Washington D.C. with limited mobility
 

I will be traveling with my parents (late 70's) to Washington D.C. in late October. My dad has limited mobility due to arthritic knees. Would love to see the WWII monument and the Arlington Cemetary with them. Is this feasible? Are there wheelchair rentals or any other assistance for this situation?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I would try contacting the hotel you are staying at to see if you could borrow/rent one of their wheelchairs. Most large hotels have four or five on hand. Arlington can be accessed by Metro but a word of forewarning - check to make sure that the elevators are working at the stops you will be getting off at. They will announce it in all of the stations if there are any out-of-order elevators but it would be helpful to know before you even reach the Metro. Anyways, the DC metro often incoveniences its passengers with non-working elevators. I would consider simply taking a taxicab to Arlington.

Yesterday, I made an inquiry for a friend with limited mobility, who is traveling to Las Vegas. One of the responses listed this website:

www.gimponthego.com

You may find some useful information there.

Donna

Thank you for the input.

Are there wheelchairs or scooters available for use or rent at any of the monuments/museums? Since we will probably be using a cab for transportation from our hotel, it would be easier not to transport the wheelchair/scooter.

Again, any information would be appreciated.

There are NO wheelchairs or scooters available for use or rent at any of the monuments/museums. Taxis will gladly put a wheelchair (not a scooter - might be too heavy/bulky) in and out of the taxi trunk for you, however. They do so all the time. As mentioned above - ask your hotel if a wheelchair (not a scooter) is available. If not, call a different hotel.

I am not certain about all the monuments but when my family visited and we went to the FDR memorial, there were wheelchairs available in the office that we used for my mom. They were sitting right there at the entrance, no big deal. This was two years ago but if I recall correctly, there was no charge for this.

I imagine the situation may be different at FDR both because there is more to walk through there than at the other outdoor monuments but also because of FDR's own need for a wheelchair.

According to this website (I hope the link works), there is a wheelchair (sounds like only one) available for use at the Washington Monument, no reservation necessary. I'm thinking this means one should do a monument by monument search for their websites and look at the accessibility features. Here is the one on Washington Monument:
http://www.parksandhistory.org/parkg...ide.asp?s=WAMO

You might want to consider using the Tourmobile to see all the sights. This stops at all the major sights, including Arlington Cemetery, and you can hop-on-hop off, so you can set your own itinerary and go as slow as you want or skip as sight if your Dad is too tired to get out. This will save you a lot of walking between the sights and cab fare as well. There are one and two-day tickets, the one day tickets are $20. You can also do a special tour just of Arlington for an additional $6. I took a look at their website, and they have wheelchair storage on each tour mobile, as well as priority seating for people with mobility problems. I would rent a wheelchair or get one from your hotel, and bring it with you on the Tourmobile. Take a look at http://www.tourmobile.com/ for information on the Tourmobile.

The WW II memorial is really beautiful, one of the best in Washington IMO. Very powerful and moving.