DEC to Offer Mobility Assistance Devices at Camp Santanoni Starting in July

July 11, 2024 —

David EscobarDEC to Offer Mobility Assistance Devices at Camp Santanoni Starting in July

Santanoni Gatelodge. Photo: Marc Wanner, Creative Commons, some rights reserved

On July 10, the state unveiled a plan to make Great Camp Santanoni in Newcomb accessible to people with mobility disabilities.

The Department of Environmental Protection’s mobility reservation pilot program will allow visitors with disabilities to choose from two electric wheelchairs free of charge, the DEC said. The new program comes after the DEC failed to find a vendor with horses capable of pulling the agency’s existing wheelchair-accessible carts.

DEC will also collect feedback from program users to help improve the accessibility of this historic site in the future.

Sean Mahar, interim DEC commissioner, said the pilot program is part of his department’s efforts to improve accessibility and integration on public lands.

Photo courtesy of NYS DEC

But disability advocate and DEC/Adirondack Park Agency Accessibility Advisory Committee member Scott Remington said he has mixed feelings about the new program.

“I think they’ve made an attempt to do something, but they’re not really doing enough,” he said.

Remington, of Brant Lake, said the new wheelchairs and motorized scooters will make Great Camp Santanoni accessible for some, but he explained that visitors with certain disabilities, such as hand mobility issues, may still have trouble navigating the new facilities.

“They’ll have to get someone to help them,” Remington said. “They might not even be able to get the thing to work.”

The new electric wheelchairs are DEC’s solution to facilitate access for people with disabilities, replacing the previous means of transport, which was a horse-drawn cart, which did not meet the requirements of the Disabled Persons Act.

Although Remington said he was unimpressed with the new plan, Lisa M. Genier, an Adirondack Council program analyst and member of the DEC/APA Accessibility Advisory Committee, said the program would ultimately allow for better access to Great Camp Santanoni.

“These wheelchairs will be especially useful for those who cannot afford to purchase or rent the equipment provided free of charge by DEC,” Genier said.

However, the free wheelchairs and scooters provided under the Mobility Device Reservation Pilot Program will be available by reservation only, and the program will run every other weekend during the summer.

Reservations for wheelchairs and scooters will be available Friday through Sunday, July 19 through October 13, as well as on holiday Mondays, September 2 and October 14. Guests are encouraged to follow the instructions on the Camp Santanoni Historic Area website to make a reservation.