Mobility impairment friendly places to visit in the US

[sqbr]

My partner and I are pondering a visit to the US for a holiday. I have chronic fatigue syndrome and fairly significant mobility issues: I can't walk very far, up more than a couple of stairs, or up steep hills, and will plausibly be hiring a mobility scooter.

Do people have recs (or anti-recs) for cities or sites that are likely to be interesting to two Australian geeks and are particularly amenable to these kinds of constraints?

Any good sf cons that are accessibility friendly and held in interesting cities? (My partner is alas not convinced that he would find Wiscon very interesting)

Our plans are very tentative at this stage, so any and all suggestions or ideas are welcome. Currently pondered locations include San Francisco, Yosemite National Park, New York, Las Vegas, Chicago and Boston.

Comments

[jadelennox]

Boston is a mix. It's a very walking friendly city, and a lot of the shops and other touristy areas are old or in old buildings, that because they predate the Americans with disabilities act (and in many cases, electricity) have at least a few steps in and out.

If you are interested in seeing things around greater Boston (and there's plenty of touristy areas outside of the city), you can have a great experience. Gloucester, Salem, Plymouth, Cape Cod, etc.

And there are plenty of tour buses (or even better, duck Tours, that drive around the city's roads and rivers in adapted amphibious vehicles), so you can see the less car-friendly parts of the city without having to walk.

If you like museums, aquariums, etc., those are all accessible and all world-class. Fenway Park is accessible. The outdoor parts of the freedom trail are accessible if you have an electric scooter (it's designed for walking around hilly city); the indoor historic site it goes to are accessible where it's plausible, but a lot of them are very old buildings. I found one page that says the author hit the slew of bookstores in Cambridge, which surprises me, because while Cambridge is full of wonderful bookstores most of the ones I can think of have fairly crappy accessibility. (That was on a search for "Accessible Boston", By the way, which had some really good links.

Don't come when there is likely to be snow. Locals are indifferent shovelers at best, and asking them to shovel out the curb cuts is apparently too much for our delicate sensibilities.

The MBTA is much more accessible than it used to be. The buses are all accessible, the trains are accessible, and I think even the green line is accessible which brings us up to 100% subway accessibility, in theory.

When you call restaurants to find out about their accessibility, you should specifically ask "are there any steps to the front door" and "are there any steps to the bathroom". Restaurant staff around here seem to think that two steps to the front door and a flight of steps to the bathroom still counts as "accessible"; I have no idea why.

As far as cons, The problem is that most of them are in the winter when the hotels are cheaper, and that's when the city is a lot less wheelchair/scooter friendly. Arisia, Boskine definitely snowy. Vericon maybe. AnimeBoston probably not.

[sqbr]

Wow, thanks for a such a detailed response! I hate the cold, so would be avoiding the snow regardless :)

Restaurant staff around here seem to think that two steps to the front door and a flight of steps to the bathroom still counts as "accessible"; I have no idea why.

What would inaccessible mean, an obstacle course?