The Traveling Wheelchair

Harvard Square
81 Mt. Auburn Street
Cambridge MA 02138 

Monday, my friends and I were at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. After my appointment, we headed to Flat Patties in Cambridge, located in shopping plaza called The Garage.

All the handicap street parking spaces were taken so my friends and I parked at a city street meter; we didn’t put money in the meter because parking at a meter in all of Massachusetts is FREE for disabled who have handicap placards; my placard was hanging in clear view on the front mirror of my van.

The main entrance of The Garage has steps and no ramp for wheelchairs. We asked a man walking by if there is a wheelchair accessible entrance; he told us there is a very steep ramp located inside at an entrance on the other side of the plaza. We then headed to the other side.

The entrance door, located on the other side is wide enough for any size wheelchair; the door is not automatic so you will need help with opening it. We soon discovered that the man who directed us here was right; the wheelchair accessible ramp is very, very steep!! A woman pushing a baby carriage was expressing how steep it was and said she was having a hard time wheeling the baby carriage up this ramp. 

I was in my manual chair and not my Permobil C350 Power Chair, so Ric and Tony had to both help push my chair up this steep ramp; we don’t think a wheeler would ever be able to manually wheel up this steep ramp without some help.

After finally making it up the ramp, we headed to the Food Court because Flat Patties is located off the Food Court. The Food Court has a Subway and other fast food concession counters; we were glad that we ate lunch at Flat Patties because it has wheelchair accessible tables.

All the tables in Food Court are NOT wheelchair accessible for all are too tall. The only accessible tables are the tables in the individual restaurants located off the food court; in order to sit at any of these tables you need to be a customer of that restaurant.

The rest rooms are NOT wheelchair accessible; they are located at a lower level; we only saw a flight of stairs leading down to the restrooms. Ric went down to check them out. He told me even if I could get downstairs to the restrooms; I would not be able to fit my wheelchair inside the door for it is too narrow. Needless to say the rest rooms are not at all accessible.

We did find an elevator, located near the food court that customers can take to the upper levels. You will still need to wheel up the steep ramp to get to the elevator; and this elevator does not go down to the rest rooms. The elevator is of a good size and easy to enter and use once you find it.

When we got back to our van, we found a parking ticket on our windshield; it stated the meter time expired; we couldn’t understand why the meter maid didn’t see my handicap placard hanging on the mirror right under where the ticket was left. We contacted Cambridge Commission of Disabilities and they confirmed parking is FREE with a handicap placard at any meter. We filled out a dispute form we found on line at http://www.cambridgema.gov/traffic/DisputeTicket.cfm  and mailed the ticket with a copy of my handicap placard to City of Cambridge Traffic Parking & Transportation. So ‘Beware of the Meter Maids’.

I give The Garage in Cambridge TWO STARS for wheelchair accessibility. In order to earn the other Three Stars, they would need to install automatic entry doors; lessen the very steep slope of the wheelchair accessible ramp (or) construct a cement ramp at the main entrance, which we believe would be easier; place some wheelchair accessible tables in the Food Court; and provide wheelchair access to an ADA compliant rest room.