Unrequested handicap rooms

[Lil]

We spent a wonderful week at VWL and a good week at HH (that's another post). One thing that has happened to us twice (last year at Boardwalk villas) is the room we were given was a handicapped room.

A handicapped room has a different shower/bathroom set up. The sink area in in the bathroom. The bathroom has a heavy sliding door instead of the traditional type. There is no bathtub, but rather a large shower with a bench along the wall. The entire floor is tiled, and a shower curtain separating the shower area from the rest of the bathroom. It is a great bathroom for a handicapped person.

We spent the entire time trying not to slip on the floor. Water from the shower went everywhere (and it's just me and hubby). We ended up putting towels down. We used the detachable shower nozzle to try and confind the water.......what a mess!


Two things happened at VWL.....

I went into the room and immediately thought......oh no......I'm in someone's room. Everyone one knows what a Disney room is like.....everything precisely in its spot. The bed was all rumpled, pillows everywhere, magazines thrown around table, chairs.....anyway....

Then I checked the bathroom.....yep........handicapped.
I immediately called down to desk and was told there were no more non-smoking studios....we had to go into a smoking area or take a two bedroom (using more points). I don't think so!
Our valet said.....there are some available....we stood our ground......and were put through to room assignment person.....and we were immediately given a wonderful studio non-smoking.

Now.....after all this.......do I need to make sure on my reservations........requesting I don' want a handicapped room. Has this happened to anyone else?

 

[Jimbo]

It happened to us once at OKW, too. We had the same problem - there was water all over the place after a shower. In fact, I skidded on the wet floor when coming out one time and broke my little toe. I didn't let it hold me back too much, though.

The other thing about the room was that there was a lot of landscaping right in front of our veranda, so we didn't get the kind of view we were used to. It really was the only OKW room ever that we were not totally happy with.

So... On every trip since when we make our reservation we request a third floor room. That assures we get a normal room, and so far we've always had a great view. You have to tote your luggage up a couple of flights of stairs (once), but it's well worth it.

 

[Peggy Sue]

If you don't want to tote your luggage up...have bell services assist. We did this in May because DH had recently had back surgery. they were happy to help! We always ask for a top floor room too..but mainly to avoid hearing the pitter patter of other feet over our heads!

 

[JudithM]

When we stay at OKW I request a first floor room for medical reasons. I specifically add that I do NOT want or need a handicapped room. I do not want to take a handicapped rom from someone who really needs one.

Years ago we did get a handicapped one bedroom unit without requesting it. It was only a night or two. Right after Thanksgiving last year we left home a day earlier than planned. On the second day of driving in bad weather we drove straight to OKW arriving about 6:45 p.m. At that point we would take just about anything on the first floor or an elevator building (I am not supposed to do stairs). The front desk CM only had one one bedroom room avaialable & it was a handicapped room. We took it. We could have stayed in ther room for the rest of our stay, but we had friends coming to join us. We all had requested turle Pond area & decided to move into the room that was blocked for us.

 

[Dean]

The requests/need for a handicapped room does not reach the supply so there is not going to be a problem taking a handicapped room from someone who needs it. Now in 20 or 30 years when the owners are older, the reverse may be true. That means that some people will need to have a handicapped room that does not need it and may not want it. To me the next group that should be in line for these type of rooms are those that request a first floor for medical reasons but don't require a handicapped room. It just seems unreasonable to me to expect a first floor for medical reasons and not be willing to take the handicapped room. It's much like asking for a specific room number or building. Of course one can place a request and they will honor it if they can.

 

[SueM in MN]

We have requested a first floor for medical reasons and prefered not to have a handicapped room. The reason was that the person who is in a wheelchair was a small child. When she was little, getting the handicapped room with all the high toilets was a big problem for us. She can't keep her balance unless her feet touch the ground. It also was easier for us to bathe her in a regular tub when she was little.
She's only 5 feet tall now, but we'd take whatever room we get on first floor since the roll in shower would be an advantage to her (but a big mess when anyone takes a shower).
I think they should give extra towels for those rooms with roll in showers since you need to use some towels just to clean up the drips from the shower.
There was a discussion about handicapped rooms about 2 months ago. I don't know how many fully wheelchair accesible rooms they have at WL, but I emailed OKW anad was told at OKW there are only 19 accesible studios, 19 one bedrooms (that can be combined to make 19 two bedrooms) and one grand villa. So the chances of you getting one are not all that large, considering there is a total of 709 rooms in the resort. I imagine the ratio is about the same at the other resorts.

