~Equality~

On July 15 hundreds of disability activists gathered in front of the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the American Hotel and Lodging Association(AH&LA) demanding that the trade group stop its efforts to block equal access to America's swimming pools. For the past three months, AH&LA has waged a full-scale lobbying effort to stop the Department of Justice(DOJ) from enforcing federal law requiring that they make hotel swimming pools and spas fully accessible to people with disabilities, calling such an enforcement "unreasonable." This regulation would require hotels to meet the standards set forth by the Americans with Disabilities Act, passed 22 years ago. Is this what our world has come to? How dare anyone in any position of deny anyone much less a person with a disability the right to get into a pool? Our country was built upon the principles of equality, freedom and justice, to name a few. The message that the  AH&LA is sending the message that the founding principles only apply to some people which is infuriating and kind of hurtful. My similar experience happened my first semester at The University of Southern Mississippi. Every year it holds an event called Eaglepalooza . I was really excited to go. When I got to the location of the shuttle bus that would transport the students to the location of the event, however, I was denied entry because the bus was not accessible. When I told my friends who were apart of the student government about this, they began going to the different channels on our campus to rectify the situation. I wish people were as passionate about the plights of others as my friends were about mine, and I wonder if the situation was reversed would this request still be deemed "unreasonable."