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TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Eliana Satkin

Look Who’s Coming to the 2026 TravelAbility Summit!

October 27, 2026 by Eliana Satkin Leave a Comment

Tori Hunter, a woman with long dark wavy hair in a cream outfit, seated in a power wheelchair next to white luggage.

Tori Hunter

@torihunter.blog

Accessible Travel & Lifestyle

♿️ Disabled travel & lifestyle content • blogger • speaker

💌 torihunterblog@gmail.com

Total followers across platforms: 15,000

Chelsea Bear, smiling in a blue turtleneck sweater with a black crossbody bag, standing at a beach railing at sunset.

Chelsea Bear

@RealChelseaBear

Digital creator

✨ sharing Cerebral Palsy through my lens

Total followers across platforms: 900,000

Rosie Dunn, smiling and holding up a U.S. passport against a pink background.

Rosie Dunn

@RosieRoaming

Wheelchair Travel Tips

✈️ navigating life & travel on wheels

🗺️ 20 countries, 39 states & counting

Total followers across platforms: 8,000

Kristy Durso smiles at the camera while seated in a red manual wheelchair outdoors. She wears a sleeveless black and cream zebra-print dress and bright pink satin bow heels, with green foliage behind her.

Kristy Durso

@KristyGoes

Entrepreneur

Keynote speaker, mom to 3 kids, military wife, wheelchair user, travel lover, disability advocate/consultant, owner Incredible Memories Travel

Total followers across platforms: 6,000

Tom Babinszki

@EvenGrounds

Holistic accessibility consulting for travel and tourism

tactile maps, 3D replicas, museum consulting, training, and accessibility audits.

Total followers across platforms: 4,000

Lily Yu, a woman with long black hair in a pink sleeveless top, with greenery behind her.

Lily Yu

@DeafJourney

Travel Content Creator & Accessibility Advocate

🗺️ Making travel accessible for Deaf travelers

🌎 50 states, 57 countries & counting

Total followers across platforms: 125,000+

John Morris, wearing glasses and a pink collared shirt.

John Morris

@WheelchairTravel

Blogger

Follow along as I travel the world with one hand, a passport and my power wheelchair. World’s largest accessible travel website. ♿️ ✈️ 🌎

Total followers across platforms: 50,000

Luce Martin and Christy Vanek smiling close together outdoors, one in sunglasses and one in black-framed glasses.

Luce Martin and Christy Vanek

@WhichWayWhat

Destination and travel accessibility consulting. Ex-F500 accessibility leaders, seasoned hikers, world travelers with disabilities. 

Total followers across platforms: 3,300

Zachary Valentine and his brother smiling outdoors, with one giving the other a piggyback ride. One wears a black shirt that reads “Stay Gold.”

Pat and Zack Valentine

@ValentineBrothers

Down Syndrome power team changing perspectives one heart at a time.

Total followers across platforms: 11m

Amy Tarpein, a woman with long light brown hair in a blue blazer, standing against a plain light background.

Amy Tarpein

@ElijahsBabyBucketList

Writer and Content Creator

✈️Travel Writer 🎗Lissencephaly Family

Sharing our journey to encourage others

and share Elijah’s joy with the world!

Total followers across platforms: 465,000

Houston Vandergriff stands smiling in the middle of a city street, holding a Nikon camera with both hands. He wears glasses and a rust-colored button-down shirt with a camera strap over his shoulder, with storefronts and parked cars softly blurred in the background.

Houston Vandergriff

@DownsAndTowns

Travel Photographer

ART. ADVENTURE. ADVOCACY.

Photographer with Down syndrome traveling the world | Nikon Creator | GAMUT Talent

Total followers across platforms: 500,000

Katie Vandergriff, smiling, with dark wavy hair and hoop earrings, in a black and white patterned top.

Katie Vandergriff

@DownsAndTowns

Disability Mom, Public Speaker, and Advocate

Total followers across platforms: 500,000

Christine Taala smiling at the camera in a white lace crop top and matching lace midi skirt with white braided sandals, holding a small orange handbag with a pearl strap, standing in front of a wall of reflective silver glass light fixtures.

