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In addition to the physical accommodations made by the Sheraton, the Dallas Fort Worth airport also announced the installation of "step n wash" retracting stools in each of the airport's bathrooms. When we arrived on Friday, June 29, my wife checked for a stool in the bathrooms, but couldn't find one. Yesterday, on our way out of Dallas, we both checked bathrooms for the stools. Again, we couldn't find any. I imagine there is an explanation. Either the stools integrate very well into the built environment and I couldn't find them, or the airport is a little behind on the installation of the stools. If the latter is the case, it is too bad the stools were not ready in time for the conference. But the step n wash stools are intended to be a permanent fixture at the airport. More so than for a one week conference, it is important that the stools be available in the long term for all travelers who may happen to need them, not just people with dwarfism. After all, there have been plenty of conferences in the past when dwarf travelers have been forced to adapt to the airport environment around them. But going forward, it would be nice in Dallas and in cities around the country if the airport environment and other surrounding environments continue to make attempts to be inclusive of people of short stature. And it would be nice if those inclusive measures turned out to be permanent, rather than just temporary changes that would disappear after conference attendees went home. I think people will find, as the Dallas airport has hinted, these accommodations many more people than just people with dwarfism, and when implemented correctly, these changes won't interfere with the interaction of anyone else in the built environment.
Pretty much every day this past week, I would check your blog hoping for a new post, and then kick myself for forgetting you were in Dallas. Hope you had a good time and that it was a successful convention!
ReplyDeleteHey David. I had planned to blog in Dallas. But the schedule there made it difficult to find the time. I hope to report on a few things in the next few days. thanks for reading.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have expected you to blog while at the convention, there's a lot going on even for the average attendee, and even moreso for the president. Though I look forward to hearing about all the exciting things I missed out on.
ReplyDeleteHey i am my very first comment on your site. ,I have been reading your blog for a while and thought I would completely pop in and drop a friendly note. . It is great stuff indeed. I also wanted to ask..is there a way to subscribe to your site via email?
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