"Handicapped" roommette for the able-bodied?

[Bob Dylan]

You are correct Henry! You and your dog should be very comfortable in the H Room and @ Roomette prices!

 

[AmtrakBlue]

As a deaf person I qualify under the ADA as having a disability, and I must confess I have been sore tempted to book the H room on a Superliner by playing that card. Of course I won't ever do that. Not going to cheat a truly needy passenger.

When I check into hotels and motels, they often put me in handicapped rooms (or, to use the proper term nowadays, rooms for people with disabilities). I never figured this out except maybe clerks are trained to do only one thing. I haven't been tempted to see if Amtrak reservations people are the same. I doubt that they are.

Soon I will be obtaining a certified service dog, one trained to serve as ears for the deaf. I wonder if this would qualify me (legally AND morally) for a H room at roomette rate since a genuine roomette's too small for rider AND dog. But I will cross that bridge later.

Same here as to not using my hearing disability to get the H room. I wonder if it would even show up if we just click on the deaf/hoh button rather than the mobility one (will give it a try shortly). Hopefully, they would give you the H room, or maybe a regular bedroom, at the roomette price to give more room for your dog.

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe the airlines have sent wheelchairs for me because I have it on my profile that I'm deaf/HoH.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

As a deaf person I qualify under the ADA as having a disability, and I must confess I have been sore tempted to book the H room on a Superliner by playing that card. Of course I won't ever do that. Not going to cheat a truly needy passenger.

When I check into hotels and motels, they often put me in handicapped rooms (or, to use the proper term nowadays, rooms for people with disabilities). I never figured this out except maybe clerks are trained to do only one thing. I haven't been tempted to see if Amtrak reservations people are the same. I doubt that they are.

Soon I will be obtaining a certified service dog, one trained to serve as ears for the deaf. I wonder if this would qualify me (legally AND morally) for a H room at roomette rate since a genuine roomette's too small for rider AND dog. But I will cross that bridge later.

Same here as to not using my hearing disability to get the H room. I wonder if it would even show up if we just click on the deaf/hoh button rather than the mobility one (will give it a try shortly). Hopefully, they would give you the H room, or maybe a regular bedroom, at the roomette price to give more room for your dog.

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe the airlines have sent wheelchairs for me because I have it on my profile that I'm deaf/HoH.

Just tried it online and the H room does not show up for deaf/HoH passengers. So, Henry, you will probably have to call to get the H room with your dog.

 

[Ryan]

In IL. the age and sex of the person that uses a handicap hang tag is coded into that tag and when I see a young couple using a tag for a person born in 1932 it really makes me very upset.

This sounds interesting, and a few minutes with Google didn't turn anything up. Can you expound for a bit?

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

As a deaf person I qualify under the ADA as having a disability, and I must confess I have been sore tempted to book the H room on a Superliner by playing that card. Of course I won't ever do that. Not going to cheat a truly needy passenger.

When I check into hotels and motels, they often put me in handicapped rooms (or, to use the proper term nowadays, rooms for people with disabilities). I never figured this out except maybe clerks are trained to do only one thing. I haven't been tempted to see if Amtrak reservations people are the same. I doubt that they are.

Soon I will be obtaining a certified service dog, one trained to serve as ears for the deaf. I wonder if this would qualify me (legally AND morally) for a H room at roomette rate since a genuine roomette's too small for rider AND dog. But I will cross that bridge later.

I thought Amtrak was specific (somewhere) that the "H" rooms were for the mobility impaired. Basically, those in personal need of a room that can accommodate a wheelchair.

IMHO, being deaf (or blind), while being a significant disability, would not qualify you, legally nor morally, for an "H" room. I have personally seen a blind passenger, with an assistance dog, accommodated in coach so such can work.

 

[trainman74]

When I check into hotels and motels, they often put me in handicapped rooms (or, to use the proper term nowadays, rooms for people with disabilities). I never figured this out except maybe clerks are trained to do only one thing.

