Wheelchair accessible tourist attractions: what to check and what the ADA requires

Which attractions the ADA covers

Most privately run attractions are places of public accommodation under title III of the ADA. The regulation lists them by category, and three cover most of what a tourist visits: a theater, concert hall, stadium or other place of exhibition or entertainment; a museum, library, gallery or other place of public display or collection; and a park, zoo, amusement park or other place of recreation (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.104). Attractions run by a state or local government, such as a city museum or a state park, fall under title II, which applies to all of their services, programs and activities, recreation among them (ADA.gov introduction to the ADA). National parks are federal: the Architectural Barriers Act standards apply to them (ABA Standards).

The rules summarized from here on, in this section and in the sections on mobility devices, shows and services for blind and deaf visitors, come from the title III regulation, 28 CFR part 36, and apply to privately run attractions (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.104). Government-run attractions follow their own title II rules, which this guide does not summarize; they are in ADA Title II.

What a privately run attraction has to do depends on when it was built. Places designed and built for first occupancy after January 26, 1993 have to be readily accessible (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.401(a)): to the 1991 Standards when the permit application was completed before September 15, 2010, to the 1991 or the 2010 Standards from then until March 15, 2012, and to the 2010 ADA Standards from March 15, 2012 on, which also holds for alterations (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.406(a)(1) to (3)). In older buildings, the attraction has to remove architectural barriers where that is readily achievable, which the regulation defines as easy to carry out without much difficulty or expense (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.304(a)). It sets an order: first, access from the sidewalk, the parking lot or public transportation; then the areas where the public gets goods and services; then the restrooms (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.304(c)). Where a barrier cannot be removed that way, the attraction still has to offer what it can by other readily achievable means, such as moving an activity to an accessible location (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.305).

None of this can be charged to you: a privately run attraction may not add a surcharge to cover auxiliary aids, barrier removal or the changes in policy the ADA requires (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.301(c)).

Wheelchairs, scooters and other mobility devices

At a privately run attraction, the title III regulation sets these rules:

• Wheelchairs and manual aids, such as walkers, crutches, canes and braces, are allowed in any area open to pedestrians (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.311(a)). Mobility scooters count as wheelchairs, because they are designed primarily for people with mobility disabilities (ADA Title III regulations, appendix A, section 36.104).
• Other power-driven devices, such as golf cars or self-balancing personal transporters, are allowed as a reasonable modification unless the attraction shows that the class of device cannot be operated under legitimate safety requirements it has adopted. It decides device by device, looking at size, weight and speed, the crowds, the layout of the place, and the risk to the environment or to natural or cultural resources (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.311(b)).
• Questions: staff may not ask about the nature or extent of your disability (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.311(c)(1)). For one of those other devices, they can ask for a credible assurance that you use it because of a disability, and have to accept a valid state-issued disability parking placard or card, or your word if nothing they can observe contradicts it (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.311(c)(2)).

Shows, stadiums and tickets

At a show or a game, the ADA covers the seat and how you buy it. A privately run venue that sells tickets has to let you buy accessible seating during the same hours, at the same stages of sale and through the same channels as everyone else (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.302(f)(1)), at a price no higher than other tickets in the same section (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.302(f)(3)). For each wheelchair space you buy, it offers up to three more tickets in the same row, next to it, when they are available (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.302(f)(4)(i)). It may not ask for proof of disability, such as a doctor’s note; for a single event, it may ask whether the ticket is for someone who needs the features of accessible seating (ADA Title III regulations, 28 CFR 36.302(f)(8)).

Where hearing what is said is integral to the space, there is an assistive listening system, with a sign saying so (2010 ADA Standards, 219.2 and 216.10). How many wheelchair spaces an auditorium needs, and what a museum offers to touch and to listen to, are in accessible museums.

National parks: loaner chairs, the Access Pass and trails

• Wheelchairs, as the ADA defines them, are allowed anywhere foot travel is allowed in national parks, wilderness included (National Park Service page on mobility devices).
• Loaner chairs: some parks lend beach wheelchairs, all-terrain wheelchairs or track chairs for beaches and trails, and the National Park Service keeps the list (National Park Service page on mobility devices).
• The Access Pass is a free lifetime pass for U.S. citizens or residents of any age medically determined to have a permanent disability that severely limits one or more major life activities; it does not have to be a 100 % disability (USGS Store page on the Access Pass). It covers entrance and standard amenity fees at federal recreation sites, national parks among them (National Park Service page on entrance passes). It admits the pass owner and the passengers of a non-commercial vehicle where the fee is per vehicle, or the owner and up to three adults where it is per person, and it is not valid at state or local parks. You get it in person at a participating site, with ID and documentation of the disability, or from the USGS Store, which charges a $5 processing fee and a $7.50 handling fee (USGS Store page on the Access Pass).

Trails built under the ABA standards follow section 1017 when they are designed for hikers or pedestrians and connect to a trailhead or to another trail that meets it (ABA Standards, F247.1):

Where the terrain or protected resources do not allow it, part of a trail complies only as far as practicable, and a whole trail can be exempt (ABA Standards, 1017.1). That is why the trailhead sign matters: it tells you what is ahead before you start. Routes across the sand are in accessible beaches.

Find accessible places near you in Braillito Maps

Braillito Maps is a community map where every place answers ten questions: step-free entrance or ramp, wide doorway, accessible restroom, accessible parking, tactile paving, braille signage, braille menu, audible signals, guide dogs welcome and a quiet environment. Each one is answered yes, no or no data, and the score of a place is the number of yes answers out of ten, with its color always next to the number, never on its own.

The checklist does not rate rides or trails. It answers the questions that decide whether you can get in and stay: the café next to the museum, the restaurant on the way to the park. A place’s page lists its ten answers, so before you go you can see which of the questions that matter to you are a yes, a no or still without data.

When you add a place, mark yes or no only for what you saw: what you leave unmarked stays as no data and does not add to the score. Meet Braillito Maps.

More accessibility guides

• Accessible travel: your rights on flights in the US and the EU, accessible hotel rooms, and what to ask before you book.
• Accessible museums: what makes a museum accessible: the route, objects you can touch, captions, assistive listening and seating.
• Accessible beaches: beach access routes to the water: width, slopes and resting spaces under US federal standards, and what to check.
• Accessible parking: ADA parking requirements: how many spaces, how wide, the access aisle and the sign.
• Guide dogs: how they work, where they can go under the ADA, and how to act around one.
• ADA compliance: a checklist for small businesses, with the 2010 Standards section behind each item.
• ADA Title II: what state and local governments have to make accessible: existing buildings, new construction, streets and curb ramps, parks, programs and the 2024 web rule.
• All accessibility guides