Viva Las Vegas

Merry Christmas everyone! We were in Las Vegas last week shopping for holiday gifts, taking in a show and doing some ground work for the Annual Membership Meeting of the National Ataxia Foundation. The event will be held at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas from March 28th to March 30th, 2008. We wanted to see how accessible Las Vegas is, and in particular, we were interested in the facilities and configuration of the ADA hotel rooms.

In general, Las Vegas is probably one of the most accessible cities that we've ever visited. We've never seen more folks on wheelchairs and scooters, and they all seem to be having a great time. At the airport and cab stands, it seemed like every 4th or 5th taxi has the handicap accessible sign on the side of the cab. All big hotels have a fleet of scooters by the bell desk ready. Renting the scooter merely requires signing it out with the bellman. All of the public restrooms that we've used are handicap accessible as were the bathrooms and showers in most hotel spas. The elevated walkways at major intersections on the strip have elevators large enough for both wheelchairs and scooters. The monorail and trams are also accessible with space to accommodate even scooters. We were very impressed.

OK, enough PR for Vegas. Here's what we don't like about Vegas:

1. Can the casinos switch to a low pile carpet in the public areas? It was very tiring to get around the carpeted areas in a manual wheelchair. We (Andrea and I) pushed Richard around, and it tires us out after a while. Can you imagine Richard pushing himself around? Even though we don't gamble, in order to get to the room elevators, you have to snake your way around the entire casino floor. The layout of the casino can be very unfriendly for folks in wheelchairs because the hotel deliberately put slot machines in odd angles so that you have to squeeze around chairs to get from point A to point B.

2. Cigarette (second hand) smoke and an apparent dearth of ashtrays. Need I say more?

3. Why do hotels place their handicap accessible rooms in the most undesirable areas of the building? OK, I understand that the room must be close to the elevator, but does it have to face the freeway, the noisy delivery dock or the electric transformer that emits a bone-vibrating hum 24/7? I dare you to find a handicap hotel room in Vegas that has a view of the Strip! I was told that the only rooms of this kind exist at the Wynn Hotel. If only it didn't cost an arm and a leg ......

For those who are interested in attending the NAF Annual Meeting, you'll be please to know that the Flamingo has ADA rooms available at the rate of $124 per room per night. These go quickly, so be sure to make your reservation soon.