 

[CLC]

We had a handicapped accessible room at VWL June 16th [we had a studio for that night then were transferring to a one bedroom]. There was no counter in the bathroom, very minimal counter in the wet bar area, no safe {this was rather curious}, no CLOSET, and it was very difficult to use the shower as the water ran everywhere in the bathroom. Interestlngly, we were on the 4th floor! There was a raised threshold to get out to the balcony that would not have been accessible for a wheelchair. Also, the size of the balcony would be prohibitive for anything other than a very small wheelchair. If the unit was on the first floor, the balcony/patio could be extended to more readily accomodate wheelchairs. We did check to ensure the one bedroom we were checking into was not a handicapped accessible room. I think it is great when needed but difficult for others. I also wondered how somebody in a wheelchair would evacuate from the 4th floor in case of a fire!!! It didn't seem logical to me as the second available egress was stairs. We did love VWL and plan to return but will request a non-handicapped accessible unit. Also, we will call and add this request to our BWV August reservation.

 

[Jacksmom99]

Our flight out of Jacksonville was delayed because of bad weather in the midwest 2 years ago. We decided to extend our vacation for 3 days and join the rest of the family at OKW. Since we arrived at the last minute and stood at the desk until they found us a room, I was not surprised to find that it was one of the handicap accessible ones. However, what I did not realize until my uncle had locked himself out of his room at 1 a.m. was that the room is FULLY accessible for all kinds of disabilities. When he rang the door bell ALL the lights flashed on and the buzzer sounded like a foghorn as we jumped up from a dead sleep trying to figure out what was going on. This was also only our second DVC experience, the other being a HH 2 bedroom, so at that time we weren't sure what to expect in the rooms. The only complaint I had was the messy shower, but it was easy to use since I was 8 months pregnant. Just beware of the door bells!

 

[slimplaw]

I agree with CLC's remark about a handicap accessible room on an upper floor in case of a fire. My father was in a wheelchair the last 7 years of his life due to a spinal cord injury. More than once, he had an accessible room on an upper floor. I wondered who in their right mind would plan a hotel this way. Also, who was going to carry him down the stairs in case of a fire?

 

[PKK/MJK]

Some years ago our family of 8 was in a wonderful two bedroom at OKW. We loved it --terrific view etc. Of course, we got up one morning to find the bedroom floor soaking wet. Maintenance came quickly--said it was the jacuzzi-- and they'd have it fixed in a jiffy!!. So off we went for breakfast with Mickey and to the Parks. Three of us returned before the rest to find a note on our door saying we had to evacuate immediately!!! They had the entire place torn up, moved our stuff all over the place. What a mess!! Seems a pipe had broken somewhere in the ceiling. The three of us ran around like chickens trying to pack up the clothes, food etc for 8 people and get it moved. Anyway, we ended up in a handicapped unit. Boy, we were NOT happy campers after that experience! We hated that unit--especially the messy shower. Admittedly, those units are wonderful for handicapped individuals. Disney thought of everything--including those flashing lights with the doorbell!!

 

[lsutigger]

How and who do I contact if I want to make a room request for a reservation I already have? Would like to not have a handicapped room. BTW, stayed in a handicapped room once, not at Disney, and it was on a high floor (9, 10, 11, etc) and asked about the fire situation. Was told that they have to have them available if folks who need handicapped room wish to stay on a higher floor to access services. I think this hotel had a "happy hour with snacks" service etc.

 

[JudithM]

Dean, I have to disagree with your comment - "To me the next group that should be in line for these type of rooms are those that request a first floor for medical reasons but don't require a handicapped room. It just seems unreasonable to me to expect a first floor for medical reasons and not be willing to take the handicapped room."

When DVC sets up a handicapped room, it must cover all possibilities like Jacksmom mentioned. It must include features unnecessary or even uncomforatble for some types of disabilities. I have a knee condition & am not supposed to do stairs. I do request a first floor room for medical reasons, but I also specify that I do not need/want a handicapped room. I do not like the taller toilet. I prefer a tub with a shower (for example in a studio). I have a friend with a heart condition. He too cannot do stairs right now. He wouldn't need a the special toilet or roll in shower. These handicapped rooms should be left for those guests who need the full handicapped services.

