The Traveling Wheelchair

108 Wally Stone Lane/ 400 Sawmill Road
Greenville, New Hampshire 03047
Phone: 603- 547-3400
http://www.bchcenter.org/

I attended a  M.A.S.S. - Massachusetts Advocates Standing Strong annual retreat at the Barbra C. Harris Conference Center in Greenville, NH and this is my opinion on how handicapped accessible it is. I think they are very wheelchair accessible. I’m going to start with the parking, the handicapped spots were very close to the entrance and there are many handicapped spots. The walkway to the entrance is at ground level so no ramp is needed. There’s only one set of doors to go through and the only problem is that the doors are not automatic. This is something that I have encountered almost everywhere I go so I was not surprised or dismayed. So with no automatic doors it would make it hard for someone in a wheelchair to enter without assistance. The width of the doors is good for a wheelchair to fit through.

Once you entered, there was one big conference room. The room was full of tables and chairs for people to sit around. Even with the tables and chairs there was still plenty of room for someone in a wheelchair to move around without interfering with anyone else. The height of the tables was perfect; I didn’t have a problem fitting my wheelchair under them. The set up reminded me of a big dining hall and I was very comfortable there.

On to the restrooms, that was a problem because there were no restrooms in the conference center for us to use. We all had rooms to sleep in and that’s where we would have to go to use the restroom.

About the room where my staff and I slept, it was very wide open for a wheelchair to get around. The bathroom was very handicapped accessible. There was a wheel in shower, which made it very easy for my staff to get me and my shower chair into the shower. There was also a seat in the shower for someone to sit while showering if necessary. There were grabs bars situated around the bathroom and there was protective covering over the pipes. Even though there were 3 people all in the one room, it was still big enough for all of us.

The staff at the conference center were very helpful and friendly, we didn’t have a problem getting things or getting places we needed to be. The staff even made it possible for me to see what the inside of a log cabin looks like. Overall, I had a great time and can’t wait to do it again next year!

I give the Barbara C. Harris Conference Center in Greenville, NH THREE STARS for handicapped accessibility. They could earn one star by putting in automatic doors and the other by having handicapped restrooms in the conference center for people to use.