Disabled access

[Lynda18]

I am both a host and a guest.  I find it incredibly difficult to find truly accessible accommodation.    When listing, owners tend to tick the box "Wheelchair access" if they think a wheelchair can get through the back door.   I'm not sure what we are supposed to do once we are there, if we can't get into the bathroom, toilet, or even the bedroom!   I feel that the listing should have a separate set of questions for hosts that want to claim that they are wheelchair friendly.   There are so many disabilities, thus a large variety of needs for different people.  If all the facts are presented then a person can decide if they can or can't manage.   It doesn't have to be perfect but there are important issues. - Are the doorways wide enough to take a wheelchair? can the wheelchair access the toilet area? is there a handle for support to transfer to the toilet? is the shower accessible (wet floor, support handles, non slip flooring)? can a wheelchair move to the side of the bed so a guest can transfer from the chair to the bed?  If this information was presented to me, (and other disabled travellers) we could make an informed decision rather than having to ask the same questions over and over again.  Pictures showing the facilities also help hugely.

p.s. - I'm proud to say that our place (New Zealand - Kaikoura - Redbarn Studio) is fully accessible.

Lynda

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[Sophia297]

hello all. My aunt is travelling to the USA on the 1st September 2019. she uses a wheelchair and is coming there for a medical appointment. we cant find any where to stay. we need some help finding somewhere. she will be traveling with a nurse any suggestion of places. for 1 month.

[Alexandra316]

@Sophia297 Your best bet is likely a hotel or motel that states that they are wheelchair accessible. Or, you will need to search Airbnb with whatever accessibility checkboxes your aunt requires checked on the filter and start contacting hosts and asking them questions. I personally think that a hotel or motel will likely be a much safer bet.

[Allie5]

Hi wonderful Airbnb hosts,

I have too enjoyed this thread and reading people’s stories. Coming from a stroke victim at age 8, causing my full Right side paralysis from eye down I know quite a bit about being in a wheelchair (for a few years or so)  and slowly regaining only partial use of my legs, learning to read write again with my left hand. There are challenges that I face even now, still at age 32, my right fine motor skills are still paralysed and foot with a prominent limp. To this day neuro surgeons are baffled as to why and there were no underlying factors as to why I had it.

I no first hand what discrimination feels like and it ain’t pretty, but I have learnt to accept who I am and take be gratful for the awesome life I live. When I was younger I used to really let it get to me, bullying didn’t help from peers. Strange looks, exclusion in games, rejection the list goes on. But after about 5 years I gained more self confidence.

While I have another job as a Sales rep for supermarkets, I have been a host with Airbnb for over 3 years now and absolutely love it with over 6 hundard reviews and I  live in the house to so get to interact with all the guests. Since I live with a stroke on my right I have developed a heavy reliance on my left in particular sever RSI in my wrist (going to have 3rd op in a few months).

That doesn’t stop e though and I just got super host. I have had a few looks, or questions from guests. I have only mentioned it to a very few guests as well.

Only once did a guest say a very cruel and hurtful comment to me about how I couldnt cope, about 4 months after I started hosting so a long time before the discrimination policy was introduced, if only she could see me now! Superhost and all, I think I’m doing alright, and I just think for a guest come into your house and blatantly put a host down like that after you showed them into your house etc etc says more about them than me. 

Here’s a list that I have for some of the gadgets and amenities I have here

1. Non slip bathroommats and boards.

2.Electronic tin opener is a must

3. 1 handed pepper and salt shakers

4. Lots of non siick chopping boards

5. Holders for pots and pans when they are on the element

6. Rails in shower

7. Trollies

8. All in one cutters/choppers

7. Kettle tipper I find round doorknobs so annoying and have wide doorways, no steps ( apart from to our back garden from our balcony, but there are railings)

8.Trays

9. Wall mounts for hairdryers

9. Easy cutters / holders for utensils

If anyone wants a more comprehensive list let me know 😁 

You are all fantastic hosts and I really enjoy being part of this communitie here at Airbnb.

Kia Kaha from Wellington

Allie

[Catherine577]

@Allie5  THANK YOU for your input. I'm going to keep the list. Cheers, cathy

[Rebecca709]

I’m struggling to find wheelchair accessible accommodation in Pulborough/Petworth/Arundel area with a wet room for my cousin to stay near to his family over Xmas. Any suggestions?

[Victoria552]

Absolutely need more ADA accessible information.  My mother is not in a wheelchair, but her knees are so bad she can't do stairs or climb into a regular bathtub.  It's such a pain to find a rental to incude her on Airbnb!

[Gayle156]

Check out site called BecomingRentABLE. It has a map by state of accessible properties.

[Heike76]

This whole conversation is very interesting for me as I am about to list a newly renovated house on BnB. We had to rebuild and reschedule most of the house and and as we did so I thought a one-level house would be perfect to offer to guests with mobility problems.

