What does it take to truly “leave no attendee behind”? In this feature by Matt Swenson on themeetingmagazines.com, our founder and CEO, Jake Steinman, reflects on how the TravelAbility Summit moved from good intentions to measurable improvements for attendees with disabilities. With insights from experts across the accessible travel landscape, it’s a comprehensive look at why making access a priority at meeting and events is good for people and good for business. The story details why ADA checkboxes aren’t enough, what we learned by hosting 21 creators with disabilities at the 2025 Summit, and how partners like Travel Oregon and Wheel the World are setting a new bar with destination-wide accessibility verification. It’s a practical guide to what planners need from venues and cities—and how transparent details like room specs, routes, seating, assistive technology, and staff readiness turn promises into predictable experiences.

To help convention centers deliver on that standard consistently, we’re launching TravelAbility Approved: Convention Centers—a pilot program designed to provide accessibility to meeting venues so that attendees of all abilities can attend. Four DAC DMOs will lead the first cohort as we establish clear criteria, consistent reporting, and public-facing access profiles, backed by staff training and operational playbooks. Pilot venues will be featured in USAE News to share lessons learned and gauge industry demand—creating a trusted signal planners can use and attendees can rely on.

Read the article below, and stay tuned as we roll out the pilot and invite additional convention centers and DMOs to join future cohorts.

Leave No Attendee Behind: Ensuring Accessibility is Key

By Matt Swenson

Jake Steinman, founder and CEO of the TravelAbility Summit, used to describe the annual event as a travel conference built around accessibility and not an accessibility conference built around travel.

His mindset changed when the lone deaf attendee at a past event gave him a piece of her mind when she learned no American Sign Language translators were onsite. “I realized we need to walk the walk,” Steinman says.

As proof of progress, TravelAbility hosted 21 influencers with various disabilities at its 2025 conference in Oregon at Sunriver Resort, a scenic, outdoorsy destination near the Cascade Mountains that is about 45 minutes from the closest airport.

Nevertheless, Travel Oregon was the first bidding on the event with the intent of proving they are a model of accessibility, notes Steinman, who launched TravelAbility in 2019 and has created a range of travel-based conferences over the past quarter-century.

The fact that a conference dedicated to improving the experience for disabled travelers required a wake-up call is just one example of how the events industry lags behind serving a vast community many will eventually join as they get older.

According to the 2024 Destinations International’s Global Accessibility Report, 35% of survey respondents had the resources in place to make the meeting and event experience more accessible. That means that more than two-thirds were not prepared to meet the demand.

Meanwhile, Longwoods International, a hospitality-centered research firm, found in 2023 that 17% of American travelers identify as having a disability.

Arturo Gaona, chief partnerships officer & founding member at Wheel the World, an online platform that provides accessible travel planning and booking services for people with disabilities, estimates that the accessibility travel market is a multibillion dollar industry. But it has the potential to be much more, he says.

The travel industry has not been actively taking care of travelers with disabilities, he says. “Eighty percent of them are having bad experiences.”

While Gaona isn’t distinguishing between leisure and business travel in his analysis, evidence points to the meetings industry struggling to match the demand from those who need an extra hand.

Sherrif Karamat, CAE, president and CEO of the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and the Corporate Event Marketing Association (CEMA), is among those ready to see improvements. “One area that I’m hoping that all of society can do better for is people with disabilities and special needs,” he says. “I don’t think that we do a good enough job.”