 

[KNWVIKING]

We got handicap rooms at Westgate Resorts and at HH. The shower wasn't that bad at either place but what I didn't like at westgate was that the toilet was HIGH. My feet kept falling asleep ! Talk about cutting down on your reading time We stayed in a studio at HH. It appeared to be much larger then a standard studio to allow for easier wheel chair movement. We were only there two nights so it didn't bother us. I'm curious: If I get asigned a handicapped room on the premise that no handicapped people need it at that time,shouldn't I be entitled to their parking spot also ?

JUST KIDDING. Please,no ugly post about rude people taking handicapped parking.

 

[BobH]

Getting a handicapped studio was a real problem for us. My wife is a nurse and spends a considerable amount of time taking care of less fortunate people and all the personal care items that they require. Going on vacation and being faced with a handicapped bathroom about ruined our first day at OKW a few years ago. When you go away for your one vacation you really don't need to feel like you are still at work. We promptly made a room request change and really had to push, but we said we'd take anything but a handicaped room. DVC finally came through for us after about a day and a half. I know the rooms are needed at the facility and have learned to request a room on the second floor for this reason.

 

[LindaDVC]

The way the showers are designed the handicapped also have trouble with water everywhere!!!
This is dangerous and could result in falling especially people who maybe weaker or have less balance than other individuals.

Disney needs to fix the problem with the water, provide extra towles (free of charge) if they aren't able to fix the problems, and have shelves and counter space available in the bathroom!

We have never had a non-accessible bathroom since DH uses a power wheelchair. The issues are the same for us as others have mentioned.

Vero Beach studios are the worst. Once the couch was opened you could not leave the room in a wheelchair. So when son was asleep Dad had to stay put!!

Another problem is that they put the bed in front of the doors to the deck at OKW and at Vero. So the person in a wheelchair can't get to the deck. This was not an issue at HH or BW. Disney is better than a lot of other hotel chains out there! Beleive me we have stayed in some accessible rooms that made us laugh!!


Linda

PS For those who don't need the accessible features in the room I 'd like to suggest that (we since I am able bodied) count our blessings and not get depressed about it!

 

[Dean]

JudithM, I guess we'll just have to disagree, that's ok. To me the order of assignements to the handicapped rooms should be those that need it medically, those that don't need it but need a first floor for medical reasons, those that request a first floor. Of course if someone has a medical reason that "truly" won't work with the way the handicapped room is set up, not just don't like it, that is a different ballgame.

 

[BobH]

When designing a resort Disney should consult a representative of a handicapped organization, some caring health care profesionals and send out a request for input to DVC families that have family members that are handicapped. These are the people that have first hand knowledge on the matter. As far as handicapped rooms on the upper floors of buildings - I suspect each building has to have a certain number of handicapped rooms by state code and that the architects and builders spread them out with little thought of the difficulties this would present to wheel chair bound persons.

 

[LindaDVC]

I am an occupational therapist and wife of a quadraplegic!
I offered to help with the accessibility issues on the ships but Disney didn't take me up on my offer!

Linda

 

[Lisa F]

Originally posted by BobH
As far as handicapped rooms on the upper floors of buildings - I suspect each building has to have a certain number of handicapped rooms by state code and that the architects and builders spread them out with little thought of the difficulties this would present to wheel chair bound persons.

Actually, the spirit of accessibility is not just "physical" equivalence (ie, making sure someone with any number of disabilities and impairments can get there and use the space) but also experiential equivalence. This means that if your building requires a few steps to enter, it's not ok or ethical to put a ramp "around back" (when designing new i mean, the code does recognize the difficulties you may have in retrofitting old buildings). People who require the use of a ramp are not second-class citizens and should be able to enter the front of the building like anyone else. Likewise, if the wonderful views in a 10 story hotel tower were to be had from the top, why should someone be confined to the first floor just because they are in a wheelchair?

In case you're curious about how people in wheelchairs are expected to get out of such a building in the case of a fire, code requires that the exit stair be a 3 hour fire stair (meaning it would take 3 hours to start to burn, and I'm not 100% sure that it's 3 hours, it may be more but it's certainly no less) as well as smoke-proof for that time period. Additionally the stair has to be wide enough to allow for a wheelchair to be carried down it (including making turns around the various landings.) In the case of a fire, someone in a wheelchair is supposed to wait in the exit stair tower for the fire dept to come carry them down.

There are many people who would have difficulty descending 10 flights of stairs, including my 83 year old grandmother who does not need a wheelchair but is well past her "running down the stairs" age. That was just an aside having nothing to do with Disney but accessibility is a subject that I'm interested in (since I'm doing a master's in architecture).

