Today I begin my 55th year on this planet. It will be a landmark year next birthday--that magical one where discounts and offers put me in a new marketing category. I have one more year of being middle-aged. Somehow, magically, one year from today, I will be transformed into an "early senior" as I've heard it described. Aging, as you can guess is on my mind today.

The last 4 years of my life have been transformative. I swear my biological clock said, you're 50 and now you break down. I take more medicines and supplements than I care to admit. I monitor my health in ways I never imagined. There are times when the hormones in my body render it alien to me. I keep thinking about how when you go through puberty the powers that be kindly offered classes and films to explain what to expect from a changing body. No such manuals and warnings have been easily available on the other end of the hormonal growth cycle. One of those "dropped threads" that it would be nice if it were more a part of our culture.

I've also been thinking a lot about size acceptance this week. Not that too many weeks go by that I don't think about that. After all, I live in a fat body and it is hard to escape that fact in day-to-day interactions. But this week I'm working on several projects that have brought ideas to the forefront. I've participated in some lively discussions. I've been editing a book that addresses some fundamental sociological questions on the topic. I've been planning a project for PDANation.

This week (July 26) marked the 21st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and I've read several things online about questions of accessibility. I always think about such questions around this time because of the anniversary. Last summer I was working on an article about this time, so it was way more prominent in my mind than this year.

The thing is that aging, size acceptance and disabilities have a lot in common. These categories are not front and center in our culture. They often go against the grain of the young, thin and able-bodied goals presented to us for consumption through anti-aging, weight-loss and fitness advertising that fills our daily lives.

These categories have something else in common: in a world designed with a particular kind of human being in mind, just moving around in space becomes problematic. Social geographers have noted that space is designed from cultural contexts. Certain assumptions are made before the design is even thought about and when the design of something is commissioned, some of the parameters are already set by culture and may not even be marked specifically. Assumptions are just made. People just know.

This is why Universal Design is so important. It questions these assumptions and pushes for more inclusive design. It goes to the heart of the matter and does so without dividing people up into categories. It makes the world work for everyone.

So this is my birthday wish: It is my hope that as the designers, engineers and architects of the world seek to create new things, they will be inclusive. This means that they will talk to a wide variety of people about what they need to make their lives work. It means that a wide variety of people will have a chance to be designers, engineers and architects of our spaces. It also means that the principals of universal design will become commonplace in our thinking, our building codes and our lives. That is my hope.

I really hope this is the start of something good. The airlines have been given too much power and have resisted the simplest ideas to make them comfortable for all people. I'm happy to see some understanding that the issue for people of size is part of the greater issue of people having rights when they fly.

With appreciation to Emory University, the Rollins School of Public Health and the Goizueta Business School...
Concrete Change is pleased to announce to you, our friends
and
supporters of housing justice
the selection of
Concrete Change
as one of the recipients of

The 2011 Annual Martin Luther King Jr.

Community Service Award
For our work to promote affordable, accessible integrated housing.

"Basic access in every new home."

www.concretechange.org 404-378-7455

Program and Award Ceremony:

Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 4:00 p.m.

I have published an article in Desert Companion, a local magazine, on Inclusive Housing in Southern Nevada.

Let Us In: Think accessible housing is
just an issue for the “disabled”? Think again. Making Las Vegas livable in the future means making homes more visitable — today

Please read and pass along to others.

If you are local, you can get issue in Coffee Bean & Tea Leafs in the Metro Las Vegas area.

And thanks to all who helped me research and write this article! Especially Marteen Moore, who generously let me come into her home.

>

There are a slew of people nationwide who end up on nursing homes simply because housing isn't accessible. They do not need 24 hour nursing care, they just need shelter they can get into and move around in.

More young people are winding up in nursing homes

It's no longer unusual to find a nursing home resident who is decades younger than his neighbor: About one in seven people now living in such facilities in the U.S. is under 65. But the growing phenomenon presents a host of challenges for nursing homes, while patients like Martin face staggering isolation.

Read more

I cannot really add to this. It is so what we hope to do here in Vegas.

Carl and I have been trying to put a handle on what we want to do, especially with promoting visitable and accessible housing. After kicking around the concept, we have settled on a simple and elegant summary:

An excellent description of the "costs" of ignoring visitability. It's so simple. Either we care or we don't.

What’s At Stake

These are serious matters. And yet . . .

