NPR ^ | July 6, 2012 | by Gigi Douban
Pools open to the public were supposed to have chair lifts installed for people with disabilities in time for this summer, but after a wave of protests, the federal order was delayed until January.
Still, some of the country's 300,000 or so pools at hotels, parks and gyms continue to fight the requirement.
Vestavia Hills pool near Birmingham, Ala., is one of thousands of pools that scrambled to get a chair lift installed by May.
At first glance, it looks like a lifeguard chair, only low to the ground. It's meant to help people with disabilities get in and out of the water.
"It goes really, really slow," says Candia Cole, Vestavia's pool supervisor."
May was the second installation deadline set by the U.S. Justice Department as part of a new provision of the Americans with Disabilities Act. But then many owners of the affected pools complained.
Each chair lift costs as much as $8,000. And most hotel pools don't have lifeguards to operate them.
The elderly, people with arthritis or someone who is missing a limb could benefit from the chair lift, but Cole says so far no one's asked to use it.
"If it's used or not, you know, it's here, so we got it — ready to go," she says. "Come on down! The water's fine!"
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