Boycott Protests Force Hotel Industry Group Back To Negotiating Table With Disability Community

Recent Protest by Grassroots Disability Advocates Prompts AH&LA to Continue Discussion with Meeting Offer for Week of September 10th

WASHINGTON, DC – As a direct result of a national boycott and subsequent grassroots protests and direct actions by disability rights groups, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) is coming back to the negotiating table to “continue this discussion” regarding the ADA requirement for hotel swimming pools to be made wheelchair accessible by January 31st, 2013.
In an email, Kevin Maher, Senior Vice President for Governmental Affairs at AH&LA, extended an offer to come back to the negotiating table and “continue this discussion” with the disability organizations regarding hotel industry noncompliance with the ADA’s pool lift regulations. Maher’s email comes weeks after four national disability groups – the American Association of People with Disabilities, the National Disability Rights Network, ADAPT, and the National Council on Independent Living – launched a boycott of hotels represented on the boards of the AH&LA and the Asian American Hotel Owners’ Association (AAHOA).
The meeting is tentatively scheduled to take place the week of September 10th.
During the launch of the disability groups’ boycott in July, leaders from the community outlined four distinct requirements that needed to be met by the hotel industry in order for the boycott to be suspended:

• AH&LA and AAHOA will cease their efforts to promote bills in Congress that eliminate their responsibilities to provide accessible lifts, including bills to amend the ADA and to de-fund the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.
• Provide fixed lifts at all hotels.
• Educate their member hotels about their obligation to comply with the DOJ’s rule and the tools that they can use to do so – including tax incentives for investments in accessible facilities.
• Issue a public statement that they are taking the above actions.

“We’re happy to see AH&LA come back to the table, but make no mistake ­– lip service is no substitute for real reform in this area,” said Bruce Darling of ADAPT.
Mark Perriello, President and CEO of AAPD, commented: “Although we welcome AH&LA’s offer to come back to the table and discuss these issues, we remain cautious as we enter this meeting. The disability community is looking for answers from AH&LA and it is our job to keep the industry accountable. AH&LA should have no doubt that if we come out of this meeting with no change from their side, this boycott will be sustained and continued.”
"It's really a shame that the hotel industry continues to refuse to accommodate those of us who are wheelchair users," said Kelly Buckland, Executive Director of the National Center on Independent Living. "We worked for years to get the Americans with Disabilities Act passed back in 1990, but we continue to fight for equal access to facilities to this day. But we will not simply go away or sit on the sidelines in this fight -- we will keep working and keep organizing until Americans with disabilities truly have equal access in this country."
In 2010, the Department of Justice (DOJ) clarified a rule on access to hotel pools, asking hotel owners to provide access to swimming pools in line with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Like all ADA requirements, this rule would have some flexibility for existing pools that could not be retrofitted and businesses for whom this would be a burden. However, the AH&LA refused to agree to a mutually-acceptable compromise. Even after the DOJ clarified that hotel owners had significant latitude to choose whether to install a fixed lift, and also grandfathered pools that already had portable ones, the AH&LA chose to spend millions of dollars on high-paid lobbyists to roll back the recent rule requirement -- thereby rolling back civil rights legislation. Rather than spending money to ensure equal access regardless of physical ability, the AH&LA is pushing for legislation in Congress that would amend the ADA to exclude pools lifts or ensure the DOJ did not have the funds to enforce any final rule.

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The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) is the nation's largest cross-disability organization. AAPD promote equals opportunity, economic power, independent living, and political participation for people with disabilities. AAPD’s members, including people with disabilities and our family, friends, and supporters, represent a powerful force for change. See more online at www.aapd.com.
ADAPT is a national grassroots community that organizes disability rights activists to engage in nonviolent direct action, including civil disobedience, to assure the civil and human rights of people with disabilities to live in freedom. See more online at www.adapt.org.
The National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) is the longest-running national cross-disability, grassroots organization run by and for people with disabilities. Founded in 1982, NCIL represents thousands of organizations and individuals including: Centers for Independent Living (CILs), Statewide Independent Living Councils (SILCs), individuals with disabilities, and other organizations that advocate for the human and civil rights of people with disabilities throughout the United States. See more online at www.ncil.org.
The National Disability Rights Network is the nonprofit membership organization for the federally mandated Protection and Advocacy (P&A) Systems and Client Assistance Programs (CAP). Collectively, the P&A/CAP network is the largest provider of legally based advocacy services to people with disabilities in the United States. See more online at www.napas.org.