Christine Taala

@UltimateGirlMom

🏆 Top 10 Travel Mom ’26

Raising girls to see the world

Travel · Hidden Gems · Sensory-inclusive

📍 Orlando & Beyond 

Total followers across platforms: 142,000

Round logo of a zebra head made of colorful woven stripes.

Cris Ponsell

Global Traveler/Wife/Mom and I have a disability. I share real experiences to help others with disabilities better prepare to travel or move abroad. 

New Creator

Phoenyx Powell seated on an airplane seat, wearing a black leather jacket with blonde highlights in dark hair, looking off to the side.

Phoenyx Powell

@PhoenyxTravels

Blogger

Travel doesn’t have to be perfect — just possible.

Solo + accessible travel tips from lived experience

Total followers across platforms: 2,000

Total Followers: 13,078,300

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Filed Under: Content Creators, TravelAbility Summit Tagged With: Accessible travel, Content Creators, disability advocates, Disability Influencers, disability travel, Inclusive tourism, travel influencers, TravelAbility, TravelAbility Summit

Meet the TravelAbility Team

October 1, 2026 by Eliana Satkin

Group photo of the TravelAbility team on stage in front of a TravelAbility step-and-repeat banner, with two dogs and a few people posing on the floor.

Behind every fearless leader, bold dreamer, and change maker is the team that helps to bring the vision into fruition. Meet the team behind TravelAbility and its initiatives.

Headshot of Jake Steinman, smiling, wearing glasses and a dark zip-up.

Jake Steinman

Founder and CEO 

Visionary, networker, and leader extraordinaire, Jake is continuously identifying the gaps in accessibility and inclusion and prescribing ways to fill them. Since 2019, he’s been leading various initiatives to educate, inspire and connect the travel industry on accessibility issues.

Lillian Karl smiling outdoors in front of green foliage, with shoulder-length brown hair and bangs, wearing a maroon, tan, and sage patchwork-print button-up shirt.

Lillian Karl

Communications and Events Director

The maestra behind the magic, Lillian turns big ideas into organized action. She takes the vision, breaks it into manageable pieces, keeps all the moving parts on track, and makes sure the right people have the right pieces at the right time. From the Summit and Accessibility Playbook to the newsletter and everything in between, Lillian is the organizational force that helps bring TravelAbility’s ideas to life. 

Headshot of Kitty Sharman with long dark hair, wearing a green top.

Kitty Sharman

Accessibility Programs Coordinator

Focused on execution and day-to-day operations, Kitty helps keep TravelAbility’s projects, resources, and relationships moving forward. She works across initiatives like the Creator Community, the Accessibility Playbook, and the annual Summit. Whether connecting creators with the TravelAbility team, building out new resources, or improving how information is managed internally, Kitty helps get things done. 

Portrait of Danah Heye with gray-blonde hair and sunglasses on her head, in front of a sparkling mirrored backdrop.

Danah Heye

Director of Destination A11Y Development 

Danah works directly with DMOs to help them develop and advance their accessibility strategies, while also supporting TravelAbility’s business development and destination partnerships. With decades of experience in destination marketing, sales, and business development, including more than 15 years with Madden Media, she brings a strong understanding of the destination industry to her work at TravelAbility. 

Headshot of Jennifer Allen with dark curly hair, smiling, wearing a black top and red earrings.

Jennifer Allen

Editor-in-Chief

The storyteller behind the newsletter, Jennifer brings her perspective as a disability mom, advocate, and travel writer to every piece as she finds the stories worth telling and turns complex conversations about accessibility and inclusion into compelling content that informs, challenges, and inspires. 

Portrait of Eliana Satkin with long brown hair, smiling outdoors in a white top.

Eliana Satkin

Newsletter Coordinator 

The hands behind the newsletter each month, Eliana updates the TravelAbility Insider with new content, promotional graphics, and crafts the social posts and email that bring readers back to it, making sure the latest stories on accessible travel get seen by the community that needs them.

