All hotels should install pool hoists for disabled people

Disabled access is in major need of improvement in the hospitality sector and though many hotels and resorts are keen to label themselves as “accessible”, the reality is far from this.

When considering accessibility in a hotel environment for those who are physically disabled the baseline begins at ensuring easy mobility. This often comes with widened door frames to allow a wheelchair or scooter to move through easily, lowered beds, and significantly larger rooms. Whilst all these things come in great use to allow disabled guests to fully enjoy their stay, many hotels often consider this to be all that is necessary to facilitate a disabled person.

In many cases accessibility stops once a guest leaves their room. I am a close friend of a family who have recently had to make many changes to their lives due to a sudden disability. Whilst I have witnessed this family having to adjust their schedules, their home and their means of transport, it hadn’t occurred to me that the simple process of booking a holiday abroad would now also need adjusting.

From speaking with them I have learned about the specific issue of pool access for disabled people in hotels and resorts and how this can be developed.

Pool hoists are a device that allow for safe and easy transfers to help disabled move into and out of a swimming pool or jacuzzi. The hoist usually uses a hydraulic or pressure system so that an individual can move easily between entering and leaving the pool.

Though the device is simple and efficient, many hotels that are awarded 5-7 stars and claim to be fully accessible for disabled guests simply have no means for these individuals to enjoy the pool that they too are paying for.

Ultimately there is no point in advertising and marketing your hotel as having disabled access when such a key part of a holiday resort is not accessible.

In most cases, these top end hotels are able to afford and maintain more than one large swimming pool yet seem unable to spend money on a simple device that can make such a difference in the quality of a individuals stay and can also greatly impact their independence.

Another issue often faced by those with limited mobility is the ability to access the showers in their room. Showering is something that we all take for granted as it is such a key part of our daily lives that we experience with little difficulty. Yet for disabled guests, their independence can be significantly reduced when the correct adjustments are not in place.

For example, many hotel rooms that are labelled as having disabled access have no ramp to the shower to accommodate for an easy and safe transfer for a wheelchair or shower chair. These situations eventually result in the individual not being able to have a shower independently which is unacceptable considering it is so simple to include a small ramp or even have a flat surface shower that is levelled to the bathroom floor.

For many of us, these adjustments can seem so small and insignificant, but they really can affect how a person is able to enjoy their holiday. Why should they pay the extra prices that often come with requiring a disabled access room when things like a shower are not accessible?

These changes are so simple and can be made so easily with little extra cost but it is the awareness of these issues that is essentially hindering the developments in the hospitality world.

You can help to raise awareness and hopefully improve the quality of disabled access holidays by clicking on the link below and signing this petition.

https://www.change.org/p/hilton-worldwide-make-all-hotels-install-pool-hoists-for-disabled-people

Thank you very much for reading and supporting this cause,

Aman

Ladies, the BJP does not care about you

Source: wbur.org

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a Hindu nationalist party which was founded in 1980 and is led by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Modi, alongside many of the members of his party have lifelong links with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right wing, Hindu nationalist organisation, which desires India to be defined as a Hindu nation and is considered as the unofficial parent of the BJP.

Due to these ties with the RSS, the BJP advocates the ideology of a traditionally Hindu nation so that India can ultimately be defined in the terms of the Hindu values.

Whilst many aspects and criticisms source from this, such aslimited benefits towards Punjabi communities, and the treatment of Muslims across India, a key issue that stems from the BJPs’ advocations is the lack of empowerment towards women.

For years, the BJP has claimed to have women’s’ best interests at heart in terms of their rights and place in society. However, a look at their campaigns can quickly reveal the truth in that everything that the BJP are willing to do for a woman will ultimately benefit the man.

Launched in 2016, the Ujjwala Yojana scheme aimed to provide free cooking gas connections to poor families across rural areas. The scheme quickly fell through and the free connections that were promised quickly required payment which most families benefitting at first simply could not afford. With the one-time subsidy being cruel enough, the initial publicity surrounding the scheme is just as horrifying.

Source:transformingindia.mygov.in

Posters for the scheme showed images of young girls sitting by the stove with no evidence of any other future for herself. Other images included multiple generations of women clinging to the gas cylinders as if it was their sole source of happiness. The images reinforced the idea that this campaign was only meant for women, in turn implying that men have no direct link to the cooking of the food and are simply required to just enjoy the food that is made for them.

The images weren’t officially claimed by the government but drive anywhere in Dehli and you will find it hard to miss perfectly airbrushed billboards of the prime minister – they clearly have the control over what images represent them.

Ultimately, all that the Ujjwala Yojana scheme was able to amount to was showing that when the BJP make the promise to invest in women, they simply fail to follow through.

Another example of this is the is the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme translating to “Save Girls, Teach Girls”. The campaign aimed to create opportunity for girls using education services, whilst also generating awareness towards female foeticide in India in a bid to save the declining child sex ratio. Many promises were made but when it came down to it, only 24% of the funds were actually distributed to the states, whilst over half of the funds were spent on publicity for Modi and his involvement.

Under Modi’s government, women are even controlled in their pregnancies, especially the amount of pregnancies that are desired of them.

The Hindu right remains unmoved in its mission to ensure that India remains as a Hindu majority, with the magic number increasing from three, to five and then ten children per family, according to the wishes of party leaders.

The government are so insistent on producing more Hindu children, yet basic benefits are limited to the first birth for each woman, meaning that 86% of pregnant women are excluded.

Is it not obvious now that Modi is using women as a vehicle to create the right-wing Hindu India that he so deeply desires?

Thank you for reading!

Aman