Welcome!

This website is designed with the intention to help persons with disabilities find hotel accommodations most suitable to their personal needs.

My name is Alice Francis.  I’m a graduate of The Art Institute of Portland where I earned my degree in Interior Design and first learned the principles of Universal Design – that is – design for everyone.

The Institute For Human Centered Design at www.adaptenv.org defines universal design this way; “Universal Design is a framework for the design of places, things, information, communication and policy to be usable by the widest range of people operating in the widest range of situations without special or separate design. Most simply, Universal Design is human-centered design of everything with everyone in mind.

Designing for everyone is very important because we are all different and do not have the same needs.  Some of us are tall while others are shorter.  Some of us are small while others are larger.  Some of us have visual or hearing limitations and some of us are wheelchair users.  Universal Design takes into account that all of us, with our differences, use the same places and things and it addresses all our varying needs.

I have two siblings (my sister Claire who was a wheelchair user and passed away in 2007 from complications with multiple sclerosis) and my dear brother who also has multiple sclerosis and is a wheelchair user as well. I know from experience that it can be a challenge to find hotel accommodations that are truly accessible. Unless you explain in detail what your needs are when booking your room you may meet with surprises.  My brother once booked an “accessible” room but could not use the bathroom because the door was too narrow to enter with a wheelchair.

We can find web-sites to help people who vacation with their pets but it’s difficult to find a resource that can help people with disabilities find accommodations.  I find there is a great need for such a resource.  I encourage your comments if you have found lodging or other public places that fit your needs well.  Included on this site is a community interactive map where you can post your favorite accessible places.  It is my hope that together we can find some great wheelchair accessible hotels and places of interest to post on this blog while attempting to raise the level of design from minimum ADA standards to Universal Design in our public spaces.

Happy traveling to all.  We are all universal travelers.