Malcolm A. Noden is a retired faculty member from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University.
With a well-deserved tip of his hat to Candy Harrington's Emerging Horizons magazine he writes:
What does all of this mean for our community? First, we should be very grateful to those who have reviewed and facilitated general accessibility for our community and visitors alike. We should also congratulate those who were responsible for the creation and maintenance of the beach access easements that are located at frequent intervals along the oceanfront roads on the island. Many other oceanside communities are struggling with trying to arrange such access, and in many cases, even when they succeed with limited access, it is not handicapped accessible.
Second, we all need to be careful about our assumptions. Simply because someone "looks OK" does not mean that they may not have some form of unobservable disability. Certainly anyone in the business that caters to the general public needs to review the accessibility conditions of their establishment with an eye towards both ADA compliance and general customer convenience and comfort. It is also important to review with, and train employees to be observant about, any existing facility conditions that might contribute to, or precipitate an emergency.Finally, the optimal position is for the local Tourist Development Council to ensure that we are well represented in the various media forums where the handicapped can learn of the many additional attractions that are available in our community. Such an outreach program lies well within the scope of their responsibility, and given their sizable, bed-tax funded annual budget, we should surely expect that they pay close attention to this very lucrative market segment.
Source:
http://www.fbnewsleader.com/articles/2007/04/12/opinion/00aeditnoden.txt