Peter Greenberg: Celebrating Veterans

By: Peter Greenberg | Source: AARP.org | 2009-02-13

My dad is a proud Navy veteran, and last Veterans Day, I got to thinking about how much he might like a trip to Washington, D.C., or somewhere like that, to maybe celebrate Veterans Day this year. Any recommendations for celebrating military families, vets, and America? Oh, also, Dad now uses a wheelchair, so anything accessible or handicapped-friendly would be great, too.
–Jack, North Las Vegas, Nev.

If you're interested in Veterans Day celebrations, the largest and most prominent ones do take place in our nation's capital. Last year included a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., and one at the Lone Sailor Statue at the U.S. Navy Memorial.

There are Veterans Day celebrations all around the country, too, including at a number of presidential libraries (Eisenhower's, for instance), military monuments (such as Pearl Harbor), and other civic centers.

As for great, accessible historic landmarks, D.C. has a large number of them, and nearly all the major ones are accessible. For example, the National Archives has recently completed a major renovation that made the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights fully accessible. The Washington Monument offers its wheelchair-bound visitors little "periscopes" to enable them to check out the view from any window as they ascend in an elevator. The Franklin Roosevelt Memorial is fully accessible, and the nearby Smithsonian Museum has long won plaudits for accessibility.

If you've had your fill of D.C.'s indoor spaces, you might pay a visit to the U.S. Botanical Gardens. Among the District's best-kept secrets, the gardens are a veritable living museum and house thousands of plants. Enjoying its simulated jungle and enormous greenhouse, you might just forget you're in downtown D.C. The entire Botanic Gardens is fully accessible and has permit-only parking spaces right out front, automatic doors, a TTY, and an elevator.

For more on accessibility and disability issues in the D.C. area, don't miss www.disabilityguide.org, a great resource for residents and visitors alike.