Category: Accessibility

Rips Country Inn Review

Rips Country Inn

Most review the food, but since there are a lot of food reviews, I am reviewing the place itself, but from an accessibility stand point.

I am in a wheel chair, have been for some years now, and while many places are, or are supposed to be, accessible, they meet the minimum standards for accessibility, which are not always comfortable from a realistic view.

I’ll start with the parking lot. Though there are the required handicapped spaces in front, if I arrived at a time the spaces were taken it was ok, while there is ample parking, the spaces on the corners of parking rows are actually Hash lined to prevent parking, the effect makes the spaces next to them handicap van accessible, so a ramp can be deployed.

The walk way into the building is set flush with the parking lot, so you needn’t find a ramp, but Just a space between two cars. The walkway itself is paved with tiny stones, so it is not difficult to roll even a manual wheelchair up it.

The outer door is not heavy so it is easy for a person in a wheelchair to open the door and slide into the front lobby, the inner door is just as light, but usually there is someone there to open the door for you.

While much of the restaurant has tables with booths, there is a section of the dining room that is all freestanding tables, this is usually where groups go and what is easiest for persons in wheelchairs. The hosts do ask if your party wants a chair removed so it is easy for you, in the wheelchair, to get up to the table. (They didn’t mention the wheelchair I just threw that in).

This dining room is not crowded so it is easy to wheel around there and get to your table. The table itself is tall enough to get fully under the table while your feet are still on the wheelchair pads, and without hitting or scraping your knees.

The bathroom here, is decently spacious inside, and ADA compliant. The sink has enough space underneath of it so that a person in a wheelchair can roll up to the sink, and use the faucet.

In all, I give it 5 placards out of 5 for comfort and ease of getting around.

First Watch Review

Edit: It was suggested that I develop a rating system for my reviews. If you’ve already read this review before, scroll down to the bottom for my rating.

Most review the food, but since there are a lot of food reviews, I am reviewing the place itself, but from an accessibility stand point.

I am in a wheel chair, have been for some many years now, and while many places are, or are supposed to be, accessible, they meet the minimum standards for accessibility, which are not always comfortable from a realistic view.

This is my review of First Watch cafe in Bowie.

To begin, though the entrance double doors have an odd 90 degree landing from outside door to inside door, the host stand is close enough that someone is always happily there opening the inside door and greeting, That I’ve never had to try to navigate that opening.

Once inside, the tables and chairs are not crowded so it is not a hassle getting around.

Other restaurants, when the host is taking you to your table, they walk normally (Quickly), and navigate or weave around, sometimes walking through our past areas you cannot, or are difficult to, follow. The employees here are more situationally aware. Hosts have led me to my table, walking at a place that was comfortable for me to follow, not too slow not too fast. A few times, when they were about to walk past a tighter area, they stopped, looked at my chair, mentally evaluated the room, then choose a more comfortable route. This small consideration, while probably having a small, if any, meaning to the more able, made a huge impact on my experience.

The bathroom situation was also a huge addition. Along with the standard handicap accessible men’s and women’s rooms, they also have two handicap accessible family bathrooms. Though each has only one toilet, they are huge with the necessary ADA compliant bars and everything. They are family rooms, so if you need assistance in the bathroom, it is comfortable for both you and your care giver.

In all, because I had no accessibility issues, I was free to have full enjoyment of the delicious foods.

In all, I give First Watch Cafe ♿️♿️♿️♿️♿️ handicapped placards out of 5 for comfort and accessibility.

Myong Dong Korean Restaurant Review

Edit: It was suggested that I develop a rating system for my reviews. If you’ve already read this review before, scroll down to the bottom for my rating.

This is my activity review of Myong Dong Korean Restaurant. Myong Dong is a Korean restaurant located off Baltimore Avenue in Beltsville, MD.

Most review the food, but since there are a lot of food reviews, I am reviewing the place itself, but from an accessibility stand point.

I am in a wheel chair, have been for some years now, and while many places are, or are supposed to be, accessible, they meet the minimum standards for accessibility, which are not always comfortable from a realistic view.

The door at the entrance to Myong Dong is wide enough and the side walk has enough room that a lone chair user can open the door to get in.

Once inside, the tables are not close together so a chair user can easily get around even if the restaurant were full of diners.

Pulling up to the table was easy, just moved a chair out of the way, and I was able to get my legs all the way under the table while keeping them on the foot pads (I am 6’1″ tall my legs are not short).

Unfortunately I didn’t use the bathroom so I didn’t get a look.

In all, the experience was one that I was not reminded that I was in a wheel chair.

I give Myong Dong ♿️♿️♿️♿️ Handicapped Placards our of 5 Since I didn’t get to the bathroom.

Nando’s Peri Peri Review

Edit: It was suggested that I develop a rating system for my reviews. If you’ve already read this review before, scroll down to the bottom for my rating.

This is my accessibility review of Nando’s Peri Peri which is a Peruvian/South African restaurant.

Most review the food, but since there are a lot of food reviews, I am reviewing the place itself, but from an accessibility stand point.

I am in a wheel chair, have been for some years now, and while many places are, or are supposed to be, accessible, they meet the minimum standards for accessibility, which are not always comfortable from a realistic view.

