Accessibility in Top Tourist Destinations: Viva Las Vegas
Posted January 14th, 2011 in access guides, Accessible Travel, helpful information and Wheelchair Accessible Attractions
Disabled Travelers is back to take in the Vegas nightlife!
Photo by: Remington Phillips (Stock Exchange)
Hello, everybody!
Hot on the heels of my plan to take a trip to Las Vegas later this year, I thought it was about time we took a close look at Nevada’s “Sin City” for all kinds of travelers.
A good while back, I made a post specifically about accessible hotels in Las Vegas which is a good reference for accommodations.
There’s much more to say, so join me for this full-scale access guide – with follow-up to come in the future! Ante up!
Las Vegas being the hot vacation spot that it is, it’s no surprise that it has an immensely detailed and user-friendly tourism website. Within that site is a detailed handicapped traveler services page, which gives a good general overview for casinos, shows, and so on. There’s also a fairly extensive list of wheelchair rental, oxygen, and other medical supply companies, as well as services for the hard-of-hearing. Browse the Only Las Vegas’ Meeting Planners Toolkit for a longer list of ASL interpreters. Vegas.com also provides a hotel search function, but it does not include accessibility search options. For this, take a gander at my previous post or visit hotels.com.
If you’re a wheelchair user, you might find it simpler to travel without bringing your own chair or other equipment along. If so, check out Las Vegas Wheelchairs. In an area with so many visitors, it’s very important that you select a rental service that will deliver directly to your hotel the way this company does, avoiding an unnecessary trip on public transportation. Active Mobility is another well-established choice. For wheelchair accessible vehicles including vans, try Better Life Mobility Center.
In terms of transportation and the “special features” that make Vegas hotels especially decadent, you’ll find better accessibility here than in most other metropolitan areas, even in the United States. Local bus service is fully accessible to wheelchair users, and paratransit is available to visitors for three weeks without filing paperwork in Nevada. Out-of-state handicapped parking permits are also recognized. The trolley service around Las Vegas Strip, which will bring you right to most hotels, is also equipped for access.
Vegas’ Citizens Area Transit has its own website, including route maps. For a terrific overview including transportation, restaurants, and various attractions, drop by the Las Vegas accessibility overview provided gratis by AbilityTrip, one of our favorite websites. Anthony Curtis’ Las Vegas Advisor can also be helpful, providing a page on accessible transportation and tour operators. Last but not least, the local airport is McCarran International Airport, reportedly one of the best in the nation for accessibility.
There are some special concerns for health-conscious disabled travelers and their travel companions when visiting Vegas. Bring plenty of water on outings and remember to stay hydrated. Temperatures in the summer often top 100 degrees, and you can overheat and tire out rapidly as the desert “dry heat” creeps up on you. If you have any breathing difficulties or allergies, be aware many large casinos DO allow smoking, which can be a nasty surprise for those of us who are sensitive to smoke. Visit the Los Angeles Times for more on Vegas’ lack of casino smoking bans. Note some casinos, such as Bellagio, Harrah’s, MGM Grand, and The Mirage have non-smoking areas or other clean air perks.
That’s it for our accessible view of Vegas, at least for now. There’ll be more on my trip as it develops. Upcoming, we’ll be looking at other sites around the world I’ve got my eye on, plus taking reader requests and visiting some uncharted destinations – our blog will be paying its first visit to China just as soon as I can gather enough info! Thanks for tuning in to Disabled Travelers!
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