An article and a letter about hotel accommodation
for disabled people sparked a host of complaints
and suggestions from readers. Here are a few.
AT A LOSS WITHOUT WHEEL-IN SHOWER
Sir – I was interested in the article about the De Vere Hotel in the October issue and wonder if the hotel has a wheel-in shower in the bathroom.
The reason for asking is that, following a stroke three years ago, my husband is quite disabled and needs wheel-in facilities in order for him to have a shower.
We find that though hotels, guesthouses etc. advertise rooms for travellers with disabilities, very few have wheel-in showers.
Our son and daughter-in-law live in Thrapston and whilst they have plenty of room to accommodate us all, the bedrooms and bathroom are upstairs which means we cannot stay overnight.
I was delighted to learn that Travel Lodges have rooms for people with disabilities as there is one almost round the corner from our son's house. So I telephoned the Thrapston Travel Lodge and spoke to a very pleasant, friendly lady.
Yes, they had a room for travellers with disabilities. When asked about the bathroom facilities I was told that the toilet had a raised seat, drop-down arms, grab rail and an emergency pull cord.
Great, I thought; then I asked about the shower and my elation disappeared as the answer came that it was over the bath. So that means we cannot go to stay with our son and are missing seeing our first grandchild who was born in April this year.
Are we really asking too much in this day and age for hotels to have wheel-in showers in bathrooms for disabled travellers? After all, a wheel-in shower with a fold-down seat and a grab rail would accommodate almost everyone. I am fortunate in that so far I have no physical
disabilities and use our wheel-in shower every day.
Life in retirement has been severely curtailed due to my husband's disabilities.
We do try to live as “normal” a life as possible and have had a car adapted so we can get out and about, but holidays and visits to friends who live away are often ruled out as we cannot find
suitable affordable accommodation in which to stay. Are we alone in having this problem?
Jean Adams
Oldham 
DOUBLE TROUBLE I
Sir – Reading Pauline Pearson's letter in the November issue, I feel I have to agree that the facilities at the Travel Inn are lacking. Why don't they get someone who is disabled to help them
design the rooms (I would certainly help them); one thing would be to take the double bed out (two singles can always be pushed together, if no bedside table is placed between).
Sharing a double bed for myself and disabled husband is disaster. He is paraplegic from the waist so turning over is a major problem, where he has to disturb me every time. Our solution has been to ask for a put-you-up camp bed to be placed in the room. But perhaps that might not be possible if they have a lot of guests. Look for a Travelodge which are much better at catering for the disabled.
Mrs J Holland
Shipley, West Yorks.
DOUBLE TROUBLE II
Sir – I would like to add to the letter from Pauline Pearson in the November issue. We, too, have stayed at Travel Inns for the same reasons. The double bed is a big problem to us as my
husband has to have an air mattress.
Yes, a 3ft air mattress on a 4ft6ins bed leaves me very little room. Then to add to this problem I need to use a hoist for my husband – the beds are already on a deeper base even without the air
matress which is another 6-8ins. But the base is a divan! Where is the access for the hoist?
The inn that we stayed at called for the manager; she was very understanding, but the only strong raising agent she could come up with was beer crates, some 10ins. Can you imagine? The hoist is not fully able to go high enough to put my husband on the bed without a big push.
And why do they always think that every disabled person can get into a bath – admittedly they have grab rails.
Then to add to that, you get to the dining room and it doesn't have one table high enough to get the knees of the wheelchair user under it.
I could then go on to the toilets – yes, fine for the partially disabled but no good for those who cannot manage their own deeds. All it needs is a raised loo seat, but not the pan as well. I can
see the problems this would cause for men not catheterised or equivalent.
Time I stopped or we could go on all night.
Valerie Hellyer
Devon
DOUBLE TROUBLE III
Sir – I was interested to read in the November issue the comments concerning the experiences of your reader with Travel Inn.
My son moved to Spalding over two years ago and my daughter is paralysed and confined to a wheelchair. My son has a new property with the bathroom upstairs and therefore my daughter
cannot use it. Therefore, we stay in a Travelodge at Eye Green, Peterborough.
They have two rooms for disabled people, each with a double bed.
When we first stayed there we had to book two rooms, one disabled and the other for me to stay in. Eventually a very helpful member of staff advised us that a put-you-up bed could be transferred into the disabled room for the three of us to stay together. This also saved us the cost of a second room.
They have family rooms available, but the bathroom door is not wide enough to allow a wheelchair through. When making a booking thorough the main switchboard I am always
advised that the disabled room be for two people only. Why do they not put twin beds into these rooms with the option of a third bed, as many disabled people must find it uncomfortable sharing a double bed.
