What is the accessibility of hospitality and accommodation in the Czech-German border area

This was the main topic of another workshop, which this time took place in Rothenburg/O.L., Germany. One of the partners of the project to support travel for the disabled, Mrs. Susanne Mannschott, gave an introductory speech and welcomed everyone to the premises of Diakonia St. Martin.

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

She shared her experience on how to best accommodate people with special needs. It's not just about Braille labels.

For example, it was interesting to hear the explanation of why it is better for guests with visual impairments to have a precise time for meals rather than a wide time range. This way, the staff can guide them and give them their full attention.

Various events, workshops and seminars are regularly held here.

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

Among other things, he said an interesting thing - that in this year's competition for schools, students in the iQFABLAB are inventing gadgets for the disabled, such as cutlery or a drink holder.

Our mappers Milan and Aleš described how they liked the iQLANDIA science centre in Liberec. Find out more in the blog on our website disway.cz and in the upcoming app.

We have already mentioned that the St. Martin's Diakonie in Rothenburg has made its lecture hall available for the conference on accessibility in the hospitality room.

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

Later we could see for ourselves thanks to the excursion. We visited several buildings in the large complex, where we were welcomed with interest by the clients.

Lída and Maruška Harcubova, from our mapping team, had the opportunity to try out their wheelchair accessible guest room for one night and enjoyed the large space and well-equipped bathroom.

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