Headshot of Jay Burress, smiling, wearing round glasses, a tan textured blazer, and a light blue collared shirt.

Jay Burress

Jay is helping build out TravelAbility’s Accessibility Convention Program, currently in its pilot phase with destinations and convention venues. Jay brings decades of destination leadership experience to this work, including serving as President and CEO of Visit Anaheim and Experience Arlington. 

Portrait of Alison Granger with dark wavy hair, standing in a lit tunnel-like space.

Alison Granger

Vision 2030 Consultant

Alison brings technical and marketing expertise to Vision 2030: The Accessibility Moonshot, focused on the needs and opportunities of the aging traveler. She contributes to the initiative’s work at the intersection of technology, marketing, and accessible travel. Her background includes more than a decade in event production and managing more than 300 events for organizations including NVIDIA and Google. 

Kristy Durso smiling by the ocean, leaning on a wooden post.

Kristy Durso

TravelAbility Ambassador

Kristy is a wheelchair user, accessibility advocate, public speaker, entrepreneur, and Army veteran. As a TravelAbility Ambassador, she represents TravelAbility at conferences and events, speaking about accessibility and connecting with others across the travel industry. She also owns Incredible Memories Travel, a full-service travel agency serving travelers with and without accessibility needs. Her experiences as a mother of children with different disabilities and support needs further inform her perspective on accessible travel. 

Headshot of Rob Schultz with glasses and a short beard, wearing a blue hoodie.

Rob Schultz

Design Director

The creative force behind TravelAbility’s visual world, Rob brings ideas to life through graphic design, branding, and visual storytelling. He creates the logos and creative materials across TravelAbility’s initiatives and designs the Accessibility Playbook, including each new edition, turning the team’s content into a polished, engaging resource. 

Headshot of Jaime Hood with shoulder-length light brown hair, smiling.

Jaime Hood

Website Director

The person to call when TravelAbility’s website needs a little extra expertise, Jaime built the site’s original design and structure and brings extensive web development experience to the team. She serves as a resource for bigger website needs, technical questions, and keeping the site on solid footing as TravelAbility continues to grow. 

Mark Nicolas smiling slightly in a bright hall with exposed wood beams, wearing glasses and a black zip-up jacket, with red diamond panels on the wall behind him.

Mark Nicolas

IT Consultant

The person keeping TravelAbility’s digital infrastructure running, Mark provides IT support across the organization, managing everything from domains and email to technical issues that keep the team connected and working. When something technical needs figuring out, Mark is the person the team turns to. 

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Filed Under: TravelAbility Summit Tagged With: accessibility, Accessible travel, Content Creators, destination marketing, disability travel, Inclusive tourism, tourism, travel industry, travel professionals, TravelAbility

From TravelAbility Summit 7.0: The Future of Accessible Destination Marketing

September 29, 2026 by Eliana Satkin

One off accessibility campaigns aren’t cutting it. So what do destinations need to do to create welcome, get the word out, and boost ROI? In this session from last year’s TravelAbility Summit, Jennifer Casey, Director of Strategic Partnerships for Gray Destination Marketing outlines how destination marketers can move beyond one-off accessibility spotlights to fully integrating accessibility across their entire media and measurement ecosystem. 

The focus shifts from awareness via creators to discoverability, structured data, and mid-funnel orchestration—so accessible stories are machine-readable, findable, and attributable to visitation and spend. 

Key Insights 

● Integration beats isolation: Accessibility performs best when it’s woven into core storytelling (TV, streaming, YouTube, blogs, paid social) rather than siloed as special content. 

● Make it discoverable: AI, voice, and search can’t rank what they can’t read—destinations need structured accessibility data, proper tagging, and on-site filters (e.g., “roll-in shower,” “service dog welcome”). 

● Mid-funnel matters: Repurpose influencer content into mid-funnel formats (CTV, programmatic video, social ads) to nurture from inspiration to planning. 

● Measure what matters: Use location-based visitation and spending data to connect inclusive storytelling to real-world outcomes (visits, distance traveled, trip spend).