My mother had gone from a walking stick to a walker and then to a wheelchair and I saw how difficult it can be without the proper amenities.

So I wanted a roll-in shower and designed the bathroom with a wheel chair accessible sink area by being able to remove the under-sink cabinets that are on wheels. But there are little things like: which hight should a grab rail have and should it be vertical or horizontal? Can I put only one grab rail on the wall next to the toilet as on the other side is the central heating, so no space to fix it at the wall.

The house will be wheelchair accessible I hope (after having read all the posts I will go again and remeasure everything) but it will not be perfect. I read something about special door knobs (or was it cup board knobs?)...why? And how should they look like?

How high should a bed be ideally? 

[Catherine577]

i am in a wheelchair. door knobs are probably door handles. if so, there are some that have an extended handle instead of the traditional round doir handle. the extended handle means i can open door by pushing down with hand instead of turning knob to open/close. good for arthritis and paraplegics or quads w hand paralysis/nerve damage.

Re: bed heighth, i had a guest w MS who had to remove the bed frame to lower bed, so not one-size fits all in the disabled world.  a higher bed that's more level w the heighth of a wheelchair means that someone in a chair can use a board to transfer from chair to bed. once again, remember the ADA is using "standard/typical" measurements that may not suit every disabled person. it is used for guidance, awareness. 

[Letti0]

My current guests have a disabled child. I have stairs to get into my place, but the house it self is all on one level. I do not claim to be handicap acessible in any way. I would have never known this if they had not asked for directions to Morgan's Wonderland last night, which is a non profit amusement park designed for the handicapped in San Antonio. I am located 30 minutes from the place. 

[Catherine577]

@Letti0, parents didn't say anything because they can manage on their own. That's my guess.

[Robin4]

@Catherine577

Hi Catherine, I have been following your posts with interest because I have a disabled wife, but can I just make a couple of observations.

Many of the disabled facilities we come across have been designed to a set of rules, but they have not been designed by people who are disabled, and although they look to comply on the surface, in actual fact they are difficult to use or can lead to issues.

We have just stayed in a resort villa which is classified as for mobility impared persons.

On inspection the bathroom had a wide entrance door, toilet that was set out well from the wall and a grab rail that was functional. The Vanity however was too high to use from a shower chair (which was not provided) fortunately we have learned to travel with our own! The shower, while being 1.2 meters (4 ft) square with good walk in access did not have a grab rail. The entire room tiling including the shower floor was gloss porcelain tiles, and as soon as soapy water met those tiles they became very slippery and my wife fell resulting in substantial bruising.......

This facility was designed and met all the requirements of a disabled wet area...the one thing they did not take into account is that disabled people actually have to be able to use it!

Cheers......Rob

[Catherine577]

@Robin4, hiya, Robin, I am enjoying our conversations, too!  A tip: when you use a hotel shower put a large towel on the floor of the shower to help prevent slipping. I also put a towel on my shower chair because soap makes the seat slippery. Cheers! I hope you went to Hotel Management about this issue. We must educate them. You're right about technically abiding by the law regarding accessibility, however, the folks who made the laws aren't disabled, I'm sure! I've travelled using my manual chair & my motto in Europe was just "wing" it...lol! I keep my expectations low & enjoy myself. Arrogance does no one good. And I've met lovely people who were always willing to help especially in the UK! If your attitude is friendly people will always listen & help. The thing about me is that for about 1/2 my life I was able to walk, and now on the 2nd half of my journey I use a whchair. Both sides of the coin. Cheers!, catherine

[Letti0]

@Robin4 I was in a horrific car/truck accident in 1998. I spent well over a year in a wheelchair while they added major metal to my neck and spine. After massive physical therapy and surgeries I advance to a walker, then leg braces and a cane. I am now able to walk, but not far distances and still have some issues with RSD. I know exactly what you are talking about. We as a family went to an ADA approved hotel/resort in the Grand Canyon and I had the same issue as your wife. It just did not work right for me and I also fell in the shower. I won't go into my children thinking it was funny to let mom's wheelchair loose on a incline and send me sailing down a hill there where they had a problem getting to the wheelchair as quickly as they thought they could. Thank heaven it all ended well for me that time and they learned an important lesson.  

As a side note you may want think about getting one of these installed in you home it really helped me when I was in the wheelchair 24/7, a Voyager Easy Trak ceiling Lift/Hoist System. Not super cheap yet still affordable, but great for me and my family to work around moving me from bed to wheelchair. We also changed one bathroom to a wheel in shower with bench which cost about $2,500 back then. 

[Robin4]

@Letti0

Letti, I am sorry you have had to go through that. Take a bow for fighting your way back girl....you must be one incredibly strong person!

I have been a support person for over 20 years now, although mentally I have been a support person since 1976. There was no positive diagnosis for Multiple Sclerosis until the MRI was introduced in the early 1990's. Prior to that the medico's were treating Ade for Panic Anxiety disorder which saw her addicted to minor tranquilisers which they continued to doll out as though there was some sort of incentive prize for prescribing 'Benzo's'!!

