Progress is being made. Accessibility in Healdsburg, CA.

Progress has been made with regard to accessibility for travelers when they reserve a room at the Best Western/Dry Creek Inn in Healdsburg, in the heart of California's beautiful wine country.

The President and General Manager of the Dry Creek Inn has declared Room 111 as a non-accessible room.  Translation:  If you go there, and have disability problems, that room will no longer be offered as "accessible," suitable for people with disabilities.  In September, this same room was rented for me.  I complained because I could not use the toilet, shower, sink and high Victorian-style bed, given my multiple mobility problems.

What a brilliant and no-cost solution:  Just declare Room 111 a regular room, not one for you if you are not able-bodied.  This I will file under Progress.  It is the result of my complaints, followed by a meeting between the President/General Manager of the Dry Creek Inn and Healdsburg's official who issues hotel permits for occupancy, with the Director of Building and Planning for the City of Healdsburg making the observation that a simple solution is to take Room 111 off the "accessible" list.

The next room, to which I was sent in September, had an accessible toilet and shower, though the sink was too high.  The critical issue here is that I could not use the bed at all, to sit on or get into, so that room (#423) is definitely not in accord with Federal law (the ADA--Americans with Disability Act).

Basically, this is a human rights issue:  Healdsburg must require Dry Creek to follow Federal Law, just like all the other hotels in the United States.  If not, then it should not get a permit to rent rooms.  That's how the ADA came into being.  People with disabilities argued that their human rights were violated when hotels did not offer accommodations and services that would allow them to use a hotel.

Part II of my challenge to Healdsburg is to lower the beds for rooms that are rented as "accessible".  If the shower, sink, toilet are accessible but a traveler can't sit on or get into the bed, because it is the height of your desk, then a simple solution would be to get out a saw and cut the bed down to a useable size.  This sensible idea comes from the Director of Building and Planning for Healdsburg.  Or, just replace those Victorian-style beds, in the handful of accessible rooms that a hotel is required to have, with beds that can be used by travelers with mobility problems.

Meanwhile,  I am grateful for this bit of progress.  It's a sign for Hope and a lesson for all of us:  Take a stand!  It's just like chess:  Go ahead and check the King.  You never know, it might be Mate.  

Anne