A fully accessible community table has been installed outside the visitor center at Fort Adams State Park, donated to the Fort Adams Trust by the Rhode Island nonprofit RAMP.
Tina’s Table differs from a conventional picnic table by building accessible spaces into the design rather than leaving wheelchair users to sit at the ends. It has room for up to three wheelchairs, plus space for service dogs and strollers, according to the Fort Adams Trust.
“Fort Adams was built in the 19th century, and making a place like this welcoming to everyone takes deliberate work,” Paul Marshall, the trust’s executive director, said in a statement. “Tina’s Table is a visible commitment at our front door. It tells every visitor — wheelchair users, seniors, veterans, parents with strollers, people with service animals — that there is a seat here for them, and that they do not have to ask for it.”
“Accessibility isn’t a favor, it’s a right. A table isn’t truly a community table unless everyone can use it,” said Tina Pedersen, RAMP’s founder and CEO. “Fort Adams belongs to all Rhode Islanders, and a place that welcomes visitors from around the world should welcome every one of them.”
The Tina’s Table project began in 2019 through a collaboration with The Steel Yard in Providence, where the tables are fabricated by local metal artists and trainees at the organization’s industrial arts facility. The first was installed in Kennedy Plaza in Providence in 2022. Others have since gone in at East Providence City Hall Plaza, the Rhode Island Veterans Home in Bristol and Rolfe Square in Cranston, according to RAMP.
RAMP — Real Access Motivates Progress — describes itself as a Rhode Island nonprofit working on accessibility and inclusion through advocacy, education and innovation. More information is at rampisinclusion.org/tinas-table.