While the entrance has two doors, they are not heavy as to give a lone wheelchair user a struggle, and the inside door is far enough from the outside door that it gives a sort of “landing” between the doors that they aren’t in your way. But even so, there is always a greeter who is happy to open the door for the disabled and abled alike.

Once inside, the run up to the counter to order, which is at the, relative, back of the restaurant is comparatively short, and wide enough that you (in the chair) can approach the counter with, and next to, a companion.

From the order counter it is an easy wheel around to the dining room. You don’t have to worry about taking your food with you as they begin making it to order and will bring it out to you.

The dining room is not congested, so wheeling around takes little effort, and once at the table it is easy to move a chair out of the way to wheel under and sit comfortably.

The bathroom is standard and has an easily accessible, and private handicapped stall. The only issue is that it’s the only toilet in the bathroom. In the men’s room there is a urinal. My wife did not go in the lady’s room.

In all, the only thing I needed to concern myself with was the level of capsaicin in the food I wanted to deal with.

I give Nando’s Peri Peri ♿️♿️♿️ Handicapped Placards out of 5.

Apple’s New Floating Keyboard

iOS 13 has this new keyboard you can use. If you hold the keyboard icon

Keyboard Icon

You can select the Floating keyboard which will shrink the keyboard down to one side so you can more easily type with one thumb on the iPad (especially the Pro models).Floating KeyboardBy default it comes in on the left side, but it can be moved anywhere on your screen. The iPad will remember the position so when you need the keyboard, it comes back into position.

It’s fine for regular peck typing, but it allows for swipe typing that many users report as a faster and highly intuitive method of typing.

The ability to move the keyboard, and be able to access it using one thumb, is allowing me start writing again.

I am losing dexterity in my left hand, so it is difficult to use my left hand and thumb to type, and typing with just my right hand on an iPad Pro is slow and tedious.

Granted I was overcoming my limitations with the large keyboard by using the dictate function, but it was a little annoying as I needed to have an environment without other talking or sounds. If it picked up another voice, I’d get erroneous text in my writing.

If I were in a public space, I don’t necessarily want everyone hearing what I’m saying.

Also, when dictating, I’d have to go back and edit out my filler words (um, uh…etc.) I use when thinking of the next thing to say. This got frustrating, or I had to be careful of my speech pattern.

The swipe is fairly accurate in predicting the word you mean to type. In the few (and far between) incidents where it picked up a different word, in the predictive text area will be three other words that could have been the word you meant to type and, by selecting one of those words, you can replace the mistaken word.

Even if both of your hands work fine, so accessibility is not as much of a concern, the smaller keyboard would be useful for anyone, but it’s especially useful from an accessibility standpoint.

With NaNoWriMo coming up next month (it’s October as of this writing) more people can now participate, those for whom writing has become difficult and a chore.

Garage Conversion is done

I know I haven’t updated in a bit (2 weeks), but the garage conversion just completed so here is my wrap up.

I’m going to start, first, by mentioning my contractor again, Booth Construction

So I talked about how Dave Booth, the contractor, was very hands on the whole time. He was on sight the whole time, every day. It’s odd to say, but I’m gonna miss seeing him come to the house every day.

Let me start with the bathroom since that is the main, most important part of the remodel for accessibility. I posted pictures of the shower surround,

But here I’ve taken a panorama of the finished bathroom. Granted it may be difficult to get the scale of the bathroom, but it took this while in my chair and spinning.

Of course I have put in all smart switches so I can turn on any of the lights or fans using an app or with Amazon Alexa.

I also posted that I installed a smart shade that I can also work, manually, with an app, or Alexa. It is also schedulable so I can have it open at a certain time every day and close at, say, sunset every day without thinking about it.

I also took a panorama of the finished room, again, I am spinning in my chair.

It may not be completely observable from the pano, but the door is wide enough for the chair. It is ADA compliant.

As the last finishing step, Dave put on shutters on the front. It’s not something I thought about, so I didn’t ask for them, but they DO make the conversion blend into the rest of the house.

So with this done, I’m going to need to repave the driveway. Dave recommended cutting a lawn strip, separating the new section from the driveway, so it looks less like that’s were the garage was.

Smart Shades

I ordered smart shades for the new room. I’ve already gotten the extra Alexa, and we are going to have 6 smart light switches and 4 smart 2-way switches. 3 of the smart switches are going to control things in the bathroom, the others will control the main room.

From an accessibility standpoint, I’m going to be able to control all of my lights, and now the blinds, without having to move my chair around, or from lying in my bed.

Garage Conversion May Be Completed Early

I just spoke with the Contractor. He says that things have gone so well, he expects to be able to finish up and have the final inspection either the end of next week or the beginning of the following. That is really good for a project that he gave an initial estimate of mid-April. Granted that date was for safety, delays, inspector appointments, scope changes, etc.

Today he’s putting in the bathroom tile.

The shower stall looks great

Garage conversion current status

The garage conversion is coming along very well, and they are actually ahead of schedule. They are cutting the wall today that will connect the room to the house. After this, I should be able to roll into the room to take pictures again.

#garageconversion