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What about handicap accessible caches?


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I think the title of the thread says it all. I've been trying to keep my eyes open for spots that would fit this profile. Maybe even an icon. I know, I know, you can't pander to everyone and meet every cause, but something tells me there are people with reduced mobility raring to go out and find a cache or two.

 

boo2.jpg

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I've mentioned this a few time because my wife has had both knees replaced and can't get around that well. What I have done is once I've found a cache that has acceptable access, I'll come back with her and let her hunt it out. I've placed some caches where a person in a wheelchair can poke around some but it's hard to hide a cache that they can get to that the general population won't find. Still, it is a good challenge. Around here we have some very talented camouflage artists. Given a good cheat, I'm sure people out there could make one that is reachable by many in a wheelchair.

 

Steve Bukosky N9BGH

Waukesha Wisconsin

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You could alway have a wheelchair symbol (The International Symbol of Accesability). That symbol could be placed similiar to the Travel bug symbol. Next to a cache that is assessable.

 

of course there are varying degrees of assesability and htat would have to be sorted out somehow. Maybe a symbol wiht a green halo is one you could roll up to in a hard wheeled chair. A symbol wiht a red ring around it needs an 'off road chair?

 

This is no easy thing to sort out. Look at how the ratings vary for a regular cache. Iv'e seen 1's that were harder than 4's.

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When I'm a tourist and hunting in places that have good public transport, I usually provide bus or MRT info in my logs. The problem is that hiders generally live in the area, can usually afford cars and never consider how to get to their cache by bus.

 

Example cities where there are a large number of tourists and good mass transit systems where transit information would be useful:

 

New York

London

Singapore

Hong Kong

Auckland

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i put a note on my caches as to what the nearest subway line is, also i am begining to place some urban caches that may be accesible to those in wheelchairs. they are usually micro caches however.

quote:
Originally posted by evilrooster:

I'd like to see public transport information included (at least on urban caches). Not all cachers drive. icon_biggrin.gif

 

_evilrooster_

-the email of the species is deadlier than the mail-


 

SR and dboggny. Oh man, my mother in law is here9372_700.gif

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i put a note on my caches as to what the nearest subway line is, also i am begining to place some urban caches that may be accesible to those in wheelchairs. they are usually micro caches however.

quote:
Originally posted by evilrooster:

I'd like to see public transport information included (at least on urban caches). Not all cachers drive. icon_biggrin.gif

 

_evilrooster_

-the email of the species is deadlier than the mail-


 

SR and dboggny. Oh man, my mother in law is here9372_700.gif

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What information would be useful depends on the city & the public transport in it. If there's a distinct city centre (as in Edinburgh), I assume my cachers are going to be able to find it, then give bus information from there (e.g., buses going to Leith from the city centre will get you in range). If there's a more diffuse transit network, knowing which bus or subway lines are nearest is best. It is assumed that cachers can get onto the system...the trick is getting them going in the right direction icon_biggrin.gif.

 

I pitch my information at tourists - locals can find their own way icon_wink.gif.

 

evilrooster

-the email of the species is deadlier than the mail-

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What information would be useful depends on the city & the public transport in it. If there's a distinct city centre (as in Edinburgh), I assume my cachers are going to be able to find it, then give bus information from there (e.g., buses going to Leith from the city centre will get you in range). If there's a more diffuse transit network, knowing which bus or subway lines are nearest is best. It is assumed that cachers can get onto the system...the trick is getting them going in the right direction icon_biggrin.gif.

 

I pitch my information at tourists - locals can find their own way icon_wink.gif.

 

evilrooster

-the email of the species is deadlier than the mail-

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Its not hard to find these kind of places, I belive that they are needed not just the log saying wheelchair assesable except the last three feet, what are they going to do? I have ten wheelchair assesable Vir caches inside the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere and rotate them every three months and I think they are starting to take off.

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quote:
Originally posted by Cap Kal:

I actually put out a wheelchair friendly cache located at the barrier free fishing trails.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=19808

They put an icon in the page that I didn't put there of a wheelchair but the only way to tell from the listing that it is wheelchair friendly is the name. If people put something in the name you can then use the keyword feature to look for them.


 

How do I get this icon added to my cache page? I have a cache that was the product of the 1st of many discussions on these type of caches. It was placed expressly to be handicapable. The cache isA Cache For A Queen and was named for the person who was the reason for the initial discussion

 

Illegitimus non carborundum!

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I like the idea not because I'm in a wheelchair, but because I have kids and a stroller (Soon to be TWO strollers!!!!). For me there are two types of WheelChair/Stroller caches.

 

1. Completely accessable for the WC/S bound person. They can roll right up to it and pick it up by themselves.

 

2. Assisted Accessablility. The wc/s bound person can get within <50 feet of the cache with a friend who covers the last few feet or bends down/climbs up etc.

 

This is an ongoing topic and I hope Jeremy starts work on a Facilities Matrix for all kinds of things like this.

 

Rob

Mobile Cache Command

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Maybe Jeremy could add a feature - a box to check on the submittal form(?) that says something like, check this box if you would like a wheelchair/stroller icon? and maybe another box to check wether it is 100% or partially accessable. In the meantime maybe you can ask to have it inserted by email when you submit it?

 

What's for dinner? How about Hamster Helper?!!!

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OK, I was updating one of my cache pages, and I decided to revisit this topic, since the question of where the wheelchair cache icons came from was never answered. I looked at the 2 caches mentioned with the icon in them, and I noticed that both times the icon image itself is hosted off geocaching.com on what it looks like is a subdir of a cacher's homepage. Is it possible that this is just something one of the cache approver's is doing on his own? If so, it's a great thing, but I would really love to see it added as a check box when creating the cache

 

Illegitimus non carborundum!

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Nice one. How about two different icons?

 

That one for a 100% accessible cache, and something like "Handicap reachable" for ones where a disabled cacher can get to the location but will need assistance reaching the cache itself?

 

I don't have a good paint program on this machine or I'd make one...

 

evilrooster

-the email of the species is deadlier than the mail-

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All of my locationless caches and three of my five non-locationless caches are fully handicap accessible. The fourth non-locationless may or may not be (it's too high above ground for wheel chair access but is otherwise accessible.)

 

It is fairly straight-forward to do accessible urban caches, especially micro-caches and I try to take that into account while I'm scouting around for locations for urban caches.

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Added your WC logo to three of my caches. Now if they could get it to show up in the general log listings, that should do it. And yes, make it part of the log making process. Just "click here if handicap accessible" would make the rest automatic. Hey Jeremy?

 

nscaler

"Anyone not here, raise your hand!".

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