How it is with the disabled access of hospitality and accommodation in the Czech-German border region

This was the main topic of another workshop, which was held in Rothenburg/O.L., Germany this time. One of the partners of the project suporting travel of disabled, Mrs. Susanne Mannschott, had the opening speech and welcomed everyone at the premises of St. Martin Diakonia.

The first speaker was Mrs. Michaela Mehlhorn, who runs the Aura guest house, known under the name "Villa Rochsburg". It is adapted for people with disabilities - especially for blind guests.

She shared her experience on how adapt accommodation to people with special needs the best way. It's not just about the labels in Braille.

For example, there was interesting explanation of why it is better for visually impaired guests to have an exact meal time rather than a wide time range. The staff can be their guide and give them their full attention.

They regularly organize various events, workshops and seminars here.

Ing. Jiří Vojtěch, MSc., representative of the iQLANDIA science center in Liberec, showed in his presentation and illustrative video on how  barrier-free is this multifunctional complex. One can easily spend the whole day here, because they have many interesting exhibits and the complex also includes a planetarium.

Among other things, he said something interesting - that in competition for schools this year, students in the iQFABLAB laboratory invent gadgets for the disabled, such as cutlery or drink holders.

Our mapping team Milan and Aleš described how they liked the science center iQLANDIA in Liberec. You can find out more in the blog on our disway.cz website and in soon to be released app.

We have already mentioned that the Diakonia of St. Martin in Rothenburg provided its lecture hall for the conference on accessibility in the hospitality industry.

The last speaker was Mr. Andreas Drese, Director of Education, Public Relations and Accommodation at Diakonia. He explained to the participants the life of the clients in this institution and how many different activities they have.

Later, thanks to the excursion, we could to see it for ourselves. We visited several buildings in the area, where the clients received us with interest.

Lída and Maruška Harcubová, members of the mapping team, had the opportunity to try out their barrier-free guest room for one night and praised the large space and well-equipped bathroom.

It was a nice, but above all usefull meeting. We hope that we have contributed to the fact that hospitality and accommodation operators will perceive accessibility as an important part of services for their guests.