Emergency Alarm Cord ... only for the very tall!

The good thing about the Physical Features duties of the Disability Discrimination Act (Oct. 2004) becoming law is that service providers have to take reasonable steps to overcome physical barriers which stop, or make it difficult for, people with disabilities using a particular service.

There has been a steady increase in the number of hotels which have rooms suitably adapted for people with disabilities. Of course this has to be appluaded but one thing that really gets my goat is that these rooms are not always ready for use by a person with a disability.

Many hotels pride themselves in having accessible rooms with emergency call systems in them. Usually beside the bed, beside the toilet and in the shower area.

I have lost count of the number of times I visit hotel rooms and have to lower the emergency cords in the bathroom because someone else has tied them up to keep them out of the way!

There seems to be absolutely no point at all in having them if they are out of reach, and certainly they should be reachable from the floor, as if one has a fall that;s pretty much where one is going to end up!

So, if you see and emergency system cord tied up "out of the way" and indeed out of reach, please join me in:

a)bringing this to the attention of the proprietor

and

b) untying the cord and allowing to hang at its full length.

This cord wasn't easily reachable from my wheelchair let alone by someone who had fallen to the floor! The photo was taken in a hotel I stay in regularly, apart from untying the cords, I alerted the staff to this problem, it will be interesting to see what postion the cords are in upon my return!