● Contextual inclusion works: Featuring accessible experiences alongside food, music, and culture normalizes inclusion and improves campaign performance (example: Visit Florida approach). 

● Always-on exposure loop: Travelers loop through exploration/evaluation; staying present with layered media keeps accessibility top-of-mind until purchase. 

Integration beats isolation: Accessibility performs best when it’s woven into core storytelling (TV, streaming, YouTube, blogs, paid social) rather than siloed as special content.

Actionable Takeaways 

● Audit SEO & IA: Ensure accessibility pages and listings use machine-readable fields and schema; add on-site filters for specific features (not just “accessible”). 

● Build a content supply chain: Systematically repurpose creator assets into reels, :15/:30 CTV spots, pre-roll, stories, blog posts, and email. 

● Tag everything: Standardize metadata/UTM conventions for accessibility content to enable mid-funnel and ROI analysis. 

● Adopt programmatic layering: Pair contextual and audience targeting to surround likely travelers through the full journey. 

● Report impact: Incorporate visitation and spend lift into dashboards to prove inclusive marketing’s economic value. 

● Positioning shift: Treat accessibility as a through-line in brand storytelling—not a campaign add-on.

Notable Quotes 

● “Google and AI travel tools can’t rank what they can’t read.” 

● “Don’t make accessibility an add-on; make it a through line.” 

● “The destinations that win are the ones that make every traveler feel welcomed before they arrive.”

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Filed Under: TravelAbility Summit Tagged With: accessible destinations, Accessible Tourism, Accessible travel, destination marketing, destination marketing organizations, inclusive travel, tourism marketing, travel accessibility, TravelAbility, TravelAbility Summit

Lived Experience: Learn Through Real Travels of Disabled Content Creators with Vineet Valentine Victor

September 29, 2026 by Eliana Satkin

Vineet Victor in his wheelchair in front of the Universal Studios globe in Singapore.

By Jacqueline Victor (Vineet’s mother and caregiver)

YouTuber | Content Creator | Advocate

When Vineet Valentine Victor searched YouTube for tips on traveling with a wheelchair, he expected to find plenty of advice. Instead, he found almost nothing. 

“As we got ready for our next trip, I searched Youtube for tips on how to make traveling with a wheelchair easier, but I got very very few responses,” Vineet recalls. “I was like, ‘What? people in wheelchairs don’t love/need to travel?’” 

That question led him to create his own channel, Wheelchair Travels with Vineet, where he shares his experiences for other travelers looking to explore the world with a wheelchair. 

Vineet Valentine Victor from India has been a wheelchair traveler from a very young age, largely because his family has always loved to travel. He began sharing his travel stories through YouTube videos during Covid, when he and his mum, Jacqueline, found some free time from work. 

‘What? people in wheelchairs don’t love/need to travel?’”

Vineet Valentine Victor

Vineet is a wheelchair user because he has spina bifida and associated scoliosis. Right after his diagnosis before he had even been born, we, his very young parents, couldn’t wait to shower him with all the love of this world. For us, he was no less than a normal child. 

In the early years we were sometimes overwhelmed by his medical issues and hospital visits. Those visits to hospitals, sometimes far from our homes, made us travel long distances with Vineet. It was those long trips for hospital visits that gave us a little more confidence in traveling with a child with disabilities. 

Soon, we got adventurous enough to travel with both our kids for holidays. Once we started enjoying those holidays, and they gave us a much needed break from our busy work life schedule, there was no looking back! We started working and saving for our annual vacations and visiting new places, new cultures, and new people. Travel became our family’s favorite thing. 

Vineet and his sister began looking forward to those family vacations as “breathers.” Somewhere along the way, we also started sharing our experiences on YouTube, hoping more disabled people could feel confident getting out of their homes and traveling the world. As Vineet said in one of his award-winning videos, “I travel, because sometimes showing up despite the obstacles can be the change too…” 

We were among the first content creators from India to share stories of travelling in a wheelchair through videos. Our main purpose was to help others in similar situations get out of their homes, travel to destinations according to their capabilities, and simply “breathe”. Our tagline, used in most of our social media posts, is “Disabled by Society.”

