Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Study finds spotty service for rail reservation system



Call ahead. Let people know about your needs as a person with disabilities when traveling. Some outfits basically demand you do so.
A study in the UK of the Assisted Passenger Reservation Service that showed spotty assistance even with reservations is what makes following that advice so hard to take.
Why call ahead when a good chunk of the time it won't even help? It's discouraging.
Maybe the calling ahead is a crutch. It'd be better if carriers had to be prepared all the time for someone showing up with a disability rather than being able to forget about it until an advance call comes through -- or even forget about it if an advance call comes through.

Photo by Kettu via morgueFile.com

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Can boats have universal design?



I've posted on a new effort to bring universal design to boats at my Disaboom blog.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Positive effects for access seen in China due to Olympics, Paralympics



Seems the Olympics, and now the
Paralympics, are having positive effects for access in China. For example, in something a tourist might appreciate, news.xinhuanet.com reports:
"Starting from last week, the famed Beijing roast duck restaurant chain Quanjude began offering menus in Braille and all waiters have learned sign language to better serve impaired customers."




Northwest being sued for ADA, Rehab Act problems

Well-known wheelchair athlete James Keskeny is the prime plantiff in a lawsuit being pursued against Northwest Ariline alledging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Air Carrier Access Act and the Rehabilitation Act. U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh dismissed the ACAA complaint but allowed the rest to go to forward. Keskeny says he was transported in a "degrading manner" by untrained airport personnel and that his wheelchair was damaged. The airline's attorneys says thee is not a cause for a federal court claim and that Congress did not intend the Rehabilitation act to apply to airlines.
I guess the judge feels differently.