Many of the "handicapped rooms" in hotels -- in addition to having accommodations for mobility-limited guests -- also have accommodations for deaf/hard-of-hearing guests, such as a doorbell, alarm clock, and smoke detectors that are all equipped with lights. Those aren't really present in the H rooms on Amtrak. So to me, it makes sense that hotels would automatically put you in a "handicapped room," but Amtrak would not.

 

[oldtimer]

In IL. the age and sex of the person that uses a handicap hang tag is coded into that tag and when I see a young couple using a tag for a person born in 1932 it really makes me very upset.

This sounds interesting, and a few minutes with Google didn't turn anything up. Can you expound for a bit?

Ryan,

In the State of Illinois, a permanent hang tag is coded in the following two ways:

1) the sex of the person that the tag is issued to is designated by a small box near the top of the tag. If the box is punched out the tag belongs to a male, and if not a female.

2) The age of the person that the tag was issued to is also designated by punching out the birth month as listed (this also acts as a renewal date) and to the right of the tag body there are two vertical columns that go from 0 to 9. Punched in the first column is the decade of birth and in the last column is the last digit of the year of birth of the tag holder. Illinois law states that the tag holder must exit the vehicle if it is parked in a reserved handicap spot, ie you cannot drop the person off at the door and go park the car in a handicap spot.

Despite what another poster in this topic have said, handicap parking spots are at a premium in the Chicago and Joliet metropolitan areas and I usually have less than a 50% of finding one vacant.

Al aka oldtimer

PS this contrasts with one of Illinois's bordering states where hang tags have no expiration or biographical information. A television station in the largest city of that state did an"investigative" report and found rampant misuse approaching 50% Almost 30% of the tags they reviewed had the holderrs also on the death records of the state.

 

[Ryan]

Thanks, that's really nice. From that and the reading that I did before, it sounds like IL takes this somewhat seriously, which I love.

 

[Peter KG6LSE]

I ended up getting a hangtag a few years back as Its the best way to universality prove your impaired.

Nerve issues along with bad knees ...

I wish the Law had a way to have the same in a wallet card

Its not like I have a way to hang it on my segway

Irony my road transport is also my only transport indoor or out .

I doubt most power chairs are road legal on low speed roads!

Ive used it for parking less then dozen times in a year.

But it's Ideal on the bus or train to get the services you need.

Heck I had to remind a tix agent at PDX that policy is to accept it .

I use it on the train to get the needed leg room on the cascades . On superliner coach the legroom is good enough.

if my knees are not kinked I am in little pain so I can stand OK ( hence the seg over a power chair !) . but sick me on greyhound for a hour you better bring some vicoden..

Peter..

 

[PVD]

Each jurisdiction treats parking tags/placards differently. In NYC, hang tags are only good for set aside spots In off street parking. There are no handicapped spots or meters on the street. There are special permit placards for on street parking, those are a lot harder to get, they require examination by agency doctors, not just a card signed by your own doc. One year renewal. The hangtags had serial numbers and expiration dates, no name or biographical info. renewable 12 or 24 months, I don't remember, my mom had one, but we rarely used it, if there was a regular spot with enough room to maneuver her walker she preferred walking a little bit as long as it wasn't slippery or too cold to breathe. There are also handicapped plates available for a specific vehicle, they are the functional equivalent of a hangtag. Unfortunately, people who have tags in their cars because they regularly transport someone who needs one, too often use them unjustly for themselves. I cut the one in my car in half when my mom passed away, I would have thought it immoral and an insult to her memory to cheat with her tag

 

[Bob Dylan]

When my late wife passed away I turned her Handicap (Temporary) parking tag back into the DMV.

My 92 year old Mom has a Permanent Permit for her car which is the Cars License Plate.( she doesn't drive anymore but we take her to the Doctor, Church, Drug Store,Grocery store etc )

Most Handicap parking spots in Texas are by the front doors of buildings, close to elevators in parking garages and marked with signs and a painted handicap emblem on the designated slots.

