No room at the inn: Why disabled people struggle to book hotels
Staying in hotels can be a harrowing experience for people with disabilities. When Julie Reiskin, 58, tried to book an accessibleroom in Chicago, she got one with no roll-in shower. In D.C., the bed was too high. Throughout her travels,she’s often had to go days without bathing and has had to sleep in her power wheelchair.
This is a common experiencefor disabled people like her, many of whom say they regularly experience problems staying in hotels and using their amenities.
But most don’t have the time or resources to sue over these issues, advocates said. Despite the decades-long existence of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), a sweeping civil rights lawthat mandates accessibility in public spaces, the barriers are still too pervasive.
“Every time we face discrimination, we have to calculate whether we’ll deal with it,” said Reiskin, a disability advocatein Denver. “You can’t deal with every problem otherwise you’d be doing it all the time.”
So some people with disabilities have taken on the job of being “testers.” They investigate accessibility issues and may file lawsuits so others won’t encounter the same barriers. The role of testers is at the heart of a case now before the Supreme Court.
The case concerns Deborah Laufer, a tester who argues a small Maine hotel discriminated against her because its website didn’t include required accessibility information. The hotel’s attorneys say Laufer doesn’t have grounds to sue because she never actually intended to stay there.
