Equal Rights

by Ross Weiland

 

To truly end discrimination against disabled attendees, the meetings industry must go beyond mere compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

 

Opening Doors® promotes the human element usually missing in ADA compliance. "Opening Doors® is a program in disability etiquette," says Cheryl Duke, president of W.C. Duke Associates, in Woodford, Virginia, producers of the video-based training program. "It's not a feel-good program, it's practical skills. It teaches hospitality employees how to be confident serving guests with special needs.

 

Opening Doors® creates situations and provides activities where the able-bodied learn what it's like to have a disability. Participants learn how to escort and orient a person to a meeting room; how to handle money with the blind; how to communicate with someone hard of hearing, and how to discuss fire and safety concerns with wheelchair users.

 

Embassy Suites includes the Opening Doors® program as part of its customer service training. In the first fifteen months the training was used, the chain experienced a 75 percent increase in wheelchair room-nights.

 

Despite the success of such program-- a wait-and-see attitude permeates the meetings industry. "The industry is being reactive, concentrating on one area--physical accessibility. The customer-service aspect has not been addressed," Duke says.