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July 20th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda THURSDAY, July 19 (HealthDay News) — For many disabled American
travelers, a key form of summer relief — the hotel pool — remains out
of their reach.
People with mobility challenges or paralysis often need a mechanized
pool lift or a gently sloping ramp to get into the water. Without those
accommodations, they’re sidelined.
That’s why a government mandate to make such pools accessible to people
with disabilities by early next year has become an unlikely battlefield:
pitting disability-rights groups against the hotel industry.
Both sides agree on one point: Everyone should be able to get into a
public pool. What they don’t agree on is what is doable.
Meanwhile, Ann Cody, a former track and field athlete, said she doesn’t
even pack her swimsuit any more when she goes on trips. Paralyzed at age
16 by transverse myelitis, a rare disease of the spinal cord, Cody is a
paraplegic. As director of policy and global outreach for BlazeSports
America, in Washington D.C., she travels a lot and finds even
business-oriented hotels often don’t have lift-access to their pools, she
said.
“Swimming in the summer was always such a big part of my life,
culturally and recreationally. People with disabilities want to enjoy the
pool not just for health and fitness, but socially as well,” Cody
said.
That’s why the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
is urging hotels to speed up their implementation of Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) rules stipulating that all public swimming pools,
wading pools and spas be accessible to people with disabilities by Jan.
31, 2013.
The rules about accessible pools, published by the U.S. Department of
Justice’s Civil Rights Division in 2010, were updated in May 2012 in
response to feedback from the hotel industry about implementation
challenges they face. The requirements mandate that public swimming
areas — including hotels, motels, recreation centers, public golf clubs,
water parks and fitness clubs — be retrofitted to make them accessible to
people with disabilities, and that newly constructed pools be designed to
provide the disabled the same independence, ease and convenience enjoyed
by fully-abled people.
Smaller pools are only required to have one means of entry, either a
lift or a sloped alternative to pool steps. Large pools — longer than
300 feet — must have two accessible entries, with at least one being a
sloped entry or pool lift.
There are exceptions for areas where there are multiple spas or places
with river-like water zones and sand bottom pools.
The two sides disagree about whether some of the regulations are
feasible and how quickly the changes can be implemented. One of the
biggest issues under debate is the question of fixed lifts versus portable
lifts.
Helena Berger, executive vice president and chief operating officer of
AAPD, said her organization is arguing for permanent lifts rather than
portable models because they tend to be easier to use and more readily
accessible. But the fixed lifts, with a cost estimated at about $8,000
each, can require additional space by the pool and sometimes require
digging up concrete and placing electrical conduits.
Berger sees this as a manageable cost. “Think of all the money being
spent for flat-screen TVs in hotels,” she said. “From a monetary point of
view, for many of these hotels, it would not be a hardship to purchase
fixed lifts and make the other accommodations.”
But Marlene Colucci, executive vice president for policy for the
American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), in Washington, D.C., said
that while the hotel industry is committed to implementing the
recommendations, many hotels, small and large, are facing problems: “Our
industry really wants to accommodate guests and it’s in our best interest
to do that, but we want to provide access safely for everyone.”
There is so much variability in the size of pool areas, especially in
smaller and older hotels, she said, that the hotel industry needs some
flexibility within the federal rules.
“We’re asking the federal government to take a balanced approach,” she
said. “You should be able to share a lift between two bodies of water in
the same area, for example.”
And with 320,000 pools affected by the new rules, Colucci said the AHLA
is concerned that the demand for lifts is exceeding current supply.
The industry is also worried about increased liability associated with
making pool lifts permanently available when lifeguards aren’t present.
Hydraulic lifts can move quickly, potentially causing injury, Colucci
said.
More information
The U.S. Justice Department has more on ADA
requirements for accessible pools.
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