Kellen Welch
1/5
Relevant pics of everything attached. I originally transcribed the conversations but ran up against the word count, sorry!
My friend uses a wheelchair, so we contacted the owner ahead of time to clarify the location's accessibility (there is no information on their website). They assured him the location is about 80% accessible and that they have had wheelchair/scooter users visit before. We knew he would not be able to do every activity or go everywhere, but we decided to trust that the 80% was reasonably accurate and made the half-hour drive out.
The parking lot was gravel so we parked as close as we could to the top of the sidewalk - still a good seven feet away. (I don't recall any of the spots being reserved for accessibility needs.) It's hard to tell in the pic, but there was a small ditch of gravel he had to navigate around, which was difficult.
Then we started going down the hill, where the sidewalk was almost immediately interrupted by a broad swath of gravel. I noted the gravel was lower than the sidewalk, which was going to present an issue on the way back up. The far side was level though.
After the gravel, the sidewalk is *extremely* steep, maybe 45°. It's far too steep to go down safely in a wheelchair, so he needed my help.
The sidewalk outside the barn was great but then there was a step down into the yard - directly into dirt.
What he'd already experienced was a far cry from the 80% accessibility we'd been promised, so we couldn't assume the inside would be any better. We decided our money would be better spent elsewhere. We tried to go back up the hill, but even with my pushing, it was way too steep.
I went up the hill by myself and brought the car down, parking as close to the barn as I could manage, which was still a good 5 feet away. There was another significant step down to the gravel, which was a problem made worse by the incline. He was able to get to the car, but it was a struggle.
Naturally, we were both upset that the owner had been misleading. During the half hour drive back, my friend texted the owner, expressing his disappointment and asking them to inform wheelchair users of the specific obstacles.
The owner's response can be summed up with this exact quote: "I'm sorry that you felt like you had problems." No acknowledgment that they misrepresented their location's accessibility, no offer of compensation for gas or even an apology for wasting an hour of our time. Just anger that someone asked them to be more transparent.
I'm not going to bother with a point-by-point rebuttal of their response (I think it speaks for itself) but I do want to discuss this: "Had you stopped at the big red rooster? We would’ve been more than happy to let you get out there or if you needed extra help we’ve been more than happy to put you in the Kubota to get you where you needed to go." This would have been great information to have beforehand! And the best time to give that to us would've been *when he asked about it before we even decided to come.* Ultimately it wouldn't have changed anything - trying to enter at the bottom of the hill is still inaccessible *because there is a step;* come on, this is basic - but that's the kind of information you should give when someone asks about accessibility! I'm also not optimistic that a Kubota joyride would have been feasible since the owner got *this* upset about someone asking them to communicate better (he didn't even ask them to fix anything, just to be honest about the problems), but I suppose we'll never know for sure.
It's obvious the owner does not understand basic accessibility principles, so I took the liberty of typing up a response with all of the details we noticed that they can send the next time someone asks about it - I can't include it here because of the word limit but he can message my friend for it.
All in all, this was an extremely disappointing visit both initiated and made worse by the owner's poor behavior. Hopefully they will take some time to learn what accessibility means and commit to communicating better in the future.