There is a $200 Fine for mis-using them, but Scum bags do so regularly!

Surprisingly the Amtrak Station here ( ex MP/ now UP owned) has plenty of Free, Lighted Parking Slots but only 4 Handicap Spots!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I feel that unless you need the space for a wheelchair, you should not request the H room. OTOH, you should not be kicked out of the H room if you were given it in the last 14 days. As stated above, there are accommodations for wheelchairs in the lower level coach for any urgent last-minute travel requirements.

I have no problems with the very reasonable policy currently implemented by Amtrak. I also had no idea that some folks were so dissatisfied that they were willing to advocate or condone forced reaccommodation of paid and ticketed passengers in order to push their agenda to the absolute limit. I cannot imagine how others do not see such an initiative as a major escalation and overreaction that puts Amtrak into a very uncomfortable and unworkable position.

The US is already among the most progressive and protective societies for disabled people on the entire planet, but if we start jumping off the deep end the coordination and good will that helped create our laudable record could begin to unravel. Like most people I respect and support the goal of making life easier and more rewarding for disabled people, but I'm not going to ignore that rampant abuse of such protections is largely a result of the ADA's insistence on the presumption of need and their refusal to support traceable accountability.

I'm just as annoyed with abusers as anyone else but the thanks to the ADA's hardball mentality our corrective options are extremely limited and tedious. I'm also annoyed with zero tolerance directives that force even the smallest and lowest volume stations to build budget crippling ADA compliant platforms or build nothing at all. That is not a reasonable or logical position in my view and in the end the blind ideology that created these directives is working against all of our interests. What on earth was wrong with the mobile platforms that were previously implemented?

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

What on earth was wrong with the mobile platforms that were previously implemented?

Here's a good example of how out of hand this has gotten: The Heartland Flyer makes 5 stops between OKC and FTW and each of those stations has platforms that are near flush to the Superliner boarding doors. And, of course, each Superliner car is equipped with a wheelchair ramp that can be quickly deployed. Yet under requirements from ADA each station had to install some bizzare mobile boarding hoist rig that is hidden away in a hut built on the platform. THEY HAVE NEVER BEEN USED! Now I do not know if Amtrak, the BNSF or the communities had to pick up the bill but whoever did would have gotten a better return flushing the money down the john!

 

[andersone]

I have H tags for my car,,, and got them after an incident last year. We had a medical emergency and I was rushed to the OSU James by my wife. She parked the car in an H spot and forgot to hang the tag (I am amazed at the number of folks who drive with them on the mirror even when it specifies it is to be removed while driving) Long story short we got a $250 parking ticket. I appealed and we had to go to DMV to get a certificate to prove the case. When I renewed the tags two months later I got permanent H tags.

I kept the hanging tag to use with renters and was surprised when we entered Glacier and were giving lifetime National Park passes for no charge.

This summer we decided on a roomette to SLC instead of the H Room. I just can't stand the toilet in the Superliner being "right there?

 

[HenryK]

I had a brief conversation with a longtime Amtrak ticket agent. He said that the H rooms are absolutely limited to passengers with mobility impairments. He further said that bedrooms are never sold at roomette rates. He said that a dog could sleep in the bottom bunk of a roomette and I in the top (if I could climb up there), but I think he was kidding—the official Amtrak rules say service dogs must not be on the seats.

So at the moment it appears that I will be paying the bucket charge for a bedroom for the dog and me. Actually, I try to travel on Guest Rewards points whenever I can, so . . .

Hmm. Maybe each time I want to go from Chicago to the West Coast I can persuade the local Lexus dealer to let me charge a new SUV on the Guest Rewards card. But then my garage will run out of space. So will my bank account.