J R Brookson
Borden, Kent
DOUBLE TROUBLE IV
Sir – Further to Pauline Pearson's letter in the November magazine about Travel Inns and double beds, I entirely concur with her. I am in a wheelchair, and last March a friend and I wanted a weekend away. Because they are accessible, we decided to stay in a Travel Inn.
There was a double bed, which I slept in, and my friend had to sleep in a temporary bed, despite the fact that we had booked a twin bedded room. Not only that, but the shower was in a bath, which made it impossible for me to have a shower, because at home I use a shower chair.
Breakfast was brought to the room for us, and the staff were very helpful, but I'm glad we were only there for two nights, because I like a shower, and would have been very smelly indeed if
we had stayed any longer.
The only positive thing was the staff, who couldn't have done more for us, and the breakfast, which was very tasty.
Dr Barbara Lucas,Rugely, Staffs
SOME SOLUTIONS?
Sir – I have used four different groups of lodges and they all displayed Mrs Pauline Pearson's problem of only offering a double bed in a disabled room. I put this down to an endeavour to free
up as much floor space as possible for wheelchair movement without considering the consequences and restrictions it creates.
But there are many other problems.
Strong springs on fire doors – pity the solo wheelchair user trying to get out of a bedroom with an inward opening door! Right angled turns in a narrow corridor, worse for scooter users who have less manoeuvrability than a manual wheelchair.
Having to pass the service trolley in a corridor. Getting out of bed with nothing to pull on – I have only met one lodge with a hanging lift bar.
Climbing over the side of the bath to get a shower – I carry two plastic stools to create two steps. Showers with no horizontal rails at standing height. No rubber anti-slip matter but a legallyworded notice, “Please take care not to slip” in a vague hope of avoiding compensation claims. An outward opening bathroom door (essential for safety) which makes movement in the access corridor difficult; far better a sliding door, as used in Premier Lodges.
Long corridors with several fire doors, presumably because the original building has been extended and more disabled rooms created instead of converting existing rooms near the entrance.
I think there should be a national standard for the lodge type of accommodation, also to be used by hotels where disabled rooms are on the ground floor adjacent to the carpark.
1 – When a disabled room is booked the customer will be told “you are in room no...which has its own reserved parking space at a direct outside entrance to the room.” This space will be as wide as a disabled space but not marked as such to prevent other blue badge holders using it and also to enable the room, and the facility, to be allocated to a non-disabled client if it is the last available room.
2 – There will be a direct footway with dropped kerb from the parking space to the external door which will use the same key as the interior corridor door.
3 – In case the disabled person is alone and has to make the journey into reception the distance between two sets of entrance doors will be increased to leave space for someone to hold one
open as they pass through and the openable doors should be in direct line, not staggered from left to right or round a right-angled bend. (A rule which will also apply to any external eating establishment, especially Little Chef who are usually very bad on this).
4 – A new type of bath will be installed. It will combine the features of Ideal Standard Space Offset Corner Shower Bath, which has more space for showering (also seen in Dolphin TV
adverts) with the addition of an inward opening door, which may necessitate the bath being lengthened slightly. This gives the client three options: walk-in shower, walk-in bath, and if you have the ability, to climb out before you get cold waiting for it to empty.
5 – A shower hand rail will be installed horizontally at 4ft6ins (1.1m) above the base of the bath along the whole of the long side and the whole of the shower end.
6 – A universal standard of thermal mixing valve will be used, set at the middle of the long side where it can be operated either by the person taking the shower whilst they stand clear of the
flow to test the temperature with their hand, or by a carer assisting them from outside the screen. Easy to grip on/off and hotter/colder controls will be provided and an operating label will be clearly displayed on the wall above it with these four words repeated in Braille.
7 – The shower head will be on a hose, not fixed where a carer cannot use it to shower their patient. (Anyone who prefers a fixed shower can leave it on the hook).
8 – The shower screen will be a single piece of curved glass (standard with the bath) which is much better than a horrible plastic curtain that tends to stick to you as you move.
9 – The bed will have a hanging pullup facility plus a hook on the wall to pull it safely out of the way when not required.
10 – A new design of tromboneshaped lift-up arm, as used on the toilets, will be fixed to the wall alongside the bed at a distance of 2ft 6ins from the headboard wall. It will have extra short
rods between the two tubes so that it can be used by hand, like a horizontal ladder, to pull yourself out of bed. Safer than placing a room chair there and hoping that it does not tip over, which is what I have to do. Position is important; it must not obstruct wheelchair use.
11 – All rooms will have two comfortable chairs, with one being the highseat 'hospital type' for those who have difficulty with low chairs and need the arms to assist getting up.