* Most builders have not yet begun to construct routine access in new houses.
* Most buyers have not yet begun to demand it.
* Most policy makers have not yet made it a priority

One of the things that holds back accommodations for differences in abilities is the paradigms through which we see things. There are many ways we are constrained by past thinking, but perhaps none are more constraining than the thinking that goes into design of the material world. Where we live, tools we use, equipment we need, roads we drive and so forth began as an idea in the minds of designers. Those minds were shaped by the culture in which they developed.

Cultural values and cultural mores are embodied in designs. This accounts for the wide varieties of approaches to the same functional problems, which makes specific places seem to be living reflections of the people who have lived there. Many believe that variety is what makes the world a beautiful and interesting place to live and visit. As an avid traveler who enjoys new places, I count myself among those who appreciate that diversity.

But people being who they are, stereotypical, prejudicial and xenophobic tendencies can also become embodied in designs, and once there, they continue to limit the lives and movements of people long after the minds of their designers have died out.

Paradigms limit the thinking of new designs as well. Once embodied, designs become the way its always been, the box that needs to be out-thought. So without someone standing up and saying "That does not work!" these patterns are often repeated even in the absence of intent.

Building homes that are not visitable by almost everyone is a good example of a paradigm that should be shifted. We live longer as a population. With long life comes limitations on mobility and ability. The old paradigm of a home is not a norm written in stone. It is an idea based upon a level of knowledge and born in a particular culture that was ignorant of diversity. In the same way that side and back doors in southern downtown stores are throwbacks to the days when darker people were expected to use the other "entrance" and whites only were allowed to walk through the front door, homes that are not accessible to wheelchairs and other mobility equipment are throwbacks to a world that pretended that we are all similarly-abled. We now better about the color of people's skin and we should know better about the status of those who require technologies to assist them in life.

All people should be welcomed.

The passage of the ADA allowed the world (and those with limitations as well) to see that we have a vast diversity of abilities. There are some that even assert that the persons living with disabilities constitute the largest minority group. We are visible now in a way that the physical barriers would not let us be before.

The appropriate response to this visibility is visitability. Homes carry with them a stigmatization of those who are differently abled. The social stigma of difference is built right into the narrow hallways, the steps to the front door, the second floor bathrooms. A house becomes a home for many reasons. Among them is who is welcomed. Extended family members with disabilities, friends and co-workers with disabilities and someday, maybe even you may need that little extra shift to know you are welcomed.

As new homes are being built, it doesn't cost that much to shift the paradigm to make a home visitable. All we need is the will to do it.

First, given that Las Vegas is a major travel destination, this isn't that big of a difference in purpose.

Second, I've been stuck here a bit (going on 3 years, which is a long time for me), so I figure time to stir things up locally.

Finally, I got my RE license in August and it seems to me that the best thing I can contribute to the community while making a living is to push those barriers down.

After several years being dormant, Ample Ramblings is being re-awakened with a new mission: To work towards universal accessibility in Las Vegas. Over the next few months, I hope to explore ways to encourage our community here to become more open to persons with disabilities, seniors and anyone who has special needs in both housing and public spaces.

The current economic climate is regarded by many as a dismal time to be in Las Vegas. I beg to differ. As housing becomes more affordable and Las Vegans seek to expand their economic base beyond gaming, there has never been a better time for Las Vegans to innovate. Universal Design is innovation with a heart and we hope through Ample Ramblings and our efforts to promote universal design that we can open the heart of Las Vegas to be inclusive.

Our old mission statement read:

We are devoted to promoting universal accessibility in the travel and tourism industry so that people will be welcomed no matter what their background, age, ability or size.

We are devoted to showing the travel and tourism industry that welcoming all travelers is in tune with the spirit of accommodations and is a sound way to expand the travel market by creating a loyal client base that will increase long-term sales and profits. Accommodating diversity is good business.

We are devoted to promoting global good will by promoting the free movement of all people. Travel and tourism offers an opportunity for people to experience, educate and expand their lives through visiting new places and meeting new people.

We are still devoted to promoting free movement of all people and we want to see our adopted home become a symbol of that inclusive spirit. It is a daunting task and we are keenly aware we cannot do it alone, but there is no better city in America to try. We are America's playground and there is nothing more fun than a playground free of bullies and inviting all of us to come and play.

So stay tuned as we begin our new journey, not across the miles but into new territory for our community and for the world it serves.

It's Vegas Baby!

Carl and I went to Las Vegas last week for fun and profit. We will be doing a full blown issue of The Ample Traveler© for May/June on what was good and what was not. But I wanted to say I was shocked at the extent to which downtown Vegas was NOT user friendly for disabled travelers. Not only were some of the buildings still inaccessible, but the attitudes of some of the service staff were downright hostile.