Bringing the conversation back to Disney, OKW only has accessible units on the first floor because code doesn't require elevators in buildings that are below a certain number of stories and obviously a wheelchair can't navigate stairs on a regular basis. The views are pretty much the same on all 3 levels there.

On the other hand, at someplace like the BW, I suspect that there are accessible units on all floors (but don't quote me on that since I'm just guessing). After all, if you were to put all accessible units on one of the two floors that had direct access to the outside, none of them would be able to have a boardwalk view, and again, you're going for an equivalence of experience.

As far as the design of the actual bathrooms, they follow accepted ADA guidelines. It's always a challenge to try to make things accessible while at the same time keep construction costs as low as possible. Obviously if you had a completely enclosed "room" for a shower the size of an elevator where a wheelchair could get in, turn around, and come back out again it would solve the water all over the bathroom problem, but tremendously add to construction costs as the units would not be able to have the same footprint as regular units as well as requiring a whole bunch of custom built stuff. Even at both assisted living and nursing home facilities, my husband's grandmother has run into the same problem with roll-in showers. The solution is to take a towel and clean up the water on the bathroom floor, even at places that are designed only for people with one kind of accessibility issue or another.

As far as having some kind of a focus group, I suspect that would also add additional (and probably unneeded) cost to a project. By following guidelines, there should be no problem in creating an accessible room. The problem is, for one reason or another, sometimes thigns get overlooked. In LindaDVC's case, had the simple guidelines for width of pathways and the turning radius of a wheelchair been followed in designing both the furniture layout as well as in the bathroom, there would be no problem getting out onto the deck. It's good to know that Disney is at least learning from mistakes and reacting to guest feedback and subsequent properties don't have that problem.

By the way, just as another aside, in the 2 (our of 3.5) years of my graduate level architectural education, I have had numerous (too many to count) discussions about accessibility as well as two occasions where we have actually used wheelchairs, crutches and simulated other kinds of disabilities (things people never even think about, such as grasping impairment) in order to truly understand what kinds of things present obstacles to many types of disabilities. Next semester we will be doing a day long campus wide session where we need to experience accessibility issues on a larger scale than just the building.

I think trained design professionals are more aware of the issues than you think (or give credit for), however you have to understand that many times, in order to save money, most of the work are not done by professional architects but rather are rubber stamped at the end by someone with the proper credentials. Also, the nature of the profession is a never-ending compromise between the needs of all of the parties involved, the least of which is not the needs of the entity paying for the project.

Sorry for being so long-winded, but I'm extremely interested in accessibility issues in architecture, and I've found the discussion of the "evolution" of accessible DVC units to be pretty interesting. It sounds like I could make a lot of money by designing a roll in shower that doesn't flood .

Lisa

 

[CLC]

Hi Lisa-
I am very interested as well in accessibility for people who have special needs of any type. I also agree that the experience anybody chooses should be the person's choice. And it was interesting for me to know the evacuation procedure-in commercial buildings here it is protocol to go to the elevator as the fireman has access from the first floor to evacuate that way if appropriate. Otherwise the stairs would have to be used. Personally, I would choose to have accomodations where I had more control in evacuation, however it should be the choice of the individual. And there should be a way in a new lodge VWL to make the balcony accessible both in size and eliminating the rise that would not be navigable in a wheelchair. The non-accessible room we had after did not have that rise!
I have worked with people who need supports for 20 years and am familiar with accessibility issues.
I do feel however that I would prefer not to have to spend a lot of points {which is ultimately $-plus travel $, spending $-etc.} on a vacation that makes an accomodation difficult to function in. Actually, everybody needs a counter in the bathroom besides the toilet top! And everyone should have access to a closet, a safe, a more usable kitchen area, and a shower that doesn't flood the bathroom. I have seen many showers that were effective 'roll in' showers that did not cause this situation. It is especially dangerous for an individual that uses a wheelchair but is otherwise independent and for individuals who can pivot transfer, etc onto a toilet [a wet floor is not safe]. We brought up towels from the pool area as well to try to control the wetness.
Re: focus groups-DVC does run them [I attended one in April]. I would like to see individuals describe the supports that would assist them and perhaps even try out templates of sizes for areas such as the balconies.
So now you can get busy and design that non-flooding shower unit-even in the new VWL it is still a problem! Good luck with your degree.