The Traveling Wheelchair

Wheelchair Accessibility

The Kennedy Family

Columbia Point
Boston, MA 02125
Phone: 866.JFK.1960
Phone: 617-514-1600
TDD: 617.514.1573
http://www.jfklibrary.org/
 
Since today was such a rainy day my friends and I thought that we’d do something inside so we decided to visit The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. I’ve been to this Museum before but went back today to do a wheelchair accessibility review of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
 
The Museum is located on Columbia Point and overlooks the Boston Harbor.  There is a large parking lot that has plenty of handicapped parking spaces right up front. Parking here is FREE! I was very happy to see that this Library and Museum has the best kind of automatic doors that slide open when you approach them. Loaner wheelchairs are available at the main entry door and are on a first come first serve basis. When you enter the building you are located on the Second Level which is the level where the Entrance and Parking is located.
 
The desk where you purchase tickets to enter the museum is a good height for my wheelchair.  The cost of admission is; Adults $10.00, Seniors and Students $8.00 and Children 12 and under are free. I asked if my ‘Golden Access Card’ that I got from the  Adams National Historical Park that allows the permanently disabled and 3 companions to access all National Historical Parks for FREE was accepted here but was told “no” for they aren’t a National Historical Park. I asked if they have a discount for Disabled and was told it is not posted but it is the same price as for Seniors which is $8.00. You can also get a discount pass from your local Library.

The staff at the ticket desk were very kind. Official Tours are available for I’ve taken them in the past but we decided to browse around on our own today so we didn’t feel rushed.  We also started at the Pavilion where the tour usually ends and proceeded all the way to where the tour usually begins.
 
Off the main lobby is a hall that leads to the Museum Store and Restrooms and a Café.  I saw a mouse pad with a picture of all the Presidents of the US on it and I bought it since I thought it was so cool.  The cashier’s counter to pay at the Museum Store  is a good height for my wheelchair and I had no problems with my transaction.
 
The restrooms are right by the Museum Store and I found it very difficult to get into the Men’s restroom. Once you enter the restroom you have to immediately take a sharp left turn, then another sharp left turn and then a sharp right turn and another left turn.  It’s like a zig-zag to get in because of the divider wall that is in the way there. Ric and Justin, my friends had to lift up my wheelchair so I could make the sharp turns.  I’m glad I was in my manual wheelchair today for my Power Wheelchair never would have made the sharp turns and would have been too heavy for my friends to pick up. Once inside the restroom is spacious and there is plenty of room to maneuver my wheelchair around. There is a large handicapped stall that even has it’s own wheelchair accessible sink inside.  It has all the ADA required safety grab bars but does not have the protective covering around the exposed pipes under the sink in this handicap stall. Yet the pipes under the accessible sinks in the main area of the restroom are not exposed.
 
Later we discovered there is another restroom on the first level in the room called ‘The Convention’. This restroom has an Automatic Door opener which is something I don’t see too often at restrooms!! It is much easier to get inside this restroom as you don’t have all the turns to get inside.  Once the door is open it’s a straight forward wheel inside. This restroom is also spacious and large. It also has all the safety grab bars that is ADA required but does not have the ADA required protective covering around the exposed pipes under the accessible sink in the handicap stall.
 
Before touring all the Exhibits we went into the Museum Cafe to have some lunch.  The Museum Café is wheelchair accessible but I did find it very tight because it was busy and many people were in here at the time I came to the Cafe.  The height of the food line is of a good height for my wheelchair. You might need help getting food items that are in the back. The cashier and staff in the café are very kind and I’m sure they would be willing to assist you if you need help.  There are 10 tables located in the Café but there is not a lot of room between tables and a wheelchair may not fit in here when it’s really busy. We decided to eat at one of the 3 tables that are located in an area between the Museum Store and the Café.
 
We then took the elevator to the first level and landed at the Pavilion. The Pavilion is very spacious and has very TALL ceilings. It has 2 sides of glass walls and a huge American Flag hanging from the ceiling. I tilted back in my wheelchair and saluted our American Flag out of respect for USA.  Part of President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural address is inscribed on one of the inside wall.  There are a few glass displays along the wall and all are very wheelchair accessible and easy for me to see. 
 
My favorite display in the Pavilion is of the ‘Profile in Courage Award. It is a Silver Lantern made by Tiffany and Company.  John F. Kennedy wrote the book “Profile in Courage” which became a best seller and earned him the Pulitzer Prize for Biography. The ‘Profile in Courage Award’ is now presented annually on or around May 29th in celebration of President John F. Kennedy’s birthday.
 
We left the Pavilion to see the other exhibits on the first floor level. The nice thing we found was that ALL the DOORS are AUTOMATIC.  This is a great feature for disabled in wheelchairs! I saw many wonderful exhibits and many videos exhibits that showed mostly John. F. Kennedy’s Presidential history. 

There is a button under all the video screens that you can push to make any video ‘Closed Captioned’ which is a great feature for the Deaf or hard of hearing. There is a small room with one computer of the Kennedy Legacy Archives and the computer is wheelchair accessible. A woman was using this computer today when I was here so I didn’t have a chance to check it out.
 
I really enjoyed reading about the ‘Fall of the Berlin Wall’ and seeing a BIG section of the Berlin Wall  on display here today. On June 26 1963, President Kennedy stood before a huge cheering crowd in the Plaza of City Hall in Berlin and said “Ich bin ein Belin” (I am a Berline).  After the wall finally came down years later, Jean Kennedy convinced the German Government to donate a section of the Berlin Wall to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

We then entered a very dark room where all the walls are painted black and there are small black and white TV screens on the walls with a “Special Bulletin” that aired on November 22, 1963 on CBS telling the world that ‘President John F. Kennedy had been shot by a would be assassin in Dallas Texas’. Three shots were fired and he was seriously wounded and he died at 1 PM.  One of the TV screen was low and I could see it well sitting in my wheelchair. My mom told me that she will never forget the SAD Day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. She was in the fourth grade at the time and admired and respected President Kennedy.
 