The most disappointing place was the Bay City Diner. We stood behind the "velvet rope" waiting for a seat for nearly 10 minutes. Standing was extremely difficult for me and I asked if I could just sit down while they were clearing the table. The hostess got extremely huffy with me and walked off without answering my question. We met her huffiness by walking off ourselves so I could find a seat. (We did have a great, but pricier lunch at the Horseshoe just down Fremont where the staff was absolutely spectacular in service, more on that next month.)

The second most incredibibly disapointing thing was the public bus service. After the Bay City Diner incident, I decided to rent a scooter (which was way too expensive and will be the subject of another rant). I was assured by the CAT (Citizens Area Transit) that ALL their buses were accessible. So at the end of a day where Carl had walked close to 4 miles and we were 2 miles away from our hotel, we decided to board a CAT bus. Well, it took 5 buses before one would let us on. Two tried but it didn't work. One stopped but claimed it couldn't get the lift down and one just flew right by without stopping after we were told that the next bus would stop. The fifth one let us on, but it was crowded and it took ten minutes before we could get the scooter in the right place and strapped in. Being a novice on scooters didn't help but neither did the fact that no one would move back or out of the way. I was humiliated and felt like a little kid by the time the whole incident was over. The only good thing was that the bus driver was extremely polite and patient.

I think that the reason this was so disappointing is that we were expecting Vegas to be a city that understood diversity in travelers. It seems so user friendly on the net. Vegas should understand inclusive travel because everywhere we went we saw people with assistive devices. Variety was definitely the spice of those attending.

Please understand, it wasn't all negative. We will have plenty of positive things to report next issue. It is just that we didn't expect so many negatives.

Of course, before you see Vegas there will be a March/April issue. Thanks for your patience on that -- it will be May before we get the next issue up, but it should be here very soon!

Lots of things happening in sunny (sort of) Phoenix East Valley. Blog entries will be back in a week or two.

In the meantime, check out this "grand" site and a list of comments on airlines compiled a bit ago, but still relevant. Along with some other great travel topics:

What airlines treat big people well?

How can I make traveling on an airplane more comfortable?

Airline tips for large passengers.

What themeparks are comfortable for larger bodies?

There has been some more discussion over at Big Fat Blog regarding the New York Times article about yet another lawsuit against Southwest Airlines.

This has got me thinking about how one goes about creating a consumer campaign to get an industry or, at least, some of the players in an industry to change their policies and accommodate diversity.

I am going to be doing some research and serious thinking about this topic over the next few weeks and will share some of what I find with the blog. This is the big nut to crack with The Ample Traveler© project.

I think it begins with WIFM: "What's in It For Me?"

I've given a lot of thought time to the above question from the point of view of persons who are stigmatized. We are looking for a free market that accommodates us through accessibility and respect. We deserve this. I've given a lot of thought time to the above question from the point of view of the travel, tourist and hospitality industry. They are looking for market expansion in a world where travel has become more complicated and more restricted. Accommodating difference is an opportunity to distinguish one's business from others. This is especially true when taking the universal design approach because it is possible to accommodate difference without alienating traditional customer bases.

Commercial enterprises, which frequently do not follow this formula because of social forces like stigma, often give lip service to profit motivation. When confronted with the costs of stigmatization, some of them will actually become convinced that it is better for their bottom line to ignore social stigma and cater to stigmatized populations. History bears this out as women, African Americans, Latinos and homosexuals have found economic power as consumers in the past 40 years. It simply becomes more important to think of these groups as customers than it does to think of them as less than human.

We have spending power, especially when we organize that power. But organizing that power is the problem. There is a great deal of demands on our power and we often feel powerless in the wake of those demands.

So I have returned to the WIFM concept and asked, "Is there anyone else who would benefit from the travel, tourism and hospitality industry accommodating diversity?" I believe there are other economic interests that would do so. For example, there are companies that manufacture assistive devices. The more accessible places that exist, the easier it is to use their devices. There are companies that do retrofitting and designing of buildings and interiors. These companies want to encourage the improvement and design of spaces. It would be in their best interest for industires to focus on these activities.

So how do we find these bedfellows and get them to climb inside?

Ah, that is the question that I will be considering as I examine how to make a consumer revolution.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

The New York Times published an article in their business travel section this week describing the experiences of a woman who is suing Southwest Airlines for race, gender and size discrimination:

Ms. Thompson, who is 5-feet-8-inches and weighs about 280 pounds, was asked to purchase the seat next to her. When she refused to do that - after all, she reasoned, the seat belt buckled just fine and the arm-rest slid down without a problem - she was asked to get off the flight.