Our videos focus on both the accessible and inaccessible aspects of the places we visit, so that people travelling to those destinations after us can benefit from our experiences. Our reviews of accessible destinations are followed by many people, and we receive queries not only from disabled travellers from India and abroad, but also from family members of people with locomotor disabilities, including senior citizens, who still want to travel and explore the world.

 “It was those long trips for hospital visits that gave us a little more confidence in traveling with a child with disabilities.”

Jacqueline Victor

If you check out our videos, you will find that Vineet has traveled to many tourist destinations across India, as well as several countries in Europe, and more recently to Malaysia and Singapore. His videos do not just show where he went. They show what worked, what didn’t, and where accessibility could be improved, just in case someone from the relevant department happens to be watching! We also review our hotel stays, and some of these reviews hit thousands of views.

As it takes considerable time for me, Jacqueline, Vineet’s mom, to edit the travel videos, we now share our most recent travel photographs and videos on Instagram, where we’ve also built a following. 

Travel isn’t Vineet’s only creative outlet. He is also a musician and has performed internationally.

Vineet has been featured in magazines and blogs for his active involvement in spreading awareness and advocating for accessibility and inclusive spaces through social media. One of the earliest features was “Accessible Journeys” by Melange (Canada), in collaboration with TravelAbility (USA), followed by India Outbound Magazine and a photo feature in Travel Without Limits magazine (Australia).

You may also come across Vineet’s award-winning short video, “Overcoming Barriers – India and Beyond,” being broadcast in the TV section of United Airlines’ in-flight entertainment through December 2026. This, too, is a TravelAbility initiative, and we cannot say enough about the effort TravelAbility is making globally to prioritize accessible travel and tourism and promote more inclusive experiences around the world. 

From hospital trips to international travel, Vineet’s story has grown into something bigger than a family vacation. Through our videos, we’re helping the next wheelchair traveler know what to expect, where to go, and where accessibility still needs to change. 

To learn more about Vineet, check out his podcast with The Changemaking Channel.

You can also find Vineet on Instagram and Facebook. 

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Filed Under: Content Creators, Lived Experience Tagged With: accessible India, Accessible travel, Disability Advocacy, inclusive travel, travel creators, TravelAbility, wheelchair travel, Wheelchair Travels with Vineet

New Adaptive Sports Center Opens in Ohio

September 29, 2026 by Eliana Satkin

Ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new Adaptive Sports Connection lodge, with a cheering crowd and adaptive bikes holding the pink ribbon.

“If I can do this, I can do anything!” Those were the poster words that resonated with Rosemarie Rosetti after conquering the scariest moment of her life: flying down Mad River Mountain on a monoski after a spinal cord injury left her paralyzed from the waist down.

While not as terrifying, her latest achievement brings her story full circle: helping open the Adaptive Sports Connection Adventure and Wellness Lodge along the Scioto River in Ohio. 

The new ASC will serve veterans, children, and adults with disabilities and their families by providing a welcoming hub for water sports, adaptive biking, events, and community gatherings, giving people with disabilities greater opportunities for adventure, competition, connection and confidence. 

The $10 million project was shaped in part by input from athletes and accessibility advocates like Rosemarie and Mark Leder, who reviewed the plans with ASC leaders and architects and helped support fundraising efforts. Accessibility features go beyond ADA to include automatic doors, exterior access to companion care restrooms and showers, and other amenities that create an atmosphere of welcome. More than a new facility, the Lodge represents a new chapter for Adaptive Sports Connection, creating a space where athletes and families can discover what’s possible when access to adventure is built in from the start.

Read Rosemarie’s full announcement.

Learn more about the ASC.

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Filed Under: Adaptive Sports Tagged With: accessibility, adaptive kayaking, Adaptive Recreation, adaptive sports, Adaptive Sports Connection, disability travel, inclusive recreation, Ohio, spinal cord injury, wheelchair sports

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