‘Disability Hoists in Hotels’ Petition to Parliament

A Stafford man is campaigning to get disability hoists installed in all hotels and the issue has now been raised in Parliament.

31 year-old Daniel Baldawi, who has cerebral palsy and uses an electric wheelchair, is determined to get laws changed so that hotels have to provide ceiling hoists.

His campaign ‘Disability Hoists In Hotels’ was launched as an online petition in January and as of today has 312 supporters, many of whom refer to personal experiences, with comments such as ‘I want to support my friend’ and recognition from established disability resources such as Disability Review Magazine:

Mr. Baldawi has been backed by Stafford MP Jeremy Lefroy, who has helped to have the issue raised in the House of Commons, calling for a debate.

Jeremy Lefroy addressed parliament saying:

“As a result of his disabilities, my constituent Daniel Baldawi needs a ceiling hoist in his bedroom. Like everyone else, he likes to travel and would like to stay in hotels from time to time, but he finds that very few—including in even the largest chains—make provision in their bedrooms for his disability. May we have a debate on how large hotel chains can provide in all their properties at least one or two rooms with a ceiling hoist so that people such as my constituent can exercise their right to travel and stay in different parts of the country?” – Jeremy Lefroy

A response came from leader of the house Chris Grayling stating:

“My hon. Friend makes a really valuable point, which has not been brought to my attention before. I encourage him to apply for an adjournment debate and put these points to the minister responsible. I hope that his simply bringing the issue up in the House will start to encourage hotel chains to think about doing something they might not have thought about doing in the past.” – Chris Grayling

Following Grayling’s reply, Mr Lefroy said:

“I will certainly be pursuing this matter in Parliament and will be encouraging hotel chains to consider installing ceiling hoists in some of their rooms in order to make them more accessible for disabled guests.” – Jeremy Lefroy

Mr Baldawi is quoted as saying he is “very pleased” from the support from Jeremy Lefroy.

This article has been cited from The Staffordshire Newsletter and the photo was taken by Josh Cope.