The Rolling Gourmet Launches New Initiative with Quality of Life Grant from Christopher Reeve Foundation

December 18, 2006
For Immediate Release:

Contact:
Julia Freeman-Woolpert, Disabilities Rights Center, 603-228-0432 or juliaf@drcnh.org.
Joan Nelson, New Hampshire Chapter, National Spinal Cord Injury Association, 603-216-3920 or jnelson@nhspinal.org

Concord, NH - The Disabilities Rights Center and the NH Chapter, National Spinal Cord Injury Association have received a Quality of Life grant from the Christopher Reeve Foundation (CRF) to expand the Rolling Gourmet, New Hampshire’s guide to restaurant accessibility.

With the grant from the CRF, the Rolling Gourmet will be able to offer a stipend to encourage diners, especially those who use wheelchairs, to participate in rating New Hampshire’s restaurants for accessibility. It will also allow the Rolling Gourmet to provide direct feedback to each restaurant on its accessibility as experienced by a person with a disability.

The Rolling Gourmet, launched in 2005 on the 15th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, offers diners with disabilities the ability to review restaurants and have their reviews publicized for other diners to access when choosing a restaurant. It has proved to be a popular program, and 175 New Hampshire restaurants have been rated so far.

While the ratings focus on physical access, there is room for comments about accommodations and friendliness. This is not only a guide for accessible dining, but also serves as encouragement for restaurants to become fully accessible.

To find out more, visit the Rolling Gourmet on the web at: http://www.drcnh.org/restaurant.htm.

Quality of Life grants, conceived by the late Dana Reeve, are given to programs or projects that improve the daily lives of people living with paralysis, particularly spinal cord injuries. Funding is awarded twice yearly to programs in thirteen categories, including: accessibility, advocacy, arts, assistive technology, children, counseling, education, employment, health promotion, independent living, practical services, sports and recreation and therapeutic riding.

The Christopher Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research, and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information, and advocacy.

The New Hampshire Chapter of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association's mission is to provide service to those individuals with spinal cord injury and disease, their families and the community by being a comprehensive provider of resource location, support, education, awareness, and advocacy; as well as to work cooperatively with all disability organizations and health facilities.

The Disabilities Rights Center is dedicated to eliminating barriers existing in New Hampshire to the full and equal enjoyment of civil and other legal rights by people with disabilities.