Word Seeds

Review by Debra Scott, 2/19/2018

Between my spouse and myself, we have 4 distinct disabilities and 2 service dogs. This creates a rather interesting dilemma when we travel. Generally speaking, it takes at least 3 to 6 months to locate resources and lodging that will accommodate us. One would think that all venues would be accessible, given the strong wording in the American with Disabilities Act, enacted in 1990 and updated in 2010, but the sad reality is that for many disabled persons, accommodation is inadequate or even non-existent. Nevertheless, we do what we need to do in order to appease both job needs and escape/vacation getaways.

My spouse is a legally blind (he would say illegally blind) international librarian who travels far and wide as an advocate for universal accommodation in libraries and book availability. As a writer, I am allowed to also attend some of these events. But I have a debilitating and life threatening latex allergy, which basically means that nearly everything in the modern world is likely to land me in the ER and/or dead.

While there have been great strides in creating accommodations for the blind (given there are still grave issues that create dangerous situations for them) accommodations for severe allergies are almost non-existent. They are covered under the ADA, but the general perception about allergies is that they are a silly inconvenience and not really something to be taken seriously.  Tell that to all the parents who have lost children from peanut allergy exposure! Latex allergy is a lot like peanut allergy, except that latex is everywhere, not just where food happens, and yes, adults and children die from it every year. The best I can usually hope for is to find one hotel and restaurant that does not use latex gloves and hope they also will not have balloons for decoration, advertising or just randomly brought in by customers. This does not address all the other ubiquitous things that create airborne latex, such as rubber bands, bath mats, rubber fatigue mats, weather mats, elastic-bound bottom sheets on the beds, rubber backed carpeting, etc. Latex particles are literally like pollen or glitter. It flies through the air wherever the air currents or traffic take it, for blocks outside and through open doors, windows and ventilation systems. So I generally assume that sooner or later I’m going to get hit with a reaction with life threatening consequences.

Fortunately, my allergist works with me to provide a personal mobile mini-hospital that I have to carry around with me for the frequent anaphylactic attacks I get hit with on a regular basis. I have completely stopped breathing so many times, it no longer freaks me out but just grab my epinephrine auto-injector (which is always on my person somewhere). But that doesn’t mean it all goes away. It will get me breathing again, but anaphylaxis also continues to attack and destroy internal organs and other necessary bodily functions for at least 2-3 days afterwards. The rescue and follow up medications have horrendous side effects as well. It’s not fun.

For my spouse, the choice of hotel is often mandated by the library organization. More often than not, the hotel uses latex gloves and so I simply cannot go. Even with my doctor ordered industrial respirator, the amount of latex would overwhelm me.

This year, the conference hotel was at the Hyatt Regency Denver at the Colorado Convention Center. My spouse contacted them well in advance and found out, of course, they used latex gloves. However to our surprise, general manager Greg Leonard and VIP manager Jesse Helland expressed interest in accommodating latex allergy. Over the months we had conversations with them and provided them with the information they would need to make a decision. They agreed to completely change their policy and switch out all latex gloves for latex free gloves throughout the hotel and all food service. This in itself was truly ground-breaking for a large corporate entity, but they didn’t stop there. They took great pains to make sure our stay would be safe, including having meetings with staff and personally overseeing the hotel room to be sure it was as latex safe as possible.

Nevertheless, I am used to arriving at what should be a latex safe hotel and running into all sorts of things that they forgot to remove. I walked in to our room at the Hyatt and… I could breathe. They took care of everything. After a day of difficult travel, I could just collapse on the bed and BREATHE. We ordered room service, and I could eat without choking. I slept without waking up gasping for air. Both Greg and Jesse wrote me a personal welcome and assured me they wanted to know if there were any issues to address.

The staff continued this attention to detail throughout except for one hiccup where a housekeeping staff member missed the memo and brought in rubber backed bath mats. But that was immediately remedied when we called down, and it never happened again. I also received calls and a visit from Executive Housekeeper Ivan Merc  to see if I was okay and to follow up on the reaction from the mats. I can honestly say that in all my travels, domestic and global, I have never been treated with such concern and attention to detail.

As for my spouse, the Regency Club which provided breakfast, snacks and evening desserts were for all intents and purposes his personal waiters. They helped him choose foods and brought plates to him, so he didn’t have to try and find them by feel from the buffet. All this done with such amazing good cheer that they felt more like family than staff. More importantly, he felt accommodated, not disabled. This positive and helpful attitude was apparent throughout the hotel no matter who we interacted with.

The Hyatt Regency, at least in Denver, gets my highest possible rating not just for the excellent lodging and food, but for accessibility at its best: Making disabled persons feel at home… and normal.