©
The LEAF Project
Costa Rica Travel Guide
©
The LEAF Project
Costa Rica is a country whose economy is significantly dependent on tourism and agriculture. Its status as a pioneer of ecotourism, which is enabling the country to become more economically competitive, provides much reason to be optimistic with respect to the future development of facilities and infrastructure accessible to disabled people.
You should be aware that if you have a disability, you will hardly be able to count on using the buses to get around at all when you visit Costa Rica: most of them are not adapted for disabled people, except in the capital San José perhaps. It is possible, however, to rent people carriers/hire taxis that are specially equipped with ramps and have enough space to accommodate wheelchairs. Ordinary taxis may also be able to accept wheelchairs but they will not be disability equipped and their drivers will lack the special skills/training required.
It is worth bearing in mind that, due to the state of the roads, it can be uncomfortable travelling to certain places in the country anyway, even by car. Cost Rica is a destination for active travellers: it is a somewhat rough and ready place to visit and you need to be prepared to make some physical effort at times, and this is true even for those not affected by a disability. The country's roads tend to be in very bad condition, with cobblestones and potholes everywhere, and you can never be sure what condition the ground will be in due to the climate and geological conditions found in this part of the world (volcanic eruptions, tropical droughts, etc.).
Due to the laws governing equality of opportunity for disabled people, new buildings are required to be accessible to the disabled. In reality, however, this not widely enforced at all, except with respect to places of work. Though most of the hotels are not accessible to the disabled, you should definitely be able to find some adapted to your needs if you search carefully: Costa Rica is making progress with respect to modernising its infrastructure and making it accessible to disabled people, and your own trip will in fact serve to further encourage this process.
Though visiting the national parks is still not entirely hassle free due to their geographical locations, they do serve as a good example of the efforts to which Costa Rica has gone to encourage the whole world to come and enjoy the country's wealth of natural riches, with sustainable tourism in particular playing a fundamental role in this. One place you will be able to visit, for example, is Parc Carara, which has been made wheelchair accessible and features signs in braille, audio guides, and sculptures designed especially for blind people. Additionally, the tarmacked road leading right to the Poás Volcano makes getting to the site relatively unproblematic; and with its fairly flat terrain, there are no major obstacles to prevent you visiting the Irazú Volcano, despite the fact the site has not been specially adapted for the disabled. There are still more improvements required, but the government fully intends to carry them out and has plans in place to do so, especially at the Manuel Antonio and Tenorio Volcano national parks.
