Post Falls staff test wheelchair obstacles at White Pine Park

A door threshold, a tight corner and a line of steel railings turned White Pine Park into an accessibility audit for Post Falls staff as they tried to move through a wheelchair obstacle course designed to show how ordinary spaces can become obstacles.

The Disability Action Center NW brought the course to the park on May 21, and city personnel from City Administration and Community Development took turns testing it. Washington State University mechanical engineering students built the setup as part of their senior design class, with 14 students deliberately including barriers that wheelchair users, scooter users and other people with mobility aids face in daily life: high thresholds, round doorknobs, slick surfaces, potholes, cracks in sidewalks, items in pathways and overhanging shrubs.

The students said they designed the course to be transportable, easy to assemble, safe for wheelchair testing, lightweight and durable. They used aluminum sheets, plywood reinforcement and steel railings to make the course sturdy enough to handle repeated use while still being easy to move.

Photos from the event showed Post Falls City Engineer Rob Palus completing the course to applause, Nicole Lowe testing a mobility course that demonstrated the problems wheelchair users encounter in stores, and Karenann Krueger, who has a double leg amputation, carefully counterbalancing her way up a ramp. Krueger also raised concerns about how service animals are treated in businesses and how those interactions can affect service dogs.

For Post Falls, the exercise landed at a moment when the city is revisiting its Americans with Disabilities Act obligations. On April 9, the Post Falls City Council approved Phase 1 of a two-phase, $190,000 ADA transition plan, with $40,000 set aside in both fiscal year 2025 and fiscal year 2026. City officials said the previous transition plan was completed in 2008.

The ADA’s Title II requires state and local governments to give people with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from public programs, services and activities. Federal guidance also says curb ramps and sidewalks are basic city services that can become dangerous, difficult or impossible to navigate without accessibility features.

White Pine Park, one of 36 parks in Post Falls, sits within a city that says it has more than 900 acres of park land and 38 miles of trails. In a community of 38,485 people counted in the 2020 Census, the obstacle course made a broader point clear: accessibility problems are not abstract. They show up at sidewalks, crossings, ramps, park paths and front doors, where small design choices can decide who gets through and who gets stopped.