Another room we went into had a video of the very sad and somber funeral of J.F.K. My heart felt very sad for his beautiful wife, Jacqueline, and for his beautiful children, Caroline and little John. A great man died too young.   

Then I came upon a big display which read “HOPE FOR RETARDED CHILDREN”.  This display has pictures of innocent children with Mental Retardation being tied down and restrained and you can see the type of restraints that were once SADLY used on persons with Mental Retardation. I remember these kind of restraints very well for the nursing home I used to live in used these kind of restraints on some residents.

It was President John F Kennedy who presented a Special Message to Congress in which he said ” THE CARE AND TREATMENT OF MENTAL RETARDATION HAS BEEN TOO LONG NEGLECTED…. THE TIME HAS COME FOR A BOLD NEW APPROACH”.  Many members of the Kennedy family have been and continue to be wonderful Advocates for the Mentally Retarded. I and many others are very Grateful to the Kennedy Family for their work for persons with MR.
 
I saw many other displays about President John F. Kennedy and his family’s history.  I especially enjoyed seeing displays of the First Lady, Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy.  I saw one water color that she painted that was beautiful and in a frame. She was a talented artist and I never knew she had this talent until today.

I also saw the dress that she wore to India on one of her ‘Stately Visits’. There were many other things of interest in this display. Another display read that Mrs. John F. Kennedy, our First Lady was one of the first people who tried to save Temples of Abu Simbel.  President Garad Adel of Egypt presented to President and Mrs. John Kennedy the Statue of the ‘Standing Man’ and next to it read:  (Cira 2465-2323 BC).
 

President John F. Kennedy was Inaugurated on Jan. 27th 1961 and this Museum has one of the neatest displays I’ve ever seen. It is a replica of President Kennedy’s Oval Office and his original desk and other things in his Oval Office are behind a roped area. I felt as if I was sitting in his office today. It was easy to see and very wheelchair accessible. There were 2 color TV Screens on both sides of the back wall which showed the TV Telecast of President Kennedy’s “Address to the Nation on Civil Rights”  given on June 11, 1963. It also showed Martin Luther King in some of the clips.
 
We were running late and ready to leave but couldn’t help to stop and look at a beautiful pink chiffon dress that was in a tall glass display in one of the rooms. Andre Malraux arranged for unprecedented loan of the ‘Mona Lisa’ to the US.  Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy wore this pink silk chiffon evening gown that had porcelain beads and rhinestones to the party at the National Gallery of Art to view the ‘Mona Lisa’ on January 8, 1963. I could just imagine how dignified and beautiful she must have looked in this gown.
 
As we were ready to leave again we saw a room off to the side that had a lot about the ‘Kennedy Space Program’.  I even got to see the uniform that Astronaut John Glen wore on display. There was much other news in this room about traveling to and exploring the moon. I remember when I was a young child hearing about all the space travel from the Kennedy Space Center located in Florida.

Then we spotted a beautiful Gold Purse in a glass display case that was easy for me in my wheelchair to see. It is the purse that King Hussen of Morocco presented to Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy, the First Lady on her visit in 1963. This gold purse has Diamonds, Rubies and Emeralds on it and must be worth a lot of money back then and today!
 
On our way out we also see the Nixon/Kennedy Debate on TV screens in a side room. It was a film of the real Debates that were televised back in the early 1960’s.  We also saw a room which is a replica of the Kennedy Campaign headquarters from when he was running for President in the early 1960’s.
 
We took the elevator up to the second level which is the level you enter at and official tours begin. We saw two movie theaters which are very wheelchair accessible. These theaters show you different videos of the Kennedy Family. We also got to see some Awards President Kennedy got from the NFL and the Hall of Fame in recognition of his encouragement of competitive sports.

There are also many pictures of John F. Kennedy and his 4 brothers who all played football at Harvard here in Boston as well as many displays of his Sailing and ‘Love of the Sea’.  We looked out a window and saw a sailboat on the property and think it must have been President John F. Kennedy’s boat. President John F. Kennedy had a summer home in Hyannis on Cape Cod and he loved to sail.

We asked a staff person at the Museum what was located on the upper levels and were told the other levels are not open to the public. It is a Political Library that is only open to Political Scholars doing research. There are three other rooms located on the Entrance level that we didn’t see and they are rooms for Special Functions.

The entire Museum is very wheelchair accessible and very well planned out and displayed. There was not one exhibit that I couldn’t see clearly from my wheelchair. I recommend every American who comes to Boston see this Library and Museum which is dedicated to one the most wonderful President of the United States of America.  President John F. Kennedy, our 35th President stood up for ‘Equal Rights for All People’. I think he would probably want all places to be ‘Accessible to All’ too!

I give the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum FOUR STARS for wheelchair accessibility. To earn the Fifth Star they would just need to make the restroom on the entrance level easier for a wheelchair to enter and cover the exposed pipes under the wheelchair accessible sinks in hanidcap stalls in the restrooms on the first and second level. This is now a requirement of ADA and may not have been so when the building opened.

I give President John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy Family FIVE STARS for all they have done and continue to do to HELP ensure all persons have Equal Rights and especially all that they have done to help persons under the Department of Mental Retardation live a normal and fulfilled life. To the Kennedy Family - I Thank You!