Ooh!! If you’re able, use a rolling tip! My pencil tip got stuck a lot in the sidewalks.

Google or apple Maps isn’t actually very good to use in the inner area where things are super close by.

I ended up mostly asking people how to get to places.

The subway was really easy actually! 10/10, easy to understand and there’s tellers around to ask for help with transferring.

It is hard for me to step back and think about NYC as a visitor. I worked there since the 90s. The transit app will work great. Many of the museums have a discount and assistive audio. Check the websites for the places you are going to.

Contrary to their reputation, people not in a hurry are friendly and will do their best to help you if they’re able. Try to avoid traveling during rush hours.

You can pay for subways and buses using your phone. In the subway, the OMNY readers are at the front on the right side of the turnstile. They are positioned at 45-ish degree angle. The reader is fairly large, thus much more forgiving. Very fast and easy. https://new.mta.info/system_modernization/omny

I recommend asking in r/AskNYC and frame it as getting advice from blind New Yorkers.

NY Beyond Sight released verbal descriptions of famous landmarks by NYers: http://www.nybeyondsight.org/

I found new York city to be quite accessible. I went there in the summer of 2019. And mostly did the really big historical and political stuff.

The trains I had absolutely no problems with, late at night it was a bit hard to get help.

I got stuck in new York or almost because I went in the middle of the night almost :D just to get pizza. Yes, I guess I wanted pizza that badly. And discovered there was a train that ran all night the path trains. Heh! I was trying to get back to Newark Nj where I was staying. They worked pretty well. The uber drivers there seemed pretty nice but the one I got was on the Jersey side I think.

The United Nations was super friendly. I didn’t tell them I was blind until the day of literally an hour or less before the United nations tour. They were super friendly. No arguments and right away was like yeah, we’re going to get someone, don’t worry you’ll have someone on the tour and was super friendly and super super nice. And the helpers were super friendly too.

I went in to the gift shop and they helped me around.

I had to advocate for help elsewhere. I stood at ground 0 but the museum wasn’t accessible to me, they said you had to book a accessible tour 3 or 4 months in advanced. I was like I won’t be here in 3 or 4 months, I live on the opposite coast. There was literally no help on Ellis Island, I just walked around and asked people around. I had to argue with people on the statue of liberty island to. Get some help and finally I got it. The person was pretty okay. So yeah.

There was people who were super unfriendly like the first night but even people on the streets could be friendly I wanted a little help back to the subway station from the UN and I thought I was going to die of heatstroke. California summers is arid, new York is humid, and besides it was 95 degrees outside.