Opinion with Christine Tongue: Somewhere to put my sticks

May 20, 2023Kathy BailesOpinion17

Lock down, covid and hip surgery have meant we haven't had a holiday for three years. My poor partner needed a break from caring and cooking and I needed remotivating to get my legs working again.

With three years holiday budget to spend we searched for hotels accessible to wheel and stick users and preferably with a swimming pool I could get into. And not too far away as my leg isn't keen on sitting in one position for too long.

It's a lot harder than you might think – even if you have a lot money to spend. I’ve heard "yes we’re very accessible – only two small steps to the front door." Or, "yes there's a handrail and steps into the pool." But they don't say the steps are very deep and the handrail is in the OUTDOOR pool.

There's a lot of misunderstanding of disability, and – you can only conclude – a bit of a reluctance to have to be bothered with unsightly elderly stickies. My wheelchair using friend tells me "Very often the most accessible rooms have a view of the car park or the bins. And the flat access is round the back, through the tradesman's entrance." Very welcoming.

The worst, surprisingly, often are spa hotels. They don't really want people with serious health issues, just the affluent well who like to get a massage while hubby plays golf, for example. "We do an anti ageing facial" I hear when I ask about treatments. Well, I’ve aged so it's too late!

So we decide on The Grand Hotel in Eastbourne – I know, sarcastic friends say why go to another oldies resort when you live in Broadstairs? But I haven't left Thanet in three years. I wanted an adventure. And we have old friends in Eastbourne so that decided it.

Wildly expensive, but they had a totally accessible room, with wet room and outside patio, and the hotel has a pool with a hand rail and spa treatments like reflexology that sounded more serious than just fancy cosmetics, and might help my painful joints.

Why is there nothing in Thanet like that?

But how to get there?

I’m still dependent on crutches and my mobility scooter, so I’m too scared to book complicated rail journeys – you need ramps to get in and out, and accessible toilets are often out of order. So a friend who uses a wheelchair mentioned Thanet Community Transport. You pay a fee to join up and they take you where you need to go. It costs about the same as a taxi but they understand disability and have drivers who can help with getting in and out.

I thought they’d send a big car or something but what turned up outside my house was huge and had AMBULANCE on the side!

It usually takes disabled kids to school or on trips, so it's like a small accessible bus (wish they all were). Nice ramp and a lift to save climbing steps, and big window so I could savour bits of Kent and Sussex I hadn't seen in years.

Even a traffic jam in Hastings seemed interesting.

So we turn up in my ambulance at the Grand, a hotel so posh it doesn't have its name on it. Flunkeys rush out to try to figure out how to flunk an ambulance, carry our minimal luggage and show us where the ramped entrance is. It's at the side of the main entrance, not round the back and through the bins. First plus point!

Fading Victorian grandeur meant long wide corridors – perfect for crinolines and mobility scooters, and carpets everywhere meant I could use crutches without them slipping. Try wet laminate flooring if you fancy breaking a bone or two.

I could scoot into our room, which was huge. The promised outdoor terrace had a step – minus point – so not good for a wheelchair.

The pool had a handrail – hurray. But only one. Boo! When one leg doesn't work you need two. But a chair on the side to hang onto for the last step and a lot of help and encouragement from staff and guests, and I managed!

I know it sounds sad and pathetic but when you’re in a long rehabilitation process minor triumphs are vital.

But why are there no regulations for swimming pools? High steps, no hand rails, ladders where the last step is so high I’ve had to crawl out and be picked up by fellow swimmers, pools that have picturesque gritty rocks round the steps so your hands are flayed trying to climb out etc etc. I’ve seen them all.

And why are there no requirements for hotels and cafes to have some form of flat access?

But even if we have more regulations, we need more than that. We need a change in how we think about and treat disabled people, don't we? I’m one of around fourteen million disabled people. We vote and we need politicians who will listen. Any suggestions?

Christine is a founder member of Access Thanet, a local disability campaign group.