"It was the most humiliating thing," said Ms. Thompson, who is 47 and is suing the airline for discrimination based on weight, race and gender. "I fly twice a week and often on Southwest, and I've never had a problem before. But this day some manager was out to get me."

NOTE: you have to register with NYT in order to see the full article. If you don't want to do that, drop us an e-mail and I will send you a copy of the article.

Big Fat Blog is having a discussion about the article, which is not wholly satisfying, but is a step in the right direction.

We talk about airline travel this month at The Ample Traveler©'s regular column, Accommodations.

I've seen the guideline below published on several websites. Thanks to disABLED for being the first to bring it to my attention.

I like it because the points are functionally oriented and practical. I have become a great believer in the maxim that form should follow function. Accommodations are a matter of design and decision, not nature. People make things and it is possible to make things that work for most people. When people are forced to fit things, then someone, somewhere has made a decision about what "normal" humans beings are and are not. All decisions can be superseded by other decisions. Designs can be redesigned.

I especially like point #8 because I'm tired of people saying "We can't think of everything." In a world of inclusion, you don't have to think of everything because the people you include will think of things as well. The "we can't think of everything" excuse is a sure-fire symptom of a top-down, paternalistic approach that suggests that some of us are human (those making decisions) and some of us are not supposed to be human (those whose needs were apparently an afterthought).

Travel is an important part of inclusion because travelers are usually visible wherever they travel. A tourist is a vital part of the cultures they visit. They come to town and share resources with the local economy. They are a lot like Johnny Appleseed, passing through, leaving a mark in their path. Sometimes that mark is good, sometimes not so good. But because they leave a mark, they are noticed.

With the passage of the ADA, persons with disabilities have become more visible. That visibility is reducing the stigma placed upon persons with disabilities, especially those who use assistive devices such as wheelchairs. Familiarity may breed contempt at times, but more often it breeds normality. What is repeated becomes comfortable and normal.

So inclusion not only ensures that the needs of those included will be considered, it ensures that those included will be considered human. That is why it is important to design accommodation. Accommodating spaces provide inclusion and inclusion encourages better accommodations. It is a positive cycle.



When You Meet a Person Who Uses a Wheelchair

When You Meet a Person Who Uses A Wheelchair

It is estimated that at least 25 million persons have mobility problems. Of these, approximately 500,000 use wheelchairs. People use wheelchairs as a result of a variety of disabilities, including spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, arthritis, cerebral palsy and polio. Wheelchairs provide mobility for persons with paralysis, muscle weakness, lack of coordination, nerve damage, and/or stiffness of joints. Wheelchairs come in many sizes and shapes which are adapted to the lifestyle of the user. They range from custom-designed models for sports activities to basic utility models for use in hospitals and airports. Despite their active participation in our society, most people who use wheelchairs encounter attitudinal barriers which affect their lives on a daily basis.
What Can You Do?

1. Do not automatically hold on to a person’s wheelchair. It is part of the person’s body space. Hanging or leaning on the chair is similar to hanging or leaning on a person sitting in any chair. It is often fine if you are friends, but inappropriate if you are strangers.
2. Offer assistance if you wish, but do not insist. If a person needs help (s)he will accept your offer and tell you exactly what will be helpful. If you force assistance it can sometimes be unsafe as when you grab the chair and the person using it loses his/her balance.
3. Talk directly to the person using the wheelchair, not to a third party. The person is not helpless or unable to talk.
4. Don’t be sensitive about using words like “walking” or “running.” People using wheelchairs use the same words.
5. Be alert to the existence of architectural barriers in your office and when selecting a restaurant, home, theatre or other facility, to which you want to visit with a person who uses a wheelchair.
6. If conversation proceeds more than a few minutes and it is possible to do so, consider sitting down in order to share eye level. It is uncomfortable for a seated person to look straight up for a long period.
7. Don’t park your car in a parking place in an accessible parking place. These places are reserved out of necessity, not convenience. The space is wider than usual in order to get wheelchairs in and out of the car and is close to the entrance for those who cannot push far.
8. When your dept., church, civic group or organization sponsors a program, be sure people with disabilities are included in the planning and presentation.
9. When children ask about wheelchairs and people who use them, answer them in a matter-of-fact manner. Wheelchairs, bicycles and skates share a lot in common.
10. When you hear someone use the term “cripple,” politely but firmly indicate your preference for the words “person who has a disability.”
11. If you wish to contribute to an organization that uses a “pity” or “sympathy” campaign, enclose a note with your check saying that the cause may be good, but the method of public appeal is demeaning to citizens with disabilities. Voice your disapproval of the “poor cripple” image.
12. Include people with disabilities in photos used in promotional material. When people with disabilities are presented in the media as competent, or “like other people,” write a note of support to the producer or publisher.
13. Make sure meeting places are architecturally accessible (with ramps, modified bathrooms, wide doors, low telephones, etc.) so that people with disabilities can be equal participants.
14. Encourage your community to put “curb cuts” in sidewalks. These inexpensive built-in ramps enable wheelchair users to get from place to place independently.
15. Include people who use wheelchairs on community task forces (transportation, building, zoning) so that your town will meet the needs of all citizens.
16. Make it a point to try to reduce barriers in your physical surroundings. Often these barriers have been created by architects, engineers and builders who were unaware. A simple “How could someone using a wheelchair get in here?” will help identify any barriers.

