My Blind Birthday in New York City: Accessible Travel Review

I spent ten days in New York City in February as a thirtieth birthday treat to myself. I’m blind and was travelling alone, and I hope this post will encourage others who are thinking of visiting New York but don’t know how accessible it will be for someone who is blind or visually impaired.

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The dream hotel?

My requirements for a hotel was that it was within walking distance of at least some of the theatres, and that I could easily access public transport if needed. I stayed at the absolutely wonderful Concorde Hotel New York City. The staff were incredibly friendly and helpful and made my stay so amazing. For example, on my last day they asked me how I was getting to the airport, and they offered to book me a taxi that would have a fixed price, which helped me save some money.

It’s actually extremely well designed for blind people, as it’s a very tall, narrow building. That means there are only a few rooms on each floor, making finding your room so easy. My bedroom was so nice, and I especially loved the huge bathroom which came with a bath as well as a separate shower cubical. Although the hotel doesn’t include breakfast, there is a restaurant on site so if you’re wanting to eat before you head out into the city, you are still able to do so.

The hotel is only a few minutes walk from Fifth Avenue, and from there you can get pretty much everywhere. Fifth Avenue is the street that divides the east and west of the city, so it’s a great navigation point.

Navigating the city

Navigating New York as a blind person is actually really easy once you learn How the city works. It has an address system, at least in part of the city, and so if you learn the rules of that you can get basically anywhere. I found this post that explains the New York address system quite helpful, as well as this guide to finding your way around New York. They offer similar information, but maybe one will resonate with you more than another.

I didn’t spend too much time on the trains, however I did read this very helpful guide to the New York subway. I honestly enjoyed walking through the city so much I didn’t want to take the train, and if I’m being honest I’m not a huge fan of navigating loud and busy stations. I’d much rather be outside.

Some of the streets in New York will have controlled lights and others won’t have them in quite the same way. For example, if you approach a street and hear a ticking or clicking noise, it means there’s a button you can press. There will then be an audible signal that will tell you to wait, and then indicate when the light has changed. Other streets won’t have this, so you just need to stand and listen for the parallel traffic. I found this quite challenging given how generally loud New York is. People will offer to help you, and I tended to decline their help. You will most likely have to fend off those who want to grab you or yell in your ear. In that respect, it was one of the most challenging places I’ve visited.

I used both Google Maps and Voice Vista to navigate. They work well together, and you can have Google Maps giving you turn by turn directions while Voice Vista announces what cross streets you have reached. It made navigating very easy. I also sometimes used Uber particularly at night, but I didn’t find the drivers as helpful as they are in the UK. For example they were unwilling to actually look for me and let me know they were there, even when I explained I’m blind.

Things to do

I had such a busy time in the city. Here’s a sample of the things I did, that I would recommend other people try.

• The American Museum of Natural History is a wonderful and educational place. There is so much you can touch, and the staff are very kind and helpful. I’ll write an in-depth review of my experience and link to it here very soon.
• If you’re interested in military history I recommend the Intrepid Museum. It’s actually an old ship that was used in the war, and planes would land on it. Even if you’re not so interested in history I still think it’s worth a visit. It’s clear that they have considered blind and low vision visitors, as they have lots of models of the ship and planes that you can touch, as well as some information in braille.
• The Museum of Modern Art was so fun to visit. If you are blind you can touch some of the sculptures that other people are only allowed to look at. It’s a very relaxing space, even when it’s busy.
• I had so much fun going on a pride tour of New York. Pride Tours NYC is an official partner of New York Pride, and by going on one of their walking tours you can learn all about the Stonewall uprising, as well as life for LGBT people in the city. My guide was so welcoming and he really made an effort to ensure the tour was accessible.
• Go to the theatre. Or do what I did, and go to the theatre six times! I recommend seeing shows both on and off Broadway. Off Broadway shows are in smaller venues but are of equally excellent quality. Some shows will have audio description, and I recommend downloading the GalaPro app so that you can access on-demand audio description. Just be aware that you will need wired headphones. If you don’t want to use the app, the theatre can let you use one of their own devices to access it.
• Eat lots of food. You can get basically anything in New York. I’m not going to tell you what to eat because I don’t know what you like. But I was able to find a great selection of food, even though I’m a vegetarian and also have to eat gluten free.
• However, I will tell you to visit Modern Bread and Bagel especially if you are gluten free. But even if you’re not, their everything bagel is so, so good.
• Go to a library. No seriously. Pay a visit to the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library. It’s part of the New York public library system, but it’s primarily designed for blind people, so you can run your hands over shelves and shelves of braille books. I know someone who works there so I was able to explore their lab where they engage in tactile design. Anything from 3D printing to tactile maps. It’s an amazing place and we need more spaces like it.

I’m lucky to have a few friends in NYC, so I was able to meet up with them and they introduced me to other people. Even if you don’t know any blind people in the city, try and reach out on some of the blindness focussed Facebook groups. If nothing else, I’m sure you’ll get some really helpful advice from blind people who live there. NYC has a reputation for being unfriendly but that wasn’t the case at all. People are in a rush, but whenever I stopped someone to ask them for directions they were more than willing to help. I would definitely go back there again.