Every New Year brings loads of lists from entertainment shows, newspapers and magazines - best dressed, worst movies, best couples, best restaurants, and on it goes. At lunch yesterday, Andrew talked about the lack of accessibility in the bathroom of the restaurant we were in and what a shame it was because the food is so darn good. He is an expert at bar placement and doorway widths. The conversation turned into our family's best and worsts for accessibility and special needs for 2008. Here are just a few of our favorite and not so favorite websites, toys, restaurants and attractions for families of kids with special needs. Our family will be taking notes throughout the year to add to the list. What are your best and worsts for 2008? Please share and I will add them to future posts on the subject.
Best Accessibility of Milwaukee Area Attractions/Restaurants/things of interest:
--Possibility Playground, Port Washington- The area's first accessible playground! There is too much to say about this wonderful place - check out my story in the in the very informative January Metroparent special needs issue: Possibility Playground.
-Stonefire Pizza Company - Best accessible bathroom around with tons of room for wheelchairs, automatic sinks at varying heights, and perfectly placed grab bars, big automatic entrance, fun and good food too! The building and gaming were designed by an architecture firm that specializes in universal design, to be accessible to all ages and abilities.
-Carrabbas Italian Grill, Brookfield, West Allis - "The best chicken fingers around", which are made on-site. My son has recently also raved about the lasagna. The bathrooms are accessible and the staff is friendly. A nice family spot where I can get a decent glass of Chianti, to boot.
-Joey Buonas Pizza, Milwaukee - A ramp and an elevator lift help to get you to the dining area. Good food and friendly staff, too!
-Red Arrow Ice Skating Rink - Open and accessible, wheelchairs allowed on ice and a bonus -Starbuck's!
-Mitchell Park Domes - Great accessibility and the renovations/lights are fantastic!
-Discovery World - Wide open with exhibits at different levels for wheelchair users.
-Lakefront paved portion of the Oak Leaf Trail off of Veterans Park- The paved trail is about 3 1/2 mile round trip and a great way to get a decent wheelchair accessible hike. You can't beat the view of Lake Michigan, the Milwaukee Art Museum and Discovery World. Plus, you can stop at Veteran's Park to fly a kite (the kite store is also wheelchair accessible).
-Milwaukee Public Market - Fun, yummy and interesting foods to excite and challenge your family's palate. Best fish tacos, new england clam chowder, falafel and I dare you to pass by the bakery and leave empty-handed! The elevator takes you up to an eating and food demo area and the restrooms, which are large and accessible with automatic faucets.
-Milwaukee Streets and Curb Cut-outs in the spring, summer and fall - Walking/Wheeling around downtown Milwaukee in the spring, summer and fall with our family is a pleasure. The cut-outs in the curbs and ramping allow people who use wheelchairs and canes to easily navigate the city. Wonderful!
-Great Websites: Judy Winter's Winter Ramblings, About.Com: Parenting Special Needs Children, and 5 Minutes for Special Needs
-Best New Toy: Sorry Sliders - Great fun for all ages and abilities.
-Other Resources: Children's Hospital of Wisconsin Southeast Regional Center for Children with Special Healthcare Needs is staffed by parents of kids with special needs ready to answer any question you have, timely seminars are available and the library is also chock-full of books on special needs of all kinds. Katy's Kloset Equipment Lending Library - Donate or borrow gently used and spiffied-up wheelchairs, walkers, bath-rooming items, etc.
Some
Accessibility
-Ann's Italian Restaurant, Hales Corners - The entrance is highly accessible with a ramp and a pretty patio. We love the food and the pizza and the service/management is really accommodating and friendly, but sadly, the bathroom is small and nearly impossible for a wheelchair to get in. People who are slow walkers or who use canes should be okay, but please enlarge the bathroom so we don't have to use carry-out!
- Charcoal Grill (New Berlin, Greenfield Ave.): At this location, the wheelchair accessible bathroom stall is too small to fit a wheelchair through the door and if a person gets into the stall, the bars are inconveniently placed. This is too bad because we all agree that the food is good - especially the Harvest Salad or the Buffalo Chicken sandwich.
- Marcus Majestic and Ridge Theaters - Big enough bathrooms with automatic faucets, although borderline in the limited amount of wheelchair accessible seating. People who use wheelchairs and have big families or more than just two friends need to sit apart from their loved ones. We could not necessarily go to the movies with even half of Andrew's wheelchair basketball teammates.
The establishments below are possibly "ADA approved" and up to "city codes and standards". Our family found them to be difficult to maneuver, however.
Worst Accessibility of Milwaukee or Wisconsin Area Attractions/Restaurants/or other:
Milwaukee Streets and Curb Cut-Outs in the Winter: Our dinner at Joey Buonas last week almost didn't happen because we couldn't get up the curb through the snow and ice that had not been cleared away by the city. Three helpful guys helped me lift the wheelchair up and over the snowy/icy barricaded curb and into the restaurant. On our way out, the kind host of the restaurant helped us back over the mess so that we could get to our car. The city really needs to work on this.
-Wilson's Ice Cream Parlor, Ephraim, Door County - Okay, I understand that this is an institution, however, there is no way into the front door (stairs going up to porch) and the only way in for a wheelchair is through the hot greasy kitchen - not acceptable and kind of gross. I spoke with the co-owner about this a few summers ago and mentioned that there was a perfect spot for a ramp on the side of the stairway. Her answer was that Wilson's was a historical building and that a ramp would ruin the aesthetics. To add insult to injury there are no bars in the bathroom. The owner shrugged when my then, 12 -year-old son brought this up to her. Okay then, we now go to Not Licked Yet Frozen Custard, Fish Creek, which is down the road. The aesthetics are great, with a pond and playground AND its accessible with a large bathroom. Enough said.
Worst Movie: Tropic Thunder - for its incessant use of the "Re-tard" word. I get and often enjoy "irreverent humor" and exaggeration. This movie however, just made my husband and I uncomfortable. Intelligent adults probably could get the "irony" type of humor. However, how many teens and others will use it as an excuse to use that archaic "R" word against people who have cognitive disabilities or who they mistake to have cognitive disabilities only because they look different? Well, they saw it in a movie with Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise, right? Shame on you Disney/Dream Works Pictures.
Please share your best and worsts for 2008!
