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Handicapped accessible


seakayak

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My caching friend just broke her ankle and is in a cast. I was looking for caches that were wheelchair accesible. The only way to do this was look at every cache and look for the symbol. I was wondering if there was any way to search for handicap accessable caches without going to each cache. If not maybe it's something Groundspeak can look into. Just an observation.

Edited by seakayak
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My caching friend just broke her ankle and is in a cast. I was looking for caches that were wheelchair accesible. The only way to do this was look at every cache and look for the symbol. I was wondering if there was any way to search for handicap accessable caches without going to each cache. If not maybe it's something Groundspeak can look into. Just an observation.

 

Done already. Caches that have a terrain rating of one are supposed to be wheelchair accessible.

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Done already. Caches that have a terrain rating of one are supposed to be wheelchair accessible.

 

key word is supposed to be

 

I did a 1/1 yesterday that required me to walk several hundred meters up a atv trail then bushwack 15 metres to get to the cache. not wheelchair accessible definitely not a 1 terrain

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I am sorry but this is a common misconception. There is nothing in the guidelines that require a 1 terrain cache to be anything accessible. It is suggested but not "supposed" to be nor required. The cache rating system says that a 1 star terrain is "* Handicapped accessible. (Terrain is likely to be paved, is relatively flat, and less than a 1/2 mile hike is required.)" Handicapped accessible is not the same as wheelchair accessible. You are NOT required to us the cache rating system on the edit page to determine your caches terrain or difficulty rating. While a 1 star is generally assumed to be handicapped accessible it is not required to be. Handicapped accessible is not the same as wheelchair accessible.

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Recently, I've noticed cache submissions reviewed by Cache-bot have come back with a suggestion that a rating of 1 could have a wheelchair attribute applied. He does not insist, but makes the submitter take a hard second look. It seems to be working here, as more and more are getting listed as 1.5 that used to go by unnoticed at 1. I like it.

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I am sorry but this is a common misconception. There is nothing in the guidelines that require a 1 terrain cache to be anything accessible. It is suggested but not "supposed" to be nor required. The cache rating system says that a 1 star terrain is "* Handicapped accessible. (Terrain is likely to be paved, is relatively flat, and less than a 1/2 mile hike is required.)" Handicapped accessible is not the same as wheelchair accessible. You are NOT required to us the cache rating system on the edit page to determine your caches terrain or difficulty rating. While a 1 star is generally assumed to be handicapped accessible it is not required to be. Handicapped accessible is not the same as wheelchair accessible.

 

A 2 star terrain rating is described as "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.)"

 

One would logically conclude that a 1 star terrain rated cache would not have any attributes of a 2 star terrain rated cache else it would be rated 2 stars.

 

Personally I've seen quite a few 1 star terrain rated caches that should be 2 stars a few that should be 3 stars and even one that should be a 4 star. What I usually do is make a comment about the terrain so that others know what to expect and provide the URL to the Geocache Rating System http://www.clayjar.com/gcrs/ in my log.

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My caching friend just broke her ankle and is in a cast. I was looking for caches that were wheelchair accesible. The only way to do this was look at every cache and look for the symbol. I was wondering if there was any way to search for handicap accessable caches without going to each cache. If not maybe it's something Groundspeak can look into. Just an observation.

 

It's been my experience, including this past weekend, that caches with a rating of 1 are NOT all accesable by wheel chairs. Matter of fact of the 4 we tried they all had 1 for terrain, but all required walking on un even ground and bush wacking.. Not even close to wheelchair friendly. As for the Wheelchair symbol on the cache page: that too has been in accurate and not used where it could be. So, Thank you for all the comments, but I really think this is something that should be addressed by Groundspeak and the people that bring us geocaching.com. It's a great sport which can be enjoyed by wheelchair users.

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When placing a cache with a 1 rating my reviewer said it was supposed to be wheelchair accessible and he recommended that I change it to a 1.5 since it was not.

 

I was told the same thing when I hid a cache. But my experience shows not everyone goes by that. Be great if they did.

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When placing a cache with a 1 rating my reviewer said it was supposed to be wheelchair accessible and he recommended that I change it to a 1.5 since it was not.

I was told the same thing when I hid a cache. But my experience shows not everyone goes by that. Be great if they did.
Tell me about it. I once found a 1/1 cache one time that required that wheelchair roll about 200 feet through the woods and then climb over several deadfalls to get to the cache. :blink:
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You really don't know what it takes to maneuver a wheelchair off of paved roads until you have to actually have to do it.

 

I'm fortunately up on crutches now, but when I had surgery last year, I spent quite a bit of time in a wheelchair.

 

I thought I had an particularly good insight into what wheelchair accessible was before then. Trust me, I was very much surprised to discover how far off my perception was.

 

The frog is right, handicap accessible is not the same as wheelchair accessible.

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You really don't know what it takes to maneuver a wheelchair off of paved roads until you have to actually have to do it.

 

I'm fortunately up on crutches now, but when I had surgery last year, I spent quite a bit of time in a wheelchair.

 

I thought I had an particularly good insight into what wheelchair accessible was before then. Trust me, I was very much surprised to discover how far off my perception was.

 

The frog is right, handicap accessible is not the same as wheelchair accessible.

 

I do some ADA consulting and the first thing I do when I teach a seminar is to put everyone in a wheelchair and make them do routine things. There's no classroom activity that can provide this kind of awareness. From my experience, asking the average cache hider to understand accessibility is not a reasonable expectation.

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