Question
Chester,
I know very little about wheelchair accessibility. I am writing a book on how anyone can take home professional looking photos in some of our national parks. The first park in the series is Yellowstone. This book gives information on what sights are the most photogenic, the best time of the day to photographic them, the best view points to shoot from and other information on how to capture those great shots. Most of the photos are taken from the roadside and easy (for me) trails. This book is aimed at the person who has an interest in photography and likes to bring home photos or video to share with family and friends, whether taken with an full feature  camera, a point and shoot camera, or video.

I thought it would be helpful to indicate which of these viewpoints was "handicap" accessible, I assuming this really means "wheelchair" accessible. Some trails are flat but have steep places, some are boardwalks, some have major steps, some have minor steps, some are dirt and have rocks here and there. There could be gravel, puddles of water, mud, or snow.

Is there a system to rate the accessibility of these trails? Are there different levels of accessibility? How do I make this guide useful to people with mobile disabilities? Are there any regulations on when you can or can't use the wheelchair logo?

I am leaving on Monday for my last research trip to Yellowstone. If I knew what to look for I could make this book more useful to more people.

I would appreciate any resources or advice you could give me.

Thank you,
Jill  

Answer
Dear Jill,
First, accessibilty is usually referring to mobility impairments, visual, and hearing impairements. If a facility is made wheelchair accessible it usually, but not always, is considered accessible. From the subject of your book, I would assume you would be most concerned about mobility impairments.
The accessiblity issue of any building, park or trail can be addressed by using a common sense approach. It appears to me that you are doing just that. When you are addressing accessibilty issues outside, such as a trail, you get more barriers that you dont have much control over, such as the weather. Water, mud, snow, rocks, and steep inclines can cause serious problems for the disabled. The surface of the trail should be of a hard surface which doesn't change when it gets wet. If the surface is a boardwalk, care should be taken to make sure the boards are not placed far apart as to create slots that a wheelchair tire wont get stuck in.
If there are any steps on the trail, that portion is not accessible no matter how small of a step it may be. Steep slopes of a trail can be a problem but sometimes it cant be helped.
Parks and recreation has guidlines to make their parks as accessible as possible, I am sure they would be willing to share those guidelines with you. For the "access" sign to be displayed, it must truly be accessible. If a portion of the trail is not accessible, there should be a sign warning of that portion may not be usavle by mobility impared persons.
You can ask a local organization made up with persons with disabilities, to conduct a survey of the trails and idebtify problem areas.
If you get the accessibilty guidelines the park uses and have disabled persons themselves conduct a survey with recommendations of how to make the park more accessible, most of your concerns can be meant.
Good luck on your project and I hope I have been of some help to you.