Disability in the Physical Environment: Pizza with a Friend

Brittany Jordan

Mrs. Overstreet

Human Socialization

March 15, 2013

Accessible Date Assignment

To simulate this date, I took myself and a friend to eat at the Vining’s Mellow Mushroom located in Smyrna, GA. The first thing I noticed was that the accessibility was very limited in my opinion. The restaurant was very small and when you first walk in the door there is a bench that might obstruct getting a wheel chair through the entry. There was a patio door that one could use the gate to get inside the restaurant if needed, as well as two handicap parking spots located out in front of the main doors. In the middle of the restaurant there was a pole that might be hard to get around for a person in a wheelchair who needed to be seated. The pole was also directly in front of the drink machine where all of the servers come and make the drinks for their tables. This could be an issue when trying to seat not only someone in a wheelchair, but anyone really. Also, the crowding was another issue that I thought of. The only spot to seat a person in a wheelchair is at the three tables in the middle of the restaurant. On a busy Friday with the servers running around and the customers getting in and out, along with waiting for the tables, it might be too cramped to sit. Adaptability could be used in this situation though, and the tables could be moved if need. Also, the chairs could be moved for easy access for someone in a wheelchair to fit contently at the table if it wasn’t too crowded.

While I went to eat there around normal lunch hours (12:30pm to 1:30pm) there was quite a bit of activity going on. Between the servers trying to run the food and clean the next table, it seemed like everyone was in a bit of a rush. The comfort level for someone in a wheelchair might not be good. It would take a lot I feel like just to go around and use the restroom. You would have to maneuver from the table to the restrooms, which are located in the back of the restaurant. On a busy night, that might be next to impossible. There was however, no sociality issue among the customers. Everyone was chatting and seemed to be enjoying the people they were with. The legibility of the restaurant didn’t seem to be a problem either. Most everyone has eaten in a restaurant before, so it was easy to know how the process works. For example, a host normally seats you in a section where you are assigned a server to take care of you. This was the same with Mellow Mushroom in Vining’s. There was definitely no privacy during the busy lunch hours. The restaurant filled up very quickly and between the squirmy children next to you and the loud business men laughing it was hard to hear my date.

Overall I felt as though the restaurant was not wheelchair friendly. Yes, they had a few small things such as the handicap parking spots, but the restaurant was just too small to have a person on a crowded night fit comfortably. Lunch would be about the only time a person might not feel so cramped, but it would have to be either an early lunch or a late lunch, not during the normal lunch rush hours.