Suggestion for Handicap Access Caches

[+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite]

I posted this on the NW forums, and then I thought the heck with it, why not do this here too.

 

I've put a little html in my cache pages to show a background icon for handicapped caches. Here is now I do it in case you're also interested.

 

On the short description box I place the following html before anything is written. Got to do this first. Cut and paste this if you want it.

 

 

Here is a link to one of my easier pages in case you want a look at it. Go Ahead, Knock on Their Door II

 

I hear voices.....and they don't like you!

[+Mopar]

Not to knock your idea, but I personally prefer my little icon added to the cache description.

 

) over yours is my icon still prints out when the page is made printer friendly, whereas background graphics do not. Still, great idea, and it's always nice to see wheelchair accessible caches. I've decided placing them can be more challenging then placing 4 star terrain caches.

 

Tae-Kwon-Leap is not a path to a door, but a road leading forever towards the horizon.

[+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite]

I like that Mopar, I'll add that also. Great idea.

 

I hear voices.....and they don't like you!

[+briansnat]

A 1 star terrain difficulty means that a cache is handicap accessable, or should. It seems most people don't follow the established guidelines for rating caches.

 

"An appeaser is one who keeps feeding a crocodile-hoping it will eat him last" -Winston Churchill

[+Team Spike]

At the risk of starting a flame war, the 1 star rating for handicap accessible doesn't work, because I suspect that most people who do not live with or know someone who is handicapped, really don't understand what it means to be handicapped and therefore the limitations.

My wife is handicapped and I see this all the time.

 

I would hope that adding an icon would make people pause and think more about the handicap accessiblity. But I suspect that it will be no more useful than the 1 star rating - people using it without understanding it. And I'm afraid I don't have any better suggestions to offer beyond people putting more detailed descriptions of the terrain in their cache descriptions, for example: "500ft paved path ending in rough dirt which may be awkward for wheelchairs" and "you need to bend down to retrieve the cache". Unfortunately for most people these may also be spoilers...

 

Groover

[+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite]

Brian I've been on dozens of one star caches that a wheelchair couldn't make it across. So I thought I'd give this a little thought and make it so that people would be certain that a wheelchair could access the cache.

 

At least that's the plan, doesn't seem like much work to me. Actually when I went back over my caches I saw quite a few that a wheelchair could access. So I have made sure that people looking in could see this. Wouldn't it be nice that when doing a search for caches a person could look for handicapped alone?

 

I hear voices.....and they don't like you!

[+Mopar]

quote:

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Originally posted by Groover:

At the risk of starting a flame war, the 1 star rating for handicap accessible doesn't work, because I suspect that most people who do not live with or know someone who is handicapped, really don't understand what it means to be handicapped and therefore the limitations.

My wife is handicapped and I see this all the time.

 

I would hope that adding an icon would make people pause and think more about the handicap accessibility. But I suspect that it will be no more useful than the 1 star rating - people using it without understanding it. And I'm afraid I don't have any better suggestions to offer beyond people putting more detailed descriptions of the terrain in their cache descriptions, for example: "500ft paved path ending in rough dirt which may be awkward for wheelchairs" and "you need to bend down to retrieve the cache". Unfortunately for most people these may also be spoilers...

 

Groover

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Don't think you will get flamed from anyone who understands what a terrain 1 cache should truly be. There are very few out there, IMHO. in the last week I found one terrain cache 700ft down a washed out dirt path that an able bodied cacher that happened to be short had trouble crossing a few gullies, and then 50ft up a hillside covered in heavy brush. The second cache was 30ft down a steep muddy slope, and then climb over a HUGE fallen tree.

I would hope someone who would take the time to specifically mention a caches is accessible would also have a good clue it is. I've been working on a wheelchair multicache for a few weeks now. I really thought I had it all nailed down, till after a few visits I noticed the most obvious parking area often had some car blocking the wheelchair access to the paved trail. No big deal for most to just walk around, but major effort in a chair. I found another place to park where there is no chance of blocked access, so I will use that for my parking coordinates.

 

Tae-Kwon-Leap is not a path to a door, but a road leading forever towards the horizon.

[+Frolickin]

Even one star caches can pose a problem for wheelchairs. Unless a sidewalk has a curb cut, it would take the most agile of handicapped folks to make it on to a city block without assistance.

 

Fro.

 

________________________________________

Geocaching . . . hiking with a purpose

[+Mopar]

quote:

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Originally posted by Frolickin:

Even one star caches can pose a problem for wheelchairs. Unless a sidewalk has a curb cut, it would take the most agile of handicapped folks to make it on to a city block without assistance.

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Fro, you just hit the problem on the head, only ya got it backward. A 1 star terrain cache should be doable in a wheelchair, according to the ratings, so if there isn't a curb cut you just went up to a 1.5 star terrain, minimum. Under the current ratings. Maybe its time to make a 0.5 terrain rating, specifically for handicap caches(yes, I know thats what a 1.0 was supposed to be, but we know its not the case, usually).

 

Tae-Kwon-Leap is not a path to a door, but a road leading forever towards the horizon.

