TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Eliana Satkin

Accessibility Takes Flight: TravelAbility Film Festival Winners Now Streaming on United Airlines

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When TravelAbility announced its inaugural Film Festival in July 2025, the goal was simple: spotlight the stories, people, and places shaping a more accessible future for travel.

One year later, those stories have reached new heights—literally.

A United Airlines seatback screen showing the "United videos" menu, with the "1st Annual TravelAbility Film Festival" tile featured prominently among other categories like June Highlights and Star Alliance Member, set against an airplane cabin lit by an orange sunset through the window.

The top 10 winning films from the festival are now streaming on United Airlines’ inflight entertainment systems. Available on all United aircraft equipped with seatback screens, the films will remain onboard for six months, introducing passengers to real-world stories of accessibility, innovation, and adaptive travel.

For TravelAbility, this milestone is about more than just industry recognition for filmmakers. It reflects a broader cultural shift: accessible travel storytelling is no longer confined to advocacy spaces and specialized events. Instead, it has officially entered the mainstream, reaching passengers directly as an organic part of their travel experience.

A Global Showcase for Inclusive Travel

The inaugural TravelAbility Film Festival received 52 submissions from nine countries, capturing entries from tourism boards, local attractions, and independent content creators. The films highlight a diverse range of perspectives, from destination-led accessibility initiatives to first-hand accounts of navigating on-the-ground travel barriers.

A panel of film, accessibility, and media professionals—including representatives from the Sundance and Cannes film festivals—reviewed the submissions to select 14 finalists and 10 ultimate winners.

This initiative directly aligns with TravelAbility’s Vision 2030 initiative, which recognizes that accessibility is rapidly becoming a core expectation in global travel rather than a niche consideration. By 2030, all 73 million Baby Boomers in the United States will be 65 or older. This demographic shift means accessibility will increasingly dictate how a massive segment of the population chooses destinations, transportation, and hospitality experiences.

As demand grows, travelers need clear, credible visibility into what accessible travel looks like in practice. Without it, anxiety and invisible barriers persist, even where proper infrastructure already exists. The TravelAbility Film Festival was built to close that exact gap.

Moving From Vision to Flight Entertainment

The films now streaming on United Airlines include work from destinations and creators around the world. Among them is the festival’s Grand Prize winner, produced by GLP Films and the Oregon Coast Visitors Association, which highlights accessible and inclusive travel along the Oregon Coast.

Taken together, these films reflect a simple reality: accessibility is not a separate category of the travel experience. It is fundamental to how travel should be designed, executed, and narrated.

A United Airlines seatback screen showing the "United videos" menu, with the "1st Annual TravelAbility Film Festival" tile featured prominently among other categories like June Highlights and Star Alliance Member, set against an airplane cabin lit by an orange sunset through the window.

“When I opened the entertainment system on a flight from Newark to San Francisco last week, I was thrilled,” said Jake Steinman, Founder of TravelAbility. “Were it not for the seatbelt sign being illuminated, I would have been jumping out of my seat for joy when I found our film festival on the screen.”

Steinman notes that the collaboration came together through a shared commitment to industry progress.

“Like everything else in the travel industry, this initiative began with a relationship,” Steinman shared. “First with David Kinzelman, Chief Customer Officer at United Airlines, who was recognized in 2025 as one of TravelAbility’s ‘Champions of Change,’ and then with the Customer Strategy & Innovation and Inflight Entertainment teams at United Airlines who helped make this opportunity possible. We are deeply grateful for their commitment to providing a platform that showcases these important stories.”

By bringing accessibility-focused storytelling into a space shared by millions of passengers, United Airlines and TravelAbility are helping ensure the future of travel is not only visible, but welcoming to everyone. For a full list of winning films, visit: https://travelability.net/travelability-film-festival/

One for the Books: The Smart Marketer’s Guide to Digital Accessibility

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Accessibility consultant and author Sassy Wyatt sits in a park holding the paw of her black guide dog, who wears a yellow harness.

Sassy Wyatt, a TravelAbility Summit speaker and content creator community member, has put her expertise as an accessibility consultant into a book. 

The Smart Marketer’s Guide to Digital Accessibility is indispensable for every digital marketer looking to broaden their reach and make a meaningful impact. Whether you’re a freelance content creator, a comms leader, or running a brand’s online presence, this guide is written for you.

