Accessibility is not one-size-fits-all
, by Annemarie Postma, 2 min reading time
“Accessible room.” Two words that are extremely important to many travelers with a disability. You see them on a website and think: great, sorted.
But then you arrive.
The door is wide enough, but the space next to the bed is too small. The bathroom has a bath instead of a shower with a shower chair. Or it has a walk-in shower, but the showerhead is hanging too high. There is a grab bar, but in exactly the wrong place or it is loose. The sink is adapted, but you cannot get under it with your wheelchair. The mirror above the sink is not tiltable or tilts the wrong way (up instead of down).
Technically, the room may be "accessible". In practice? A completely different story.
Accessibility is not one-size-fits-all
What works perfectly for one traveler may not work at all for another.
One wheelchair is not the same as another. One person can transfer independently, the other cannot. One needs space above all, the other needs specific aids.
That is why the question: “Is this room accessible?” is actually far too simple. The better question is: “Who is this room accessible to and what can that person actually do with it?” That requires much more than a checkmark.
Details make the difference
Sometimes the difference is in centimeters.
A bed that is just a little too high.
A door that cannot open far enough.
A toilet where you cannot get close enough to the side.
A table where you cannot get under it with your wheelchair.
For someone without a disability, these are details. For someone with a disability, they can be holiday spoilers. And the special thing is: many of these problems are not complicated or expensive to solve at all. But you have to see them first.
That’s where we come in
At Accessibly Yours, we look beyond the information on the website. We measure. We photograph. We test. We experience. And we ask the questions that a traveler wants to be able to answer before booking. Not to judge hotels on what is not perfect. But precisely to discover together:
- What is going well?
What can be improved?
And what can we change today?
Because honesty builds trust. A hotel does not need to hear from us that everything is perfect. A traveler does not want that either. They mainly want to know what they have to expect.
“This room is suitable for wheelchair users, but please take into account the limited space on the right side of the bed.”
Look, that is valuable information. Because then the traveler can decide for themselves whether it works for him or her.
And that is what accessible travel should be about. Not perfection. But reliable information, good preparation and no unpleasant surprises upon arrival.
blog posts
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, by Annemarie Postma Accessibility is not a destination. It is a process.
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, by Annemarie Postma Accessibility legislation: what does your organisation need to know?
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, by Annemarie Postma Interview with founder Annemarie Postma