By the way, Oldtimer's explanation of how the Illinois handicapped auto placard works is right on. I had one for three months after knee replacement surgery and it wasn't always easy to find an open handicapped parking spot. To me, handicap spot cheaters are the scum of the earth (and so are the lowlifes who try to pass their pets off as service dogs).

 

[andersone]

I may have told this story before,,,

Last year in Glacier there was a brand new Camaro without tags or -placard in one of the very few H spots at Many Glacier. I went into the lobby to complain. They called security immediately and placed a ticket on the vehicle. They were also gracious enough to have a golf cart follow me up to the main parking lot (if you have ever been there you know parking is a pain at MG) which brought me back to the hotel. An example of great customer service, just wish I had been there to see the look on the parker's face when they saw the ticket,,,

 

[eblkheart]

When I booked my roomette, they told me the accessible room wasn't available but put me on the wait list in case it shows up. Now if I don't get that room, where would be the closest handicap bathroom on CZ with a regular roomette?

 

[Bob Dylan]

When I booked my roomette, they told me the accessible room wasn't available but put me on the wait list in case it shows up. Now if I don't get that room, where would be the closest handicap bathroom on CZ with a regular roomette?

There are no Handicap Bathrooms on Superliner Sleepers except in the H Room! All the Regular Bathrooms are basically airline style broom closets!
The Superliner Coaches have a Large Handicap Bathroom by the Vestibule Doors!

 

[niemi24s]

Here's a link to a floor plan for a Superliner coach car: http://www.atdlines.com/photos/diagram/s-coach.jpg

 

[eblkheart]

Yeah I remember in coach where they were from a couple of years ago. This is going to be fun Thanks for the info.

 

[Alice]

Eblkheart, what features of the accessible restroom do you need? The downstairs Superliner restrooms are tiny (no wheelchair access) but they do have a grab bar on the wall opposite the commode. Plus the sink is right next to the commode and sturdy, so can be used as a brace to stand up. This was enough for my mother when she used a walker (pre wheelchair), she'd park the walker outside the restroom, other passengers were cool with that. If that is good enough for you, then get one of the downstairs roomettes. If stairs are not a problem, then I believe the upstairs restroom is the same, there is only one of them.

HenryK, re service dog, talk to the group training your dog, they might have an answer. I have a friend with a seeing eye dog, a pretty large lab for a 6 foot guy, and that dog folds into a pretty small package when needed. On a plane, he fits completely in Jay's footspace with not even a tail poking into the neighbor's space or the aisle.

 

[HenryK]

Alice, I don't yet know what breed (or mix thereof) my eventual "hearing dog" will be, but it's likely to be a smaller one, like a bichon frise or a Jack Russell terrorist. I will ask the group (Dogs for the Deaf in Oregon) about rail accommodations.

Earlier this year I encountered a lady with a service Great Dane (a seizure dog). She paid for his own bedroom on the Zephyr.

(P.S.: That "terrorist" is a joke, not an autocorrect error.)

 

[caravanman]

I used to date a psychotherapist, and she told me of an interesting report... She said that research had shown that able bodied people who use disabled parking spaces would almost certainly be guilty of other "crimes" too. It may pay the cops to just arrest these folk straight off.

I for one get fed up of folks who are not in any particular category trying to say how someone else should be treated... (except for me of course, 'cos I know best, always...)

Ed.

 

[willem]

I for one get fed up of folks who are not in any particular category trying to say how someone else should be treated... (except for me of course, 'cos I know best, always...)

Ed.

Ah, we have something in common...with everyone else in the world!

 

[rosewood]

My spouse and I both have knee replacements and getting to the upper bunk is nearly impossible. We have had the bedrooms and H rooms but will next time book the H and a roomette. Then we will have a larger toilet area and two lower bunks. We will use 5,000 more points then the bedroom per zone but we think it will be worth it.

Would the family room work for two adults 6'4 and 5'11 on the lowest bunks?