Cover of Sassy Wyatt's book The Smart Marketer's Guide to Digital Accessibility, illustrated with two people at a table, a guide dog underneath, and the tagline "How to make inclusion your advantage."

Sassy Wyatt sheds light on the critical, yet often overlooked, aspects of digital inclusivity, from the importance of alternative text for images, to the legal implications of non-compliance.

Wyatt blends her personal journey as a blind traveller with actionable insights, outlining how to navigate the intricate landscape of electronic accessibility, and explaining what needs to be done to enhance your brands inclusivity, drive engagement and transform your digital presence into a welcoming space for all users.

↪Check out Sassy’s Guide to Digital Accessibility

Lived Experience: Navigating Airport Security While Blind with The Blind Blogger Maxwell Ivey

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Blind travel blogger Maxwell Ivey smiles at a table with his laptop open, a green potted plant in the background.

Maxwell Ivey, Founder of The Accessibility Advantage, is a blind travel blogger who shares his personal journey, struggles, and triumphs. Known as The Blind Blogger, Max has been educating people about the need for accessibility ever since starting his first website brokering used amusement park & carnival rides in 2007. When he started, web accessibility didn’t exist, so he had to teach himself to code html to get his first site online. 

Maxwell writes, speaks, consults, and hosts a podcast about the many positive benefits of improving accessibility. He has appeared as a guest on several sites, including Huffington Post, The Global Voice, and The Blind Entrepreneur Show. He maintains a positive attitude while teaching others through real experiences. He shares accessibility as more than just compliance: it’s about reputation, innovation, and growth.

👨‍🦯 Accessibility Consultant 

40 Years of Daily Screen Reader Experience 

Helping SMBs Turn Inclusion Into Advantage 

Speaker & Author 

Total followers across platforms: 22,000

Navigating Airport Security While Blind

July 1, 2023 by The Blind Blogger Maxwell Ivey

As many of you who travel are aware, security is a constant concern and there are a variety of methods used by the TSA, Transport Security Administration, to keep us safe.

However, have you ever considered how a blind person navigates these various measures?

I thought I would share some of my experiences with airport security.

And for those of you who know me well, you won’t be surprised that all my experiences with their personnel were positive.

Of course, I show up early and bring my positive attitude with me. I wear comfortable clothes, and leave things like my belt in my suitcase.

Metal Detector

Passing through the metal detector is one case where the procedure is consistent because TSA has discovered what works best and trained their employees to implement this procedure.

What they do is have one agent lead you to the mouth of the walk way where the scanner is. Then an agent on the other side reaches a hand through. You grab on to that hand and walk forward.

I find that if I take really small steps or shuffle that I can make it through the first time without touching the sides.

I’m not competitive about much, but I really hate it if I have to go through more than once.

Chemical Explosives Test

Sometimes, for no reason that I am aware of; I have required an additional screening.

I find that when TSA agents look at me they are concerned about my ability to take my shoes off and put them back on again.

To avoid my having to do that they can use a test that detects whether or not you have recently handled fire arms or explosives.

It’s not a difficult test. They just tell you to hold your hands out while they spray some powder on them.

Then they usually clean it off for you with sanitary wipes or give you some wipes to do it yourself.

This one is the least invasive test they will do as you get to sit there while they do it.

↪Read the full article here.

↪Learn more about working with Maxwell Ivy here.

From TravelAbility 7.0: Accessibility Playbook and the AI Companion

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Each month we share a recap from one of the sessions at the 2025 TravelAbility Summit. This session on the new AI Companion to TravelAbility’s Accessibility Playbook was packed with actionable insights.

Want to be part of these conversations in real time?

TravelAbility Tampa 2026 Summit graphic featuring friends, one a wheelchair user, gathered around a waterfront table, with event dates November 9 to 11 in Tampa, Florida.

Join us November 9–11, 2026, in Tampa, Florida, for the 2026 TravelAbility Summit. It’s where destinations, venues, and travel brands come together to advance accessibility in a practical, business-smart way. Over two days of case studies, workshops, and peer learning, industry leaders share proven strategies that improve the travel experience for people with disabilities—and, by extension, for families, multigenerational groups, and travelers with temporary or situational limitations. Meet the advisors, suppliers, and destination teams leading the way, and leave with a roadmap you can put to work immediately.

