by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2013/10/25 07:01 -04:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2013/10/25/10459758.aspx
Perhaps you are visiting the Unicode Conference in Santa Clara this year.
You may be in a wheelchair.
In fact, you may be me!
How unfortunate for you if you are staying at the conference hotel.
Because if you are, then you are kinda screwed a little bit.
Not too much, mind you.
You will be screwed the usual amount.
I should explain what I mean.
The Grand Hyatt in Santa Clara is rather inaccessible in so many ways.
Like the lack of a tub bench in the shower.
Or the missing grab bars next to the toilet.
I don't even want to get into the fact that there isn't enough space for the wheelchair to fit next to the toilet, which is probably why they didn't want to bother with the grab bars.
Why tease a gimp that way?
Making people who are staying at a luxury hotel go to public restrooms is unlikely to endear the handicapped; it certainly failed to endear me!
And how exactly is the manager of the Santa Clara Grand Hyatt responding to the problem?
Rather evasively, it turns out. "This is great feedback for future hotel updates" says the Manager, nervously.
In the end, I let him off of the hot seat by getting a comp'd dinner of ~$30.00.
I could theoretically have held out for more but I have my own company's SBC to worry about.
I therefore clearly wasn't trying my hand at extortion here,
I was just trying to get him thinking about the position he put himself and his hotel into, what with writing checks that his hotel clearly lacked the funds to cover.
Next time, he would really need a better answer.
And I warned him about this blog, so he might need an answer sooner, not later! Like maybe directly admitting the lack at checkin, and trying to solve the room problems in a hurry
(it takes more than a doorbell that flashes lights to make a room accessible!)
I suddenly wondered whether I found a whole new area like with .SRT Files at helping an industry understand *Accessibility*!
However, most hotels have a better handle on this than the Santa Clara Grand Hyatt does, so it wouldn't replace the need for a fulltime job.
This hotel was on its way to solving the problem (probably more of a room selection issue rather than a major remodeling job; I'm sure they had some rooms with more space for a *wheelchair* in the bathroom without looking too hard, and ADA-compliant grab bars are cheap; just ask the maintenance staff at ArchstoneAvalon Bay Redmond Campus!
I am mad enough I suppose that I want my entire stay comp'd, but it already was since I presented.
You'd think the ADA never passed in this county yet?$
I don't want the hotel sued, I don't want to be a cause.
But what I do want is simple.
Don't claim to have accessible rooms and put me in one that isn't. I don't want to waste my time that way....
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Think of the above as a line of picketing gimps demanding that the hotel do it right!..
Michael S. Kaplan on 25 Oct 2013 7:19 AM:
I think I know what I'd be doing if I wasn't doing internationalization and World-Readiness I'd be doing something related to Accessibility- the only other thing I have so much passion for!
Charlie on 25 Oct 2013 7:37 AM:
Internationalization and world-readiness is all about accessibility — not a different matter, really.
Charlie on 25 Oct 2013 7:51 AM:
Internationalization and world-readiness is all about accessibility — not a different matter, really. Except that it is the minority of English speakers who suffer least and don’t permanently feel the need for adequate facilities. The effect of being excluded from social life is very much the same though.
I will have to blog about that issue another time! - MSK
Wyatt on 25 Oct 2013 12:01 PM:
Funny, when my wife and I go someplace, we always seem to get put in a handicap accessible room, even though neither of us needs one (usually the only option available).
Michael S. Kaplan on 26 Oct 2013 1:44 AM:
You must not have been at the Grand Hyatt in Santa Clara...
Jim Monty on 26 Oct 2013 8:46 PM:
Not f'r nothin', but it's a Hyatt Regency, not a Grand Hyatt. This probably doesn't explain your disappointment with it in any case.
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