Woman with disability left “wet and naked on the floor” after hotel shower seat broke
A wheelchair user was left “wet and naked on the floor” while showering in a hotel last Saturday.
Jennie Berry was using an accessible shower in a “disabled room with adaptations” at the Mama Shelter London Hotel in Shoreditch when she says the “whole chair came off the wall”.
Berry recalls the red cord to pull for help “tied up to the ceiling”. Instead, she used her upper body strength to pull herself towards a secondary cord which was “wrapped around the grab rails”. She “yanked and yanked” on it until it became untangled enough to work.
According to Berry, when staff arrived to help they were “scrambling round pulling me for 20 minutes” while she tried to “cover what’s left of my dignity”.
Berry, who is a disability campaigner, shared details on her Instagram account to highlight the work that venues need to do to ensure that people living with a disability are safe and welcome. She has also called for staff to be better trained and spaces to be better equipped.
“I sobbed,” she wrote in the post alongside photographs. “Cried at the state I found myself in. I work so hard to be as independent as possible – yet there I was naked and slippery unable to get back into my chair unassisted crying for someone to help me.”
She said the worst part was the “undeniable level of vulnerability” that a person would “never be able to understand until you’re in these situations where you suddenly become completely helpless”.
In a response given to The Independent, Mama London said: “We want to apologise unreservedly that this unfortunate incident occurred at our hotel that caused Jennie Berry understandable distress.
“We will be checking all facilities more rigorously in future from a maintenance point of view and increase the frequency of staff training for disability etiquette.
“We pride ourselves in being a wholly inclusive brand and will redouble our efforts to fulfil this.”
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