To kickstart our Accessible Date, we decided to have our date meet us at a central campus location.
Sometimes, it can be weird to be waiting at a restaurant for someone to show up or not, so we
decided this was a good way to bypass some of that stress! We decided to meet at Memorial Union
on the first floor. Memorial has great, big accessible doors with a button that opens the doors
automatically, as well as a great map with signs showing where in the building is wheelchair
accessible. The date hasn’t technically yet begun, but we’re pleased with Memorial’s setup.
We’re now ready to walk and roll our way to The Heidelberg for dinner. The front entrance has a big door that does meet the ADA door width requirement; however, the door itself is pretty heavy, so it might be pretty difficult for a wheelchair user to access the door by themselves.
The Heidelberg is a sit-down style of restaurant, meaning a member of the wait staff will come to you and take your order, instead of having to go place your order elsewhere in the restaurant. The tables are at an adequate height, and it is very easy to remove a chair in order for a wheelchair user to access the table. However, it is worth noting that the Heidelberg can fill up to maximum capacity quite often. If our date took place on a busy Friday night, it would be much more difficult for the tables and chairs to be moved in such a way to allow a wheelchair user to sit comfortably.
A main attraction at the Heidelberg is it’s lovely patio. On a nice summer night, there’s nothing better than hanging up on the roof enjoy your meal and drinks. However, there is no elevator in the restaurant, meaning that a wheelchair user would be completely unable to access the patio.
Checking out the bathrooms, we immediately notice that the women’s restroom sign has a wheelchair accessible symbol on it. However, the men’s restroom sign did not have the same symbol. I asked the male bartender if the bathroom was also accessible for male wheelchair users, and he said it was. If we accept his statement to be true, we must question why there is also not a wheelchair symbol for the men’s bathroom. Is it just assumed that if one is accessible, than the other bathroom is as well? Would that cause some anxiety for a male wheelchair user, not being sure right away whether or not the bathroom is accessible to them or not?
Following our meal at The Heidelberg, we decided to make a move toward Ragtag Cinema.
Along the way, we were having little trouble with the width of the sidewalk, and noted that
we could comfortably travel side-by-side with someone in a wheelchair.
We later noticed some major issues in the sidewalk pavement -- most notably, there were
large, cracked curbs that were nearly impossible to maneuver around.
Even walking over them was a bit of a challenge, so someone using a wheelchair
would likely have trouble navigating around the sidewalk.
Once arriving at Ragtag, we found that the door was safely wide enough to enter,
although the pavement was a bit unlevel with the flooring once inside of the building.
Upon entering, the wood floor is flat and easy to travel on, but the placement of tables
and chairs could make for a narrow pathway to navigate, especially during peak
business hours when it’s particularly crowded.
The ticket booth is an appropriate height for someone in a wheelchair to
purchase tickets, although the food counter and the bar are both too high.
Once entering the theater, there are reserved seating for wheelchairs.
However, we noted that there are only two of these seats
available -- if more than two people using wheelchairs were to arrive for a movie,
it is uncertain if all of them could be comfortably seated.
Touching on comfort, Ragtag employees will not seat people with wheelchairs
until all other patrons have been seated, so even if someone in a
wheelchair arrived well before the film were to begin,
they would still have to sit in the lobby until everyone else had been seated.
Likewise, these reserved seats are next to the trash bins,
creating a less than romantic ambiance if the smell of trash is in the air.
Although the theater is accessible, it only meets guidelines -- it doesn’t necessarily
provide comfort or amazing conditions to people in wheelchairs.
After the move for some privacy we thought that Gunter Hans would be a good place to go.
It’s right across the street from Ragtag, and its beer and pretzels are not
something easily passed up.
Gunter Hans is also known for its patio.
It wasn’t until we got to the bar, that we realized there were a couple obstacles
in the way of getting out to the patio.
The door frame had a bit of a bump, which might have been
manageable to someone in a wheelchair,
but the step down would have been impossible.
This means that we would be confined to staying inside Gunter Hans, which is not the worst thing, but definitely not as romantic an area. All the tables inside were at a good height, and the chairs were easy to move if our partner would want to move them to roll their chair up to the table.
Another issue we came across was that the counters would be too high for someone in a wheelchair to easily use. It would be hard to reach up and grab drinks, which means we would have to be in charge of getting drinks.
Our date would end after hanging out inside of Gunter Hans.
There were definitely some big issues that we ran across while trying to
plan this accessible date. While The Heidlberg and Gunter Hans were technically
wheelchair accessible, the more iconic parts of the bars would have been inaccessible.
Even Ragtag is lacking in wheelchair awareness.
Their reserved wheelchair seating seem nice to the able-bodied, it comes
off as more of an afterthought in reality.
With all that being said, this date that we had planned out would still be acceptable and fun!
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