Register Today

Session Overview 

This session introduced the Accessibility Playbook and its companion AI tool as practical, step-by-step resources for destinations to move accessibility from a compliance checkbox to a core strategy for inclusion, destination stewardship, competitiveness, and community impact. Case studies from Visit Concord and Choose Lansing showed how education, partnerships, and measurable pilots can unlock funding, align stakeholders, and scale progress. 

Key Takeaways

Accessibility is rapidly becoming a competitive advantage for destinations, but many organizations still struggle with limited funding, competing priorities, inconsistent standards, and the challenge of providing credible information that serves travelers with a wide range of disabilities. This session explored how the TravelAbility Playbook helps destinations overcome those barriers by providing a practical framework, business case, and implementation tools for building more inclusive visitor experiences.

Visit Concord shared how it used ARPA funding to launch Sensory Practice Day, providing 150 complimentary hotel stays for autistic and neurodivergent travelers to practice traveling in a supportive environment. The program expanded to include sensory kits, hotel staff training, visitor center enhancements, and a partnership with JSX that brought sensory-friendly resources to air travel. By measuring outcomes and demonstrating community impact, Concord has been able to build support for future accessibility initiatives.

Accessibility succeeds when it is treated as a shared community effort.

Choose Lansing described its accessibility journey, which began with a sensory-inclusive performance of The Lion King and grew into a destination-wide effort. Through partnerships with Michigan State University and Wheel the World, Lansing assessed more than 200 locations and integrated accessibility information throughout its marketing channels rather than limiting it to a single webpage. The TravelAbility Playbook also helped provide structure for outreach to meetings and conventions planners.

The session also highlighted the TravelAbility Playbook’s growing library of standards, checklists, templates, case studies, and traveler journey guidance, along with a new AI companion that can help destinations develop funding proposals, stakeholder reports, communications materials, and other accessibility-related resources using verified content.

Actionable Takeaways

Accessibility succeeds when it is treated as a shared community effort. Destinations should provide detailed and reliable accessibility information, invest in ongoing staff training, pilot new programs and measure results, and build partnerships that expand their reach and impact. Panelists also emphasized that accessibility should be visible throughout all marketing and visitor communications, not confined to a dedicated accessibility page.

Notable Quote

“How do you stop when families tell you they’ve never been able to do this together?” — Julie Pingston

Outcomes & Momentum

Lansing’s work has helped spark broader community engagement, including City Hall planning efforts and an AARP walkability study, while Concord has used the success of its sensory travel initiatives to secure support for future programs. Both destinations demonstrated how small, intentional steps can create lasting momentum for accessibility across an entire community.

Speakers 

Ava Wells — Social Impact Director, Destinations International 

Amy Jukes — COO & Principal Consultant, AmVarra; Strategic Advisor, TravelAbility

Beth Javens — President & CEO, Visit Concord (CA) 

Julie Pingston — President & CEO, Choose Lansing (MI) 

Joy Burns — Communication and Partnership Manager, Wheel the World 

Innovation of the Month: SignSafe Tech Translates Text to Speech

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A park visitor scans the QR code on a community park rules sign with their smartphone, activating SignSafe's text-to-speech translation.

What if a simple QR code not only translated text to speech, but could do it in any language, truly welcoming all to participate? This isn’t a literary fantasy, it’s SignSafe Tech’s innovation for inclusion.

The mission is simple: make public spaces more accessible and welcoming by embracing digital solutions that speak to all languages and backgrounds, bridging communities through tech that’s as inclusive as it is intuitive.

SignSafe Tech creates Text-To-Speech (TTS) on every sign, with over 240 language options, with the simple push of a button. No configuration, no app, no login. SignSafe automatically detects each device’s language and translates accordingly. Service includes analytics that can be used for safety, marketing, and overall enhancement of the patron experience. 

Plans vary, but start as low as $85 per sign, making it a practical solution for any type of destination.

↪Learn more about SignSafe Tech and start your free trial today.

Find more simple solutions and innovations for accessibility and inclusion in the Accessibility Playbook.

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SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

Your name and email will never be sold to 3rd parties.