The right to hike! How disabled tourists also want to access the breath-taking viewpoints
From the top of a mountain, we can see a crystal clear blue ocean, blue sky with some white fluffy clouds.
Not everyone likes to workout.
But many will make the effort to access a breath-taking viewpoint!
And even if most of us will want to experience those breath-taking views with the people we love the most, there are still too many of us who won’t have the pleasure to experience it due to lack of accessibility.
Most of those breath-taking views are found at the end of a long inaccessible pathway.
Diamond Head: famous crater on Oahu, Hawaii
Waikiki is known for its public beaches where you can learn to surf, relax in a protected ocean front, its shopping and its view – the most spectacular coming from the top of Diamond Head. Diamond Head was formed more than 300 000 years ago in apparently one single explosive eruption. It created the crater and blocked it all at the same time, making it an interesting site to observe.
The trail was built as part of the defense system in the early 1900’s, not for the pleasure of tourists and maybe this is where the lack of accessibility lies. To access the top, where you can observe military bunkers and stunning views, you have to climb up 175 steps and go through underground tunnels.
This hike has become so popular that you now have to reserve ahead of time to be able to enter the protected park.
The right to access landmarks and tourist attractions
I could refer you to the ADA , or the United Nations, or the regulations around accessible tourism in each provinces of Canada. I could easily make the case that all attractions should be made accessible, so that someone like me, a wheelchair user can also experience Diamond Head, for example. So that all disabled parents could accompany their children to the top. But this would not change what is.
Regulations exist. People are aware of them. Now, we need the motivation to apply them or enforce them.
In the meantime, as a disabled mom, I have to make heart-breaking choices. Sometimes, as I talked about in Noone left behind , I have to choose to let my son go somewhere I cannot. I have to let him know that I am excited for him to experience it and that I want him to tell me all about it when he comes back.
This is what I said to him so he would go.
Experiencing landmarks and sharing in the experience via photos and stories
We have been to Oahu four times since my accident. My mom, who loves hiking, has gone up Diamond Head at least once, each time. So has my son. The last time they went, they were accompanied by my sister and her four children and my nephew Maxime. They all went. While I stayed back in Waikiki.
The children were excited to climb up. They took breathtaking pictures of the view from up there so that I could experience it through their eyes and the lens of their phones.
They shared stories like the one when Ben, the youngest, started running away from the group on the way down. They told me how Maxime then chased after him. I knew it would have been different with me there, because Ben listens to me. It would have been fun to take a family photo from up there. We took it in our hearts.
Solution-finding is a state of mind and a question of investment
Diamond Head is not a long or hard trail in comparison to something like the Inca Trail that leads to the majestic Machu Pichu. If paraplegic and quadriplegic wheelchair users like Jesse Billauer and Álvaro Silberstein and Isabel Aguirre were able to make it to Machu Pichu, surely there is a way to get to the top of Diamond Head. Surely there is a way to ensure wheelchair users could also see Manoa falls (see Noone left behind blog post).
There is a place for us, as the song goes. And when organised properly, there is a way to experience the world the way we hope and dream. With the people we love the most
Canada’s promise to making the outdoor accessible
Canada has been leading the way to in building gold standards for accessibility. In building standards for accessibility that ensures all people can go everywhere, including in outdoor spaces like parks and playgrounds, they are ensuring that no family would have to make the difficult choice to leave one person behind.
I invite you to check Accessibility Standards Canada for more information. You can find a copy of their first public review draft on outdoor spaces.
You can also find information on the accessibility of trails in all National Parks in Canada via these websites:
A dark narrow tunnel in a mountain, with a hand rail painted in yellow.
From the top of Diamond Head, we can see the city, a wide big green space and the clear blue ocean.
written by
Marjorie Aunos, PhD., is an internationally renowned researcher, adjunct professor, clinical psychologist, and award-winning inspirational speaker from Montreal, Canada.
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