[+Frolickin]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mopar:

A 1 star terrain cache should be doable in a wheelchair, according to the ratings, so if there isn't a curb cut you just went up to a 1.5 star terrain, minimum.

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The ratings state:

quote:

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Basically flat

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Most people would classify a city street as basically flat, thus provide a one star rating.

 

The current system is inadequate to provide accessibility information for the handicapped.

 

Heck, I just pondered my Founder's Avenue cache that you have completed. That has a terrain rating of one. The block has curb cuts, but it is handicapped accessible only in the sense that a wheelchair-bound person could nab it if he could get to the sidewalk.

 

Even with the curb cut, it would be difficult. My father (bound to a wheelchair for essentially my entire life) would have been able to drive himself to the location. He, however, would have taken a huge risk in getting out of his car, into a wheelchair, wheeling himself to the end of the block in the street (that is a busy street), then up the curb cut. He could have done it, but not without some doing.

 

If we are going to truly indicate handicapped accessibility to our caches, more thorough criteria will need to be used.

 

Fro.

 

________________________________________

Geocaching . . . hiking with a purpose

[+Mopar]

quote:

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Originally posted by Frolickin:

The ratings state:

quote:

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Basically flat

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Most people would classify a city street as _basically flat_, thus provide a one star rating.

 

The current system is inadequate to provide accessibility information for the handicapped.

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Just wondering where you found that description for a 1 star terrain cache?

I just went and used the rating system on the hide a cache page, and it defines a 1 * terrain cache as:

quote:

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Terrain rating: 1

* Handicapped accessible. (Terrain is likely to be paved, is relatively flat, and less than a 1/2 mile hike is required.)

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for the record, here is the full list:

quote:

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* Handicapped accessible. (Terrain is likely to be paved, is relatively flat, and less than a 1/2 mile hike is required.)

 

** Suitable for small children. (Terrain is generally along marked trails, there are no steep elevation changes or heavy overgrowth. Less than a 2 mile hike required.)

 

*** Not suitable for small children. (The average adult or older child should be OK depending on physical condition. Terrain is likely off-trail. May have one or more of the following: some overgrowth, some steep elevation changes, or more than a 2 mile hike.)

 

**** Experienced outdoor enthusiasts only. (Terrain is probably off-trail. Will have one or more of the following: very heavy overgrowth, very steep elevation (requiring use of hands), or more than a 10 mile hike. May require an overnight stay.)

 

***** Requires specialized equipment and knowledge or experience, (boat, 4WD, rock climbing, SCUBA, etc) or is otherwise extremely difficult.

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I remember when those ratings were hashed out here in the forums. wish more people followed them.

 

Tae-Kwon-Leap is not a path to a door, but a road leading forever towards the horizon.

[+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite]

quote:

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I remember when those ratings were hashed out here in the forums. wish more people followed them.

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I agree with you Mopar. But since I know I can't change anyone elses mind, I figured at least I could change my own cache pages. Hopefully it might start a trend.

 

I hear voices.....and they don't like you!

[+Frolickin]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mopar:

Just wondering where you found that description for a 1 star terrain cache?

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http://www.clayjar.com/gcrs/

 

The above page is the page linked from http://www.geocaching.com/hide/report.asp

 

Fro.

 

________________________________________

Geocaching . . . hiking with a purpose

[+Mopar]

quote:

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Originally posted by Frolickin:

http://www.clayjar.com/gcrs/

 

The above page is the page linked from http://www.geocaching.com/hide/report.asp

 

Fro.

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OK, I see, but you only looked at one part of the criteria. Maybe that needs to be made more clear though. If you look at the end result where it spits out the actual rating, a 1 star terrain is defined as handicap accessible.

 

Tae-Kwon-Leap is not a path to a door, but a road leading forever towards the horizon.

[+Frolickin]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mopar:

If you look at the end result where it spits out the actual rating, a 1 star terrain is defined as handicap accessible.

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That is too late in the process.

 

Handicapped designation needs to be a separate category.

 

Fro.

 

________________________________________

Geocaching . . . hiking with a purpose

[+Mopar]

quote:

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Originally posted by Frolickin:

quote:

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Originally posted by Mopar:

If you look at the end result where it spits out the actual rating, a 1 star terrain is defined as handicap accessible.

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That is too late in the process.

 

Handicapped designation needs to be a separate category.

 

Fro.

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I think you are right Fro, and I just made that suggestion to clayjar. Goes to show maybe something good CAN come out of rehashing the same thread 10 times.

 

Tae-Kwon-Leap is not a path to a door, but a road leading forever towards the horizon.

[+Team Spike]

"1/2 mile hike" - illustrates my point that even that description is inadequate. 1/2 mile is a very long way on crutches or in a wheelchair, even if it is flat and paved.

 

I still think giving more precise textual description would be useful, perhaps in a guided format making it searchable?

 

Groover

[+haggaeus]

Wheelchair-accessible caches are a great idea! I know a local park which has a wheelchair fittness path and is in a nice location too (Echo Lake Park, Mountainside, NJ), but I wouldn't dare to place a cache there without actually verifying it by a handicapped person.

If you know handicapped people who would be willing to test the cache availability, we could have a more official icon like "wheelchair-approved".