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"I was refused participation in horseback-riding because of my blindness. I am an experienced rider." So wrote a visitor named Marguerite after a 1993 vacation in Yosemite National Park. She asked that employees be better educated about what disabled people can do. Hers was one of hundreds of complaints — feedback forms, letters and conversations with staff — through which disabled visitors have pushed Yosemite, since the 1970s, to open up to everyone. Complaining, it turns out, can be a kind of activism.
The Big Trees Loop Trail in the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, designed to Americans with Disabilities Act standards, completed in 2018 and wheelchair accessible. Credit: National Park Service, Yosemite National Park.
An early barrier was the assumption that people with disabilities would not visit the park at all, and that accommodations were not worth the cost. Letters and conversations with disabled visitors proved otherwise, and moved Yosemite to invest in access.
The placard survey
Visitors with a Golden Access Passport received a "Handicap Placard Survey" when they entered the park. The passport, created in 1981, gave disabled U.S. citizens and permanent residents free lifetime entry to all National Park Service units and federal lands; renamed the Interagency Access Pass in 2004, it is still available. The survey sought constructive criticism from blind, D/deaf and "orthopedically" disabled visitors, and included a chart on which they could mark restrooms, campgrounds, parking lots and other places as accessible or not. Most responses came from visitors with physical disabilities, which limited the range of perspectives.
The cover of the Handicap Placard Survey, which visitors could mail back after their trip. Credit: Yosemite National Park Archives.
What visitors asked for
| Concern | In their words |
|---|---|
| Accurate information | In the early 1970s, Walter wrote to National Park Service Director George B. Hartzog Jr. that "The National Park Guide for the Handicapped" called facilities accessible when narrow bathrooms and missing ramps kept wheelchair users out. In 1997, Candy told the park's accessibility coordinator: "It is extremely frustrating to go to an attraction or facility that is billed as 'accessible' only to find it very inaccessible." |
| Access of every kind | In 2002 Gail wrote that she could not get on and off the park buses: "I actually fell getting off the last bus because the lowest step was at least twelve to fifteen inches from the ground… I never thought public transportation in our national parks, supported with my tax dollars, would be off-limits to me." |
| Respect | After failing to find accessible beach parking in 1993, Sylvia called access coordinator Don Fox, who told rangers her main concern was the insensitive way staff had treated her. |
| Understanding | "Please have each and every member of the planning committee spend one day and night in a wheelchair using nothing but the park facilities," Evelyn urged in an undated letter. "I think they might understand a little better." |
Visitors wanted clearer maps and signs, information that was widely available and up to date, and staff who offered it without being asked. They reminded the park that there is no one-size-fits-all: a wheelchair user, a person who walks with limited mobility and a blind visitor all need different things, and access matters everywhere, not just in designated areas.
A 2003 placard survey asking for better help with luggage at Camp Curry. Credit: Yosemite National Park Archives.
Changing attitudes
Barriers were not only physical. Unhelpful or insensitive staff left visitors frustrated or humiliated — a reminder that inaccessibility takes an emotional toll as well as a physical one. As visitors insisted, access is a civil right, not charity. Yosemite has run disability workshops for staff since the 1970s, and they have helped change how employees think about disability and access. The park and the Park Service also began hiring more employees with disabilities in the 1970s, but most staff remained nondisabled — which is why hearing directly from disabled visitors mattered so much.
Thanks, too
A 2003 placard survey ending with a thank-you. Credit: Yosemite National Park Archives.
Visitors praised as well as complained. "I wish to praise the people planning and creating the accessibilities. Keep up the good work!!!" Edith wrote on her survey in 1990. Complaints are a sign of hope, too: the people who make them believe things can get better. By sharing their experiences, disabled visitors helped improve Yosemite for themselves and for millions of others.
A note on "D/deaf": capital-D Deaf refers to people who share Deaf culture, built on American Sign Language, history and values; lowercase deaf refers to the medical condition of not hearing. Scholars write "D/deaf" to include both.
Sources
Based on "Improving Accessibility at Yosemite National Park" by Ellie Kaplan, National Council for Preservation Education intern with the National Park Service Park History Program (2023), a work of the United States government in the public domain.
В изданияхYosemite National Park
Лицензия: CC0 1.0 (общественное достояние) · По материалам www.nps.gov
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