I was born and raised in northern Wisconsin. If there is one thing that remains a constant, it’s how inaccessible the winter is. It’s miserable. If you don’t know anything about Wisconsin winter, it lasts about six months. If we’re unlucky, it snows for the first time at the end of September and the last snow has happened in the middle of May in my own memory.
Currently, as I’m writing this, it is a whole 11 degrees outside. Two weeks ago, it was the coldest day of the year where the high temperature reached -9 degrees (F). I am always cold due to poor circulation and I have Reynaud’s Disorder. This is genetic, two of my siblings also have this, it does not have anything to do with my disability. It just means winter is that much more miserable. Here are my top reasons why I believe winter is more accessible and what needs to be done to make it more accessible.
Curb Cuts
The lack of clearing curb cuts in the winter from snow and ice is the worst part of being in a wheelchair during the winter. During the warm months, there is no problem with most curb cuts (I have issues with the quality and maintenance of some curb cuts). In the winter, the snow plows push all of the snow out of the way of the streets, but that leaves curb cut outs covered in snow and inaccessible.
City sidewalks are hardly ever fully passable for a person in a wheelchair. I have had experiences where just using the street where a snow plow HAS been is way easier, and honestly safer. Businesses normally shovel out their sidewalks, but no one thinks about who does the curb cuts. This makes going anywhere in winter nearly impossible without help.
In a related context, snow plows place snow in the wrong places in a parking lot. Just recently, I was in a Best Buy parking lot where the snow was plowed onto the lined spaces designated for wheelchair users to get out of their cars/vans. It can leave someone stranded if a person is working a shift, parked in that spot and a snow plow blocks them in with snow. This isn’t a hypothetical situation. I’ve been in this situation in the past.
Sidewalks
Another reason winter is inaccessible is the lack snow removal near bus stops and rideshare pick up locations. Luckily, the last Uber rides I took were very easy and accessible, however, that’s not the case most of the time. Many pick up and drop offs, bus stations, aren’t fully plowed out or well maintained making travel difficult when the sidewalks are also mostly impassable.
Our apartment complex only plows the main road through the complex. The area by our garage isn’t plowed out. I can’t go anywhere beyond the garage without assistance much less get to the main road. BUT I will give them credit, they do shovel out our sidewalk in a timely manner and provide salt in front of our door to use when it is icy (which is November-April let’s be honest)
Clothing
Winter clothing. IT IS SO HARD TO FIND ACCESSIBLE WINTER CLOTHING. When I was a kid, it was fine. I was small and my father carried me everywhere. I went sledding and adaptive skiing. Now as an adult, finding adaptive clothing that is easy to put on is a near impossible. Any options I’ve seen are very, very expensive (like a winter jacket for $400) I also hate wearing gloves. I would rather get frost bite. If any wheelchair user knows gloves that are great for winter, let me know. I hate the feeling of gloves. It feels so restricting.
I’m sure there are problems I have missed, but these points are the biggest reasons. Shovel the curb cuts and sidewalks, and don’t obstruct disabled parking spaces – ESPECIALLY the yellow lines. That’s all.