Caregiver Travelers Beware
If a hotel advertises that a room is “accessible,” they probably mean that it has handrails in the bathroom. Traveling, eating out, and attending various forms of entertainment with a disability are not for the faint of heart. Information received from brochures before arrival is rarely accurate.
Although handrails are very useful, they do not qualify as the “one size fits all” solution to accessibility needs for the disabled! Most wheelchair transfers do not require the use of handrails. With a wheelchair transfer, mobility devices must be closer to the wheelchair and the toilet than the wall. Furthermore, while handrails may help steady individuals as they stand or sit, they are likely less effective as tools associated with mobility devices. They don’t support an individual’s right and left side, nor can they be adjusted if someone’s weak side is opposite to the side the rails are attached to.
Obtaining Hotel Accommodations
If you need specific accommodation, don’t book with the front-desk clerk unless that person handles all the special needs reservations. Ask to speak to the person in charge of providing disability accommodations. Discuss in detail what you need and request confirmation of the agreement in writing. A few days before your arrival, call to confirm everything you requested remains available. Get a name! If something is wrong with the arrangement upon arrival, you want to know who knows the details to help resolve the issue. On the day of your arrival, consider calling ahead to check arrangements to prevent waiting while someone looks up the agreement and arranges to set up the room. If something is wrong, ask to speak to the person whose name you have from the initial conversation. It could save you a big headache when you arrive on site.
Going Out to Eat
Be prepared to deal with the following challenges when out in public. Hopefully, the restaurant you choose to enjoy will not have these issues, but if you prepare for them in advance, your outing may go smoother.
Restaurant Challenges
- Narrow aisles between tables.
- A step-up to sit in booth seating areas.
- Access to the salad bar requires stepping down to a lower level
- Someone in a wheelchair cannot reach utensils at the salad bar.
- A wheelchair sits in the aisle at the end of the table, with customers bumping into it as they pass.
- The wheelchair does not fit under the table.
Plan, in advance, what to ask the wait staff to do as an accommodation to help overcome these obstacles. Examples might be:
- Rearrange seating or remove chairs at the end of tables.
- Re-route to areas that don’t require stepping up or down to access them.
- Request the waitress to bring utensils to the table.
- Request that the table height be elevated on blocks so the wheelchair will fit under them (call ahead with the request).
Challenges Found in Many Locations
- Doors without automatic openers for wheelchair occupants, especially bathroom doors.
- Bathrooms are marked “male only” or “female only,” but the person in the wheelchair and the caregiver are of opposite genders.
- Crossing the street during rainstorms when the storm drains empty below curb access ramps. During any rainstorm, the curb access is inaccessible for motorized power chairs.
- Street crossings do not line up directly across from one another. Often, one or the other requires the person in the wheelchair to enter the street a second time to access the ramp. Sometimes, there is no access ramp on the opposite corner.
- The disability entrance for many buildings is poorly marked or hidden. Often, locating the entrance is very difficult, and the doors lack automatic openers.
- Many stores that allow you to try on merchandise before buying do not have unisex dressing rooms or rooms large enough to accommodate a powerchair and caregiver.
- Many stores have uneven floors, which prevent easy access to all merchandise. Someone in a wheelchair cannot reach items on the top shelves unless the store provides an assistant.
The above list gives you an idea of some of the many challenges those who use wheelchairs encounter. In some situations, accommodation is available that allows a form of assistance to occur, but the assistance is minimal and cumbersome, making the accommodation almost not worth using. Unfortunately, many companies provide what is required and not a dollar more. They place the accommodation in a difficult-to-find location and rarely upgrade it once installed.
Frankly, after dealing with a few situations of frustrating accommodations, we gave up. We decided take-out orders worked best for us, and internet shopping was a wonderful creation. Both provide access to all the resources we need while reducing the risk of infection and the frustration of dealing with accessibility.
