Candy Harrington, a journalist who traveled the National Park System to see how accessible lodges and trails in the parks really are, discusses her new book on accessibility in the parks. And Cory MacNulty and Erika Pollard from the National Parks Conservation Association’s Southwest Regional Office discuss the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s plans for managing the greatly reduced in size Bears Ears and Grand Staircase monuments, and the roughly 2 million acres that were pulled out of the monuments so they could be opened to mining, grazing, and other resource-impacting activities.
By Kurt Repanshek - February 9th, 2020
:02 National Parks Traveler introduction
:12 Episode introduction with Kurt Repanshek
1:40 Conversation with author Candy Harrington about accessibility in the National Park System
12:36 National Parks Traveler promotion
12:52 Grand Teton National Park Foundation promotion
13:23 Washington's National Park Fund promotion
14:00 RVShare.com promotion
14:34 Accessible parks conversation with Candy Harrington continues
27:30 Friends of Acadia promotion
28:00 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation promotion
28:25 North Cascades Institute promotion
28:47 Yankee Freedom promotion
29:28 How is the Bureau of Land Management managing Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah.
39:40 Episode closing
40:15 Orange Tree Productions
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Comments
I just listened to Cindy's podcast and felt compelled to leave a comment. She sound like a delightful lady with good intentions!
I feel that I'm adequately prepared to comment as: I've applied commonsense and ADA standards to parks for 30 years, have a degree in architecture, and am a full-time wheelchair user.
I'm glad she fulfilled her five year dream and sensed that she enjoyed that experience. It sounded like the book contains some useful information and hope the sales of the book will help her partially cover the expenses.
But my advise is, DON'T BUY THIS BOOK! Many accessibility problems stem from well intended people who sent the wrong messages to compliance representatives and the disabled public.
She was obviously not prepared to represent people with disabilities for several reasons. First and foremost, she isn't disabled! If she was, she would have used the basic tool, the tape measure! A 1/2"-1" difference will often time dictate if someone in a wheelchair can use a wash basin, safely transfer onto a shower bench or bed... Besides safety issues a tape measure can alleviate frustrations associated with adequate turning radius, door openings and other pinch points. The size differentials of wheelchair and other mobility devices vary greatly. And that's just a few of her notable shortcomings. I also didn't hear about parking, accessible routes, door hardware & pull weight, front counter accessibility.
While I'm glad she perused her dream, It's obvious that she was ill equipped for the serious job of helping people with disabilities. I'm also saddened that your fine podcast helped propel this misinformation! Sorry if this stiff critique falls to side of negativity, but it was difficult to listen to.
She was obviously not prepared to represent people with disabilities for several reasons. First and foremost, she isn't disabled! If she was, she would have used the basic tool, the tape measure! A 1/2"-1" difference will often time dictate if someone in a wheelchair can use a wash basin, safely transfer onto a shower bench or bed... Besides safety issues a tape measure can alleviate frustrations associated with adequate turning radius, door openings and other pinch points. The size differentials of wheelchair and other mobility devices vary greatly. And that's just a few of her notable shortcomings. I also didn't hear about parking, accessible routes, door hardware & pull weight, front counter accessibility. - Yeap, your right!
Amazing a good deal of beneficial information