“Wheel the World” program helps local Kalamazoo businesses enhance accessibility
by Teanna Barnes | News Channel 3Wed, December 18th 2024 at 7:16 AM
The front door of Next Level Sports Center in Schoolcraft shows their logo. The business is one of 130 participants of the “Wheel the World” program with the goal of boosting Kalamazoo’s tourism and accessibility. (WWMT/Craig Beilby)
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Discover Kalamazoo received over $57,000 in grants to conduct surveys of accessibility features in 130 locations across the city in a partnership with a program called “Wheel the World.”
Next Level Sports Complex’s mission is in its’ name. The goal of the sports center, affectionately nicknamed the “dome” in Schoolcraft due to its’ inflatable nature, is to help each person who visits reach their ‘next level.’
“Whether it be an elderly person who’s trying to reach their next level, a young athlete who’s trying to reach their next level, someone in a wheelchair who’s trying to start a new sport, whatever it is, we want everyone to have that opportunity,” Anne Marie Boarman, Next Level’s General Manager said.
Boarman recalled a time when visitors who needed additional assistance with mobility, like those using a wheelchair, had to use the dome’s back entrance, which resembled a garage.
“It never felt right or good to let people in that way,” Boarman said.
So when tourist information program Discover Kalamazoo connected Boarman with Disability Network Southwest Michigan to further the complex’s accessibility, it was an easy decision for Boarman.
The complex had already made recent renovations for both improved accessibility and convenience for their customers, such as making sure their new air-tight revolving door is wide enough to fit someone using a wheelchair or stroller.
Through a program called “Wheel the World”, Kelly Linton from Disability Network was sent to Next Level to take a survey of any and all accessibility features available at the complex.
Next Level, and 130 other locations around the city will be listed on Wheel the World’s website, so those with disabilities can know which businesses in Kalamazoo have amenities to properly accommodate their needs. The goal is to both boost tourism and highlight businesses who made an effort towards accessibility, overall representing the city as an inclusive place for all.
Linton considers her work her passion, and easily pointed out why guidelines were set by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
“You wouldn’t want knobs here, because the knobs you’d have to twist and grip which could be problematic for some people,” Linton said, pointing out the more appropriate lever-style sink faucet in the bathroom. Linton later described the bathroom as ‘perfect’ after assessing it was equipped with features such as horizontal and vertical grab bars.
Linton added that the point of her surveys is to assess and compare accessibility standards to ADA compliance, and if a business is missing a feature required by law under ADA, her team makes a suggestion to that business to improve, and there are no consequences.
Linton was joined by trainee Kristi Oostveen, who grew up with a condition called Spina Bifida. Oostveen’s physical disability causes her to rely on crutches for mobility and balance.
“As someone with a disability, I just think it is important for all spaces to be as accessible and inclusive as possible, that’s where my passion lies,” Oostveen said.
Oostveen grew up in Kalamazoo, and said the city’s collaboration with Disability Network and Wheel the World shows how far acceptance and accommodations for those with disabilities has come.
“We’ve come a long way as far as accessibility, but we still have a ways to go, there’s always improvements that can be made but compared to when i was growing up, there were places that i really struggled to get into back in the day,” Oostveen said, “all those physical barriers that I have to navigate just over time, it wears on you more physically and causes more fatigue so it makes it easier when those accessibility features are in place already,”
Oostveen told News Channel 3 there have been places she has visited in the past that she struggled to navigate due to a lack of ADA compliance, and has not returned to those places. She said she is training to become and ADA coordinator, like Linton, to make things for future generations as inclusive as possible.
“It just means a lot that the community is investing the time and effort to bring things up to a more accessible standard for the disability community and it just makes it overall easier for everyone in the community to navigate,” Oostveen said.