Taken from the handbook entitled Free Wheeling published by the Regional Rehabilitation Research Institute on Attitudinal, Legal and Leisure Barriers, Washington, D.C.

Latest Issue of The Ample Traveler© is up

Check out the January/February 2005 destination (hey, we made it before the end of February) -- Southeastern Arizona -- Where the Saguaro Rule.

We'd love to hear your comments regarding our issue, so feel free to post them here at Ample Ramblings or drop us an e-mail at info@ampletraveler.com.

Thanks for continuing to support our project. We have raised $93.00 to date. We need at least $500 to move forward with our plans and we are hoping for more so we can move more quickly to becoming an advocate for univeral access in the travel, tourism and hospitality industries.

The Apache Junction (Arizona) Public Library, as part of the never-ending campaign of the truly moronic to play parliamentarian with no semblance of consent from the rest of us, has blocked www.ampletraveler.com and www.theampletraveler.com from being viewed by patrons who use their Internet facilities. The "rationale" given by the "application" is that the site is "Illegal." Below is the "request" I sent regarding the subject to the unidentified and physically absent "sysop" supposedly in charge of discourse control for the library.

I'd like to know how a website devoted to accessibility issues in travel came to be categorized by your software as "illegal." I'd also like to know your name, as the personnel on duty at the Apache Junction Public Library declined to give it to me when I raised with them the issue of how this site came to be "filtered" out in the first place. Mostly, I'd like to know how a public library, a facility that once upon a time was known as a bastion of free speech, decided to use an application that so casually impugned the "legality" of any website, let alone one that shows no illegality at all as far as I know. I'd like you to email me at carlwilkerson@threewisetwins.com with your response.

Let me offer my personal welcome to visitors to our new blog. This blog will be replacing the forum on the Ample Traveler website. Feel free to add your comments as Pattie, Steve, and I keep you informed about our whereabouts. :) There will be plenty of stories to share as we continue our drive to spread the notion that "There Is Room For Everyone."

Before the blog has been two iterations of an Ample Ramblings forum that had a few postings. We are saving them here for posterity.

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Seat belt extenders on airlines
posted by Susan on 11/17/04

I did some traveling in October, visiting in and around Cleveland. i had no accommodation problems anywhere and it was terrific. The only "event" worthy of comment was on the American Airlines flights--all four of them. As I got on the plane, I asked the attendent for a seat belt extender. Each time the attendent nodded compliance but in a secretive manner, as if we were sharing a shameful secret. Each time, an extender was brought to me very quickly and handed to me in the most surrepticious manner she or he could devise, in order, apparently, to save me the humiliating embarrassment of being publically "outed" as a fat person. Each time I laughed, thanked the attendent, and then asked, loudly, if anyone else needed an extender.

I wish this new forum had a spell check because my spelling is terrible. I'm glad you're back. Susan Koppelman

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Apache Junction, AZ
posted by Carl on 12/01/04

We have moved to a campground in Apache Junction, Arizona. We are about twenty miles east of Phoenix. The campground is called Budget RV but has its charms despite the low-cost name. The perks include a cheery clubhouse and free DSL. We expect to be here for a month.

The weather has been unusually cold for this part of the world, with a freeze predicted for overnight. We are keeping warm by using an electric fan-forced heater (the RV has a furnace, but the electric unit is more cost-effective). We also had the foresight to have our fall wardrobes and a supply of cozy blankets on hand, so we are weathering the weather nicely.