What you offer here is a
Rocky Mountain Region Special Order from 1996. In that Special Order it specifically states that the following people are exempt from the restrictions on carts in the wilderness in the Rocky Mountain Region for the duration of the Special Order:
"Persons with disabilities using assistive devices or aids, in
accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (PL 101-336)"
Well I guess that proves your point doesn't it? Or does it? There's that TLDR part about:
"in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (PL 101-336"
So if you are a person with a disability "using assistive devices or aids"
AND "in accordance with the
Americans with Disabilities Act (PL 101-336)" (ADA) you are exempt and can have all the cart races you want in the wilderness - no permits or permission required.
So what's the big deal about being "in accordance" with the Disabilities Act? I guess we are just going to have to read that Disability Act to find out. After all the reason for a cart in wilderness is because you are disabled.
Lucky for us the Disability Act specifically explains what devices a disabled person can bring into the wilderness. I guess that's why the Special Order spells out the law involved so we can look up that specific device. Wasn't that nice of them? They could have just copied the specific device definition into the Special Order and avoided confusing you - and anyone else thinking it means something it doesn't - but heck that's what government is all about. Right?
So unlike the Regional Forester who signed that Special Order in 1996 I'm going to share with you the full text of what the Americans with Disabilities Act law actually has to say about the single exception carved out for disabled use of the wilderness:
________________________________________________
AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT
USC 12207
SEC. 507. FEDERAL WILDERNESS AREAS
(c) SPECIFIC WILDERNESS ACCESS.—
(1) Congress reaffirms that nothing in the
Wilderness Act is to be construed as prohibiting the use of a
wheelchair in a wilderness area by an individual whose disabil-
ity requires use of a
wheelchair, and consistent with the Wilder-
ness Act no agency is required to provide any form of special
treatment or accommodation, or to construct any facilities or
modify any conditions of lands within a wilderness area in order
to facilitate such use.
(2) DEFINITION.—For purposes of paragraph (1), the term
"wheelchair" means a device
designed solely f
or use by a mobil-
ity-impaired person for locomotion, that is suitable for use in an
indoor pedestrian area.
________________________________________________
Pretty harsh huh? Maybe they just meant a cart to push around would be the same thing as a wheelchair? Whoops! Here comes the Forest Service to explain how wrong that line of thought is.
From the
Forest Service Manual 2353.05 Definitions:
“Designed solely for use by a mobility-impaired person” means that the original
design and manufacture of the device was
only for the purpose of mobility by a person who has a
limitation on their ability to walk.
So it doesn't even apply to disabled people with bad backs or people with no arms to carry their water bottle. It's not about disability it's about mobility - the ability of a living being to move itself. If you can't move yourself you are allowed to use a wheelchair.
A wheelchair - not a cart, wagon or pogo stick. Just a wheeled chair. Not your mining gear, buckets or dog just yourself. That's the law - not rules or regulations or Special Orders - the actual law..
Remember how I wrote it would be a big deal if a permit was ever given for a cart in wilderness? This whole Americans with Disabilities Act thing with the Wilderness exception has created a strange situation in American law. You see Congress when they wrote the Disability Act law didn't define the word "wheelchair" anywhere else in the law but in the wilderness exception - so the courts in literally hundreds (thousands?) of
disability cases have ruled over and over for more than 30 years now that the definition for the word "wheelchair" as used in the Disability Act ONLY applies to wheelchairs actually being used to move disabled people in the wilderness.
And that is why the Forest Service won't be issuing any cart permits for wilderness - disabled or not. And that's why you won't get any support for the idea of expanding the use of wheelchairs in the wilderness to include carts. Probably billions in insurance settlements and court judgements rely on that definition of wheelchairs in the wilderness not changing. Nobody wants to rock that boat.