Door County. PC: Fox 11 Online
DOOR COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — At least 40 businesses in Door County are voluntarily undergoing an analysis of their accessibility and allowing that information to be published for the public.
“It helps to look at it through new eyes, too. I’m looking at this as someone who is coming in with a wheelchair or a walker, and that’s gonna be hard for them,” says Carole Ash, owner of Kick Ash in Ellison Bay.
“We know that travelers who have different abilities just need information, right? So, if they’re going to travel somewhere, [they] just need to know, is there a ramp? Or do I maybe need to think about bringing my own?'” says Amanda Stuck with Destination Door County.
It’s part of a new partnership between Destination Door County and Wheel The World, an accessibility-focused travel agency.
“We’re really trying to create a symbiotic relationship with every partner, with every county, with every city that we’re dealing with, to highlight all this information so that we can make the world more accessible,” says Maliky Sundstrom, a senior corporate mapper with Wheel the World.
As a mapper for the agency, Sundstrom goes into businesses in travel destinations across the world and collects around 200 data points on their accessibility.
“ADA-accessible can mean so many things to so many different people, and so we’re really getting in there to get every single little detail,” he says. “I’m measuring steps, I’m measuring the toilets, I’m measuring the widths of sinks, beds. Whatever it might be. Whatever business that we’re dealing with, I’m getting down everything and anything possible just to make sure that people with any type of disability know what they’re walking into.”
Sundstrom stresses that the information is not to create ratings or grades on an establishment’s accessibility; it’s simply to help inform travelers.
We’re really just there if someone wants to go anywhere. If we’ve been in there, we’re going to give them information so that they know what’s going to be going on. They’re not going to run into any unknowns.
Through room tax dollars, Destination Door County is paying for up to 70 businesses to be included in Wheel of the World’s platform for future travelers. Ash says being involved was an automatic yes.
“I used to previously be a physical therapist, so I worked with people who were in wheelchairs and walkers and whatnot, and with our aging population, I knew it was really important for us to be able to be a place that people felt comfortable coming in, they weren’t nervous or scared, that it was easy for them,” she says.
Ultimately, the process is two-fold. It provides vital information for travelers with different abilities and limitations, empowering them to make informed decisions on their travels, and it’s also educational for those businesses that seek to make their corner of the world more inclusive.
Stuck says the willingness of so many businesses to be included in the platform is telling.
“This really is a place that any visitor can come and really do exciting things here out in nature and visit Door County,” she says. “This really just says that all these businesses want to keep enhancing that and offering more services and letting visitors know not only can you come to our parks, but you can come to our stores, you can come to our hotels. That there really is so much here for you to do.”
According to the World Health Organization, 16% of the world’s population has some sort of disability. Destination Door County realizes that’s a significant number in terms of tourists.
“We know that there is an incredible market in the tourism industry for visitors who can have different abilities and they need to be able to come into areas that are accessible, or at least be informed with that information as they’re coming in, so they know what to expect or what they need to have with them in order to get around,” Stuck says.
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