{"id":1755,"date":"2018-06-26T17:40:33","date_gmt":"2018-06-26T21:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/?p=1755"},"modified":"2018-07-21T12:50:46","modified_gmt":"2018-07-21T16:50:46","slug":"environment-and-accessible-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/2018\/06\/26\/environment-and-accessible-travel\/","title":{"rendered":"Soap, Straws, and Sand: Where the Environment and Accessible Travel Collide"},"content":{"rendered":"

You know those tiny bottles of free shampoo, conditioner, and body lotion you love to take home with you as a souvenir from your hotel stay<\/a>? If you plan on staying at one of five major Marriott International chains or an InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) property in the future, you\u2019ll have to find toiletry freebies elsewhere. They\u2019re replacing those little bottles with wall-mounted dispensers not to save money, but the environment. Good news, right? Unfortunately, not for hotel guests in wheelchairs<\/a>. And this isn’t the only situation where wheelchair accessibility collides with attempts to preserve the environment.<\/p>\n

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The soap dispensers are out of reach from the bench.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some hotels hire Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) consultants to let them know if their properties are in compliance with accessibility laws. Most, however, never bring in actual wheelchair users to tell them if the accessible room amenities are actually convenient for the guests who would be using them. If they did, they\u2019d know the vast majority of these dispensers are being placed in roll-in showers<\/a> and accessible tubs by people who have never used a wheelchair. As a result, they\u2019re usually in a spot where they can\u2019t be reached and\/or pumped by a person who can\u2019t stand up.<\/p>\n

Marriott is starting with the soap switch in 450 of its hotels and plans to expand to 1,500 hotels in North America by January 2019. IHG already has the change in place at its Kimpton brand hotels.\u00a0According to Hotel News Resource<\/a>, for a 140-room property, moving to a three-bottle shower dispenser system is expected to result in the elimination of more than 23,000 tiny toiletry bottles annually – the equivalent of 250 pounds of plastic per year. That\u2019s fantastic for the environment, but still means that wheelchair travelers may need to bring their own soap for hotel stays.<\/p>\n

Changes in environmental policies by business are resulting in another \u201cBYOS\u201d situation for wheelchair users\u2014bring your own straws. In March 2018, the New York Times\u00a0<\/em>reported<\/a> that an increasing number of U.S. cities have banned or limited the use of plastic straws in restaurants. Although straws represent a small percentage of the plastic that\u2019s produced and consumed, advocates for the ban say they often end up on beaches and in oceans, and sometimes mangling or killing marine life.<\/p>\n

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