There’s not much I enjoy more than traveling. I love meeting new people and exploring new places. It gives oxygen to my creativity.
When all goes well, traveling energizes me and gives me hope. However, embarking on my love for travel as a wheelchair user has proven both rewarding and challenging.
Beyond the hurdles of airline nightmares, the lack of accessibility in hotels often diminishes my enjoyment. From beds that are too high to soap that falls out of reach, these challenges can diminish my joy of traveling.
Join me as I explore the myriad obstacles that transform a simple hotel stay into an intricate puzzle of inconvenience.
The Check-in Chronicles
My trepidation begins at the check-in counter. Will the reception desk be too high? If so, then handing over my card and signing forms may become an awkward dance of elevation.
The clerk reaches across the counter while I lift my card up high for them to grasp. When the card is run, the clerk bends over to give it to me, along with any forms that need to be signed. Will there be a clipboard, or is my lap serving as my desk? Once the paperwork is completed, the dance continues as I endeavor to hand it back.
This inconvenience could easily be resolved if all hotels offered a lower counter. It’s a seemingly minor detail that sets the stage for the following accessibility hurdles.
Plush Carpets and Long Corridors:
Now that I have my key, it is time to find my room. As I navigate the hallways, the plush carpets transform into a resistance training course. The exertion on my shoulders and wrists intensifies with each roll, turning what should be a smooth journey into a cumbersome workout.
If my accessible room is located at the distant end of a corridor, an extra layer of challenge is added. Now I’m a track star in training.
These unasked-for workouts test my patience as well as my physical endurance.
Bathroom Battleground
My hotel room’s bathroom becomes the next battleground if my request for a roll-in shower is not honored. This indignity forces me to make a difficult choice. Do I use the tub and risk falling, or should I forgo a shower altogether?
If I’m fortunate enough to secure another room with a roll-in shower, I face the daunting task of navigating the dreaded carpets again.
Nightmarish Bedtime Rituals
As I prepare for bed, I am faced with a series of logistical problems.
Closing the curtains, seemingly a straightforward process, becomes a strategic mission as oversized furniture obstructs access. Even an inconveniently placed lamp demands acrobatic acts from me to reach the switch.
Finally, I am ready to settle in for the night. But the bed is too high. This transforms a routine transfer into a demanding feat, amplifying the strain on my shoulders. While I can manage transfers to high beds, a few falls have prompted embarrassing calls to the front desk for assistance.
Planning is essential to minimize transfers. I must ensure everything I need is within reach once I am settled in for the night. If I have forgotten anything, the resulting strenuous transfer into a super-high bed may leave me wide awake with adrenaline.
Workspace Woes and Spatial Constraints
For a traveling wheelchair user who needs to work on the go, the hotel room workspace presents its own challenges.
A desk, overshadowed by an oversized chair, requires rearrangement for me to comfortably pull up in my wheelchair. In smaller rooms with large furniture that I won’t use, like those in bustling cities such as New York, spatial constraints limit maneuverability, adding to daily fatigue.
Morning Routines
My morning bathroom routine reveals further obstacles.
Mirrors at impractical heights and non-traditional toilet shapes that are too wide for my commode turn simple tasks into exercises in creative problem-solving. It’s not that I need to see myself first thing in the morning, but I kind of like to see my teeth while I’m brushing them.
Shower heads and soap dispensers positioned out of reach can become daily hurdles throughout my stay. Sometimes, there isn’t even a proper place to set down a bar of soap. If I drop the soap, I won’t be able to reach it, forcing me to improvise and potentially shower without it.
My entire bathroom routine can become an advanced class in creative problem-solving. A bathroom created to be accessible with actual wheelchair users in mind would allow my morning routine to be a calming ritual. Instead, it too often becomes a frustrating hassle.
A Shadow on the Joy of Traveling
Counters and beds that are too high. Mirrors that only show the top half of our face. Long hallways lined with plush carpets. These seemingly minor challenges, when compounded, cast a shadow on the joy of travel for wheelchair users. Together, they raise a pertinent question: Why do these obstacles persist when thoughtful design solutions are within reach?
It’s time for the hospitality industry to prioritize inclusivity. Hoteliers must seek insights from individuals with lived experiences to ensure that the journey is accessible, comfortable, and enjoyable for all.
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