She ended up in a drug rehab facility to dry-out from the effects of Valium, not taken of her own accord, but 'stuffed' into her by the medical profession....."take one of these every 8 hours or as needed".....I'm the doctor, you're the patient!!

I bring that up Letti, because, we have had the best part of 40 years to study 'disability' issues, and to be honest the handling of them was better before the 'experts' became involved. Back in the old days people asked what the disabled wanted and proceeded to provide it! Now they have this set of guidelines and provide what they think the disabled wants. Nobody asks any more.....and accidents happen!!

As far as the house is concerned Letti, we are well set up although Ade is to the point where I do need respite and some of her time is spent in a facility. Things work OK here but, being somewhere else is a different story!

When she fell in the shower the other night in the resort villa,  I was asleep, and it took her twenty minutes to crawl from the shower to the bedside and wake me. That is not just hard on her, it's hard on me too Letti. And this illustrates why I am not capable of providing the full time care I should! As it was she just gave herself a rather large bruise....what if she had hit her head on one of the metal fittings and needed hospitalisation....while I slept!

I have managed to turn around a few practices here by the MS society. Once again these organisations are run by non sufferers and they do not know or understand what goes on in the mind of the sufferer! We started going to the support group meetings and a few things struck me as being downright wrong!

1/......When you 'walk' in through the front door of the MS building there was a half a dozen wheelchairs there by the door for the more advanced sufferers to use. When you, as a sufferer walk through that front door the last thing you need to see is your destiny, where this journey is going to take you! So I got them to install a curtain to hide the wheelchairs! They are still there Letti, but they are now hidden from view. Nobody ever thought of it before, because they never had to!

2......It became my experience that those support group meetings focused on the worst sufferers! Those that had the most experience with the desease but the least amount of time left! No MS sufferer needs to see where they are going, they just need to know how to best handle where they are!

So I had those meetings spit up into assessment levels so that sufferers felt more comfortable with where they fitted into the overall MS jigsaw!

Sorry Letti, I should not blow my trumpet here but it is hard to see this **bleep** of a desease progressively build a wall of isolation around the one I have loved for all these years.

I could design and build disabled facilities like a bloody champion...but what do I know, I am not an architect or an academic......I am just a humble carer!

Love your work Letti, you are turning into a great contributor. I hope your time here is not a fleeting visit!

Cheers.....Rob

[Letti0]

@Robin4 I understand about the drugs, they put me on fentanyl patches that were to be removed after 48-60 hours and replaced with a new one. After 4 months I had enough of these things that made my mind completely messed up. I stopped them cold turkey and was then warned I could have killed myself doing that. Duh, nice of them to tell me that in advance.

I also agree that they need input from care givers. Most of them at the at the rehibitation and support groups are totally clueless as to what is truely needed. 

We work with the Wounded Warriors program and donate a week or two a year for a family at our places. (Our cottage that sleeps 8 is under renovations, so it's not listed currently) We can not accomodate the wheelchair warriors, but there are many others we can and do accomodate. We include passes to SeaWorld and Morgan's Wonderland. We also offer all military a discount as we are a military family and my business parter is also with active duty children or granchildren stationed in Kuwait and Alaska. It breaks my heart how these hero's have been treated and I try very hard to help make them feel their service was not over looked by all. This was a note left in our guest book by a military family last month. It almost made me cry. I actully posted it in my photo's to maybe help others realize they need to thank our service people for a job well done.

[Robin4]

@Letti0 Letti, that is absolutely beautiful...you must feel so proud when you read something like that. Good on you, you are the 'American dream'!

Cheers.....Rob

[Letti0]

@Catherine577 That was my thought also, but had they forwarded me I would have helped to accomodate them better. All my hallways and doorways are at least 36" so a wheelchair fits. I also have ADA aproved toliets in every bathroom. My venue on the property is ADA and Fire Marshal approved, though it took forever it seemed for the approval. It would not have taken much time or money to set up a ramp off to the side of the front porch for them if they had let me know in advance. I could have added grab bars like I have in my venue for a dirt cheap cost to at least one of the bathrooms. I am going to add these items to my list of things to do or change. I feel horrible that they had to carry a wheelchair and child up the stairs when I could have done something in advance had they informed me. I'm not going to a put this in my listing, but I will fix this issue ASAP. 

[Catherine577]

@Letti0, hi, the fact that you want to help make their lives easier is all that matters right now. Tell them. Say that you've  learned alot from having them as guests,  mention the changes that you want to make & ask if there's anything else you could do to make the home more accommodating. Always ask for feedback from guests. It shows that you care & value their input. Give them a discount, if you can, just to show you can see how difficult things are for them. Maybe this is their only holiday. Make it special for them.