12 – A selection of bath and shower seats should be available from reception.
13 – Lifts should be longer than the National Accessibility Criteria for Accommodation because the specified 1.1m is less than the length of a normal mobility scooter. I have met a car park
where I could not shut the lift doors, so had to reload and pay the minimum fee to get out, also I do need to take it into my bedroom to recharge the batteries overnight.
Members with different disabilities will have other needs, that I cannot envisage. Members should be asked to contribute any other needs they think should be catered for. A recommended specification could then be circulated to all known lodge chains.
Ronald D Boyle, Windsor
ROOTING OUT BADGE ABUSE
Sir – I write in response to Mr Shaun Griffiths' letter “Invisible Disability” in the December/January edition of Disabled Motorist, in which he says badges are not given out
“willy-nilly”.
While I agree with his statement up to point, the fact that a person is using a badge does not make that person disabled; this badge could belong to a relative, friend, or simply be
obtained by devious means.
I have on several occasions challenged people, to be told,“Well, it's human nature – something for nothing.”
I feel that one sure way to deal with this is to issue badges only to people receiving the Higher Rate Mobility component of the DLA. If these people are genuine they would have no
problem receiving DLA; the fact that some do not wish to draw this suggests that if they applied they would be turned down, thus negating their badge application.
Whilst I am not suggesting the genuine people be penalised, I feel that this would go some way toward locating and dealing with people who abuse the badges, and who give the genuine
disabled people a bad reputation.
R Johnson
Stockport
A HALL LOT OF HASSLE
Sir – Last year I visited Nunnington Hall with a group of friends who were not disabled. I could not get beyond the ground floor due to my disability.
I was sat down in the cafe and given some literature about the hall, which took me all of ten minutes to read and I was asked to return the pamphlets.
I was hot and I was bored. Disabled people are ignored you know – we don't exist, especially if you happen to be old as well!
I was charged £1 a time for each small glass of orange squash. I was charged the full admission price for this VIP treatment. I don't think I will be recommending that particular venue to any of my disabled friends.
Mrs J A Willis (aged 65)
Derbyshire
A CHARGE TOO FAR
Sir – The three general hospitals in Shropshire are now charging all motorists to park – visitors and outpatients, ablebodied and disabled.
We don't choose to use our cars, we have no alternative, and I find this imposition quite unacceptable. Several years ago a small supermarket in Oswestry started charging disabled
shoppers for parking. Local organisations grouped together and the scheme lasted a few days.
I attended a hospital in Wrexham one day last week.
Notices around the car park were warning offenders of wheelclamping. My daughter looked along the rows of special bays and all cars were displaying parking badges. Isn't there a
lesson here?
Dvid H Driver
Ellesmere, Shropshire
Letter of the month
IT MIGHT BE A HARD ACT TO FOLLOW
Sir – While the Disability Dscrimination Act is to be welcomed, we must consider that not all small businesses and indeed some larger businesses may be able to fully comply with the Act.
One only has to look at buildings which have been in existence for many years, possibly listed and in areas where alterations may not be possible, to realise that failure to comply could result in closure of these businesses with a subsequent increase in unemployment and a decrease in choice for all. If this happened, then those premises which are accessible to the disabled would become more crowded thereby negating the benefits of the Act.
Also these areas would suffer from dereliction and possible vandalism making such areas unsafe. Is this what we really want? Let us not go overboard here. As we want to be treated fairly, so must we also treat others fairly.
Len Hales
Cradley Heath
TAKE HEART FROM THIS HELP
Sir – I have for the first time read and enjoyed your magazine, finding it very thought provoking as well as very informative. I am one of the lucky ones who at the age of 70 have no disabilities to speak of but one who is very active in the “charity” field and does see many of the problems that disabled people experience in their daily life.
In talking to Chris Strawford, the DDMC Reps Officer, at a car boot sale I realised that the outward signs of a person's disability are not always the only ones that they suffer from. Chris, knowing that I am the Chairman of Take Heart Southend and District Cardiac Support Group, asked what we could do for any disabled person who among other things may have a cardiac problem.
I explained that Take Heart is a self-help group, started and run by people with heart problems to help others with similar problems; to provide support and information. We feel that someone who has experienced heart trouble is undoubtedly in the best position to offer comfort and hope to those recovering from the effects of heart disease.
With over 500 members we feel that we are in a position to help patients AND make our voice heard in the local NHS cardiac treatment.
Should any one of your members be in a position of requiring help or information please get in touch with your local Heart Support Group, for I believe there is one in every local PCT area or hospital. For further information see our web site: www.takeheartsouthend.org.uk
George Turner, Leigh-on-Sea,
Essex
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