might make the hide itself both accessible and interesting (perhaps uniquely so) to someone who, for example, is in a wheelchair or has low vision.

 

And yes, I'm well aware that every person's disability is different. I used to do education talks with someone who uses a wheelchair. She can walk a decent distance but it can be slow and tiring so she largely keeps to the chair. However, she quite enjoyed wheeling into a classroom and doing the talk, then finding an appropriate excuse to stand up and surprise the kids. We weren't there to educate on disability and inclusion but I think she taught a lot of kids a good lesson doing that.