Skift Take
Hotel chains have had more than two decades to enact provisions of the ADA and most of the better properties have already done so. It's the bottom dwellers that still complain about the costs and it's a mistake to lend them any support.
When the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law almost 23 years ago, the idea of inclusion for people with disabilities was legally born. Ramps were built, infrastructure was redesigned and, for the first time, the law backed people with disabilities who demanded their right not to be blocked from physical access to facilities.
But more than two decades the ADA became law, the ideal of inclusion has yet to be fully realized. Because enforcement of the statute is largely complaint-based, many public businesses are still inaccessible for people in wheelchairs. Bureaucratic processes easily muffle access demands and people with disabilities are at times not able to get in the front door.
Wondering why Congress hasn't acted to help finish the job? At least part of the answer lies in the lobbying might of powerful interests worried about costs.
Many lobbying clients th
