TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Jake Steinman

Florida Nudist Colonies Have Real Skin in the Game When it Comes to Accessibility

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Man wearing a black face mask that reads, I'd Rather Be Naked.

During a reception at the Florida Governors Conference on Tourism I found myself seated next to someone wearing a mask that read: “I’D RATHER BE NAKED.” The provocative nature of the mask aroused my curiosity as I leaned over to inquire about what, besides his face, was behind the mask. He introduced himself as Martin Novoa, a board member of the South Florida Free Beaches Association, and the B.E.A.C.H.E.S. foundation, which advocates for nude beaches on public lands, beaches and waterways in South Florida. Curiosity prompted him to ask about my TravelAbility badge and when he learned that we produced a conference about making travel easier for people with disabilities, we discovered we had something in common: helping people with disabilities enjoy the travel experience.

After their request for a grant to purchase amenities for wheelchair users was rejected by Miami-Dade County officials, they held their own fundraising event that raised thousands of dollars for beach wheelchairs, beach wheelchair mats as well as showers that could be adjusted for wheelchair users. “It’s integral to our vision of full enjoyment that accessibility be built into all the opportunities,” said Novoa.

Watch TravelAbility’s interview with Martin below:

Our take: Sometimes accessibility surfaces when and where you least expect it. Perhaps nudists, an often jeered-at subculture of beach enthusiasts, have developed a baseline empathy for a group similarly overlooked by society. Or, while they may have been naïve to believe that a county government wouldn’t draw political derision for using taxpayer money to fund nude beach amenities, as a practical matter, they needed to provide access in order to retain members that were aging into a disability. Either way, while hats may be the only item of clothing considered optional, we collectively take ours off to them now as an homage to their proactivity.

ADA Website Lawsuits… Are They Worth Fighting? Yes, yes they are!

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Empty courtroom.

Do you know a travel supplier (hotel, restaurant or attraction) that has received an ADA Demand Letter for their company website? Do they know what to do or how to respond? Join Fisher Phillips partner, Tyler Woods, a labor and employment specialist, who will explain the law, covering the current landscape of ADA website accessibility claims, and offering tips on how to avoid claims. He’ll share what to do if you get sued at this FREE webinar on September 30th. This webinar has been approved for HRCI/SHRM credit. 

When:  September 30, 2021 at 10:00-10:45 am PDT.
Where:  https://www.fisherphillips.com/news-insights/ada-website-accessibility-lawsuits.html

Mike’s Mission: An Autistic Adult Wants to Deliver Uber Eats in all 50 States in 2022…Needs Our Support

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Below is a letter from Mike Di Mauro, who spoke at TravelAbility Summit about his goal to visit all 50 states while delivering for Uber Eats to support himself.

Hello! I would like to send this email to thank everyone for allowing me to attend the summit last week and speak about my mission. I am trying to make history with this road trip that I am trying to get done and I know that it will not be easy. I know that together, we can help each other out and get this done. If I am not the first person to get this done, I will try to be the first person with autism to get it done! I also had a wonderful time hearing your sessions as well. It was great to learn about what you had to offer as well. I am looking forward to working with you all! I am sorry that I was not at all of the sessions but I had to try to share my mission with the vendors at the Connect conference to see if they could help me out as well. I really enjoyed the chance to go to the block party on Monday night and had a photo with the Vince Lombardi trophy! I also had the chance to hear two great athletes speak (Jerry Rice and Simone Biles) and had my photo taken with both of them. Interesting fact about the one with Simone Biles: after the presentation was over, I rushed over to the backstage area and out the door and as I was there, Simone was walking with a few people escorting her. I told her that I had autism and that I am a mental health advocate. I gave her my business card and then we had our photo together. Then I thanked her for what she has done at the Olympics and for the mental health community. I also asked her to please keep in touch with me! I feel that if we worked together then we could spread awareness for mental health in the world!

The link to join his Facebook group is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mikedsmission/

He can be reached by e-mail at: mikedemauro@aol.com

His GoFundMe page is: https://gofund.me/af457445

Note: Mike also attended the presentations at Connect Marketplace, an event co-located with TravelAbility. Below you’ll find him with Super Bowl winner Jerry Rice and Olympic Gold Medalist Simone Biles.

  • Mike with Jerry Rice.
  • Mike with Simon Biles.

How One DMO Built an Accessible Landing Page in 24 Hours

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Screenshot of Amelia Island accessible travel guide.

I wanted to share an observation about TravelAbility that I haven’t experienced before. Attendees left itching for action after learning about the difficulties that people with disabilities endured while they traveled. It seemed to unlock a baseline of empathy and intrinsic goodness in people that they may not have known they had. 

At TravelAbility 2021, attendees learned that a business case can be made for accessibility. Research presented at the conference forecasted the number of people traveling with disabilities will triple over the next 8 years. In that time, 40% of baby boomers are expected to age into disability after they turn 65. Add the fact that corrective actions as simple as adjusting the pressure of a heavy door, moving the trash container that blocks the elevator button for wheelchair users, or simply offering a complimentary water bowl so a blind traveler’s service dog can have water, are regarded as extraordinary forms of customer service because they are so astoundingly rare. No one thinks about these simple solutions, but the ease of adoption has already encouraged some to act.

Several attendees who expected to learn how they could be more compliant, which they perceived would be overwhelming and expensive, left with the understanding that what they really needed to do was provide information for the traveler and training for their staff about setting accurate expectations. 

While the ADA laws provide a base for physical infrastructure in the form of curb cuts, ramps, parking etc., there isn’t any information infrastructure — a fact that makes the experience for people with varying levels and types of disabilities a gamble when they arrive at destination, attraction, or hotel only to be surprised to discover that information they’ve verified by phone was imprecise and unworkable for them. By aggregating accessibility content on various suppliers, DMO websites can be the answer. 

Nate Aron, who is in charge of partnerships for Amelia Island in Florida, approached us about creating an accessible website landing page but didn’t know where to start or what it should contain. He was understandably concerned and asked me for guidance as to which disabilities to include, where to find the information and how to package it.  

20 minutes of research.

As I flew home from Tampa, I pulled out my laptop and sprung for the overpriced inflight wifi, then typed “Accessible Things to do on Amelia Island