Photo Album: Accessibility

Belchertown used its AARP Community Challenge grant to add accessible wayfinding features to the Lake Wallace Sensory Trail. At the trailhead kiosk, information and maps are written in braille and installed at wheelchair height. A rope-guided path contains braille markers, which feature recreational, educational and historical information. The accessibility project is a “raging success” with community members, says town planner Doug Albertson, who reports that when his 94-year-old mom visited the site, she heard a younger older adult exclaim, “This trail is the best thing this town has ever done!”

At least half of the people who frequent the historic Rook Theater, which opened in 1940 and is known as The Rook, are over age 50. The Rook began remodeling in 2018 with several accessible upgrades, including to the restrooms and by adding wheelchair ramps. The theater later used its AARP Community Challenge grant to replace unstable railings and handrails with attractive, ADA-compliant ones. “Unbelievable craftsmanship, I feel welcome, safe, and at ease,” said theatergoer Ruby Martin, age 97. Added Jorge Garcia, 49: “Thanks to the new railings, I no longer have to worry about my grandkids falling off the ledge.” 

When Main Street Blytheville conducted a walk audit of the community's downtown district, the nonprofit discovered that many of the city's sidewalks and crosswalks led to curbs that were difficult to navigate by wheelchair, walker, baby stroller and even on foot. The organization used its AARP Community Challenge grant to install 20 ADA-compliant curb ramps. “I didn’t even realize how much we needed the ramps until this project,” said a Main Street business owner. “I’ve seen new faces coming into my store and I believe it’s because it's easier for people to get around when they visit.”

• Related: Order or download the AARP Walk Audit Tool Kit

The Carrollwood Cultural Center used an AARP Community Challenge grant to make its art offerings, as well as its theatrical and dance performances, accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired. The funding supported the training of "audio describers," whose narrations are available to patrons through a new assistive listening system. The event programs are now also produced in braille.

The basement of the Hazen Public Library contains a meeting room and a space that is used for painting classes. There is no elevator to the basement. The library used its AARP Community Challenge grant to purchase and install a chairlift. “It's awesome!” an older painting student told the library. “Having a chairlift has helped some of our art group get back to painting.”

As is true in many of America's older cities, it can be difficult and costly — and sometimes not even possible — to retrofit historic buildings so they're fully accessible for people who use wheelchairs or have other mobility issues. Age-Friendly Portland’s “Ramp Up for Accessibility” project used an AARP Community Challenge grant to provide portable ramps and wireless doorbells (pictured) to buildings with destinations that are open to the public. 

The city’s Disabled Services Advisory Council set out to use its AARP Community Challenge grant to turn a vacant lot at a community center into an accessible garden with raised flower beds, benches and shade. Combining the AARP funds with monies from other partners, the council was able to add a ramp, cement pathways and wheelchair-suitable gravel.

The Nature Conservancy used an AARP Community Challenge grant to construct a 1.2 mile-long, “All Persons Trail” at the Manchester Cedar Swamp Preserve. A 6-foot-wide crushed-gravel surface can accommodate two wheelchairs. An existing boardwalk was updated to ADA-standards and a free, app-based GPS-equipped audio tour was created in both English and Spanish to provide visitors of all ages and abilities with information about the trail. 

Related Links

• Visit the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Article Archive
• Visit the Social Participation Article Archive

More About the AARP Community Challenge

• See more AARP Community Challenge Photo Albums »
• Look up grantees on the AARP Livable Communities Map »
• Visit AARP.org/CommunityChallenge » 

^{Page published November 2023 | Reporting by Amy Lennard Goehner}