[at-l] Re: Waaaaay off topic ... an answer from the expert

[infpeace@yahoo.com (Nina Baxley)]

Hi y'all, I got an answer to POG's floor tile
question! My friend Mudbug (GA-VA '97, VA-ME '00) was
a hotel manager for Marriott in his former life
(before becoming a hiker bum), and here's what he said
(below). Pretty interesting stuff!

The smaller tiles provide more traction for the
wheelchairs. There was a time when smaller tiles were
common in all bathrooms. But cleaning the grout on a
daily basis is a major ordeal. So most hotels are now
using larger tiles to provide a cleaner look and still
provide safety from slip and fall cases. Marriott used
to have a team of handicapped people that would go
around to hotels to look for any problems and
hindrances. We had a team come through our hotel. It
was cool to use their experience to better the hotel.
There are a lot of things to consider that I don't
think about in every day life-height of tables in
restaurants, slickness of floor surfaces, angles of
ramps, how hard it is to open doors and how long they
stay open before shutting, tables that restrict
movement in the hallways, things out of reach, the
different sounds in an elevator for the blind. We had
a package at the front counter for the deaf that
included  a TDD device, a vibrating alarm to put under
a pillow, a light that flickered when the phone rang.
The ADA Act did a good job of raising awareness of the
handicapped in business settings. This is probably
more info than you wanted!

=====
Visit the Louisiana Hiking Club at http://www.geocities.com/louisianahikingclub
Visit my ME-GA 2000 thru-hike updates at http://www.gorp.com/gorp/activity/hiking/thruhike/nina/ninab_archive.htm.

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