This afternoon I emailed the following letter to the U.S. Forest Service and to the ADA Complaint unit of the U.S. Department of Justice.  I wonder...if I had catheterized myself in the parking lot of El Yunque since they did not have an ADA-compliant restroom, could I have been arrested for urinating in public?

Good afternoon,  

I am writing to inform you of non-compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act at El Yunque National Forest in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.  I believe this property to be owned by the United States government since its web page indicates its allegiance with both the United States Forest Service and the United States Department of Agriculture.  

I have a spinal cord injury which requires me to use a manual wheelchair.  While visiting El Yunque on Monday, July 1, my family stopped at the El Portal Visitor's Center.  According to an article about the history of architecture of the U.S.D.A. Forest Service (www.foresthistory.org/ASPNET/Publications/architecture/chap2d.htm), the El Portal Rainforest Center was built in 1996 - well after passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  

Given its fairly recent construction and the fact that El Yunque is federal property, I was disheartened to see that the accessible toilet in the women's restroom at El Portal does not conform to the required seat height of 17" - 19" from the floor.  Although the accessible stall had ample space for a wheelchair (and grab bars mounted to the walls), I would have had difficulty transferring from my wheelchair to a toilet that is as short as this one is.  Even if I had been able to get onto it, I would certainly not have been able to get off of it.  How sad that our journey through this splendid national forest had to be cut short so that I could go back to the hotel to use the restroom.  

Please let me know how you plan to proceed with correcting this problem.  It certainly seems to me that the United States government should comply with the laws it writes.  

Sincerely,
Kris Gulden

Just after I published my web site and thought I had begun my career as a travel writer, the Travel section of The Washington Post (Sunday, July 28) had this on its cover page:  "Have wheels, will travel".  Three major articles about traveling with a disability covered four of the six page section.

Reid Davenport has cerebral palsy.  He uses an electric wheelchair.  Carole Zoom has congenital muscular dystrophy.  She uses an electric scooter and a ventilator.  While I take week-long trips to resorts that I can reach on a nonstop flight,  Davenport braved parts of Europe on a 20-day mission to film a documentary about the challenges people with disabilities face in Ireland, France, and Brussels.  Zoom went to China, where the stigma of living with a disability made her a spectacle everywhere she went.

If you'd like some perspective, check out their stories:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel

I was in the airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Saturday, July 6 waiting for the plane that would bring me home.  The televisions were all showing news reports from San Francisco, California, where an Asiana Airlines flight had made a crash landing earlier in the afternoon.  That's not the kind of news I wanted to hear before my flight took off.  It's like watching Jaws before going to the beach.  You don't do it.

Now - a week before I go to Mexico to snorkel with whalesharks - there's this story:   http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/23/whales-nearly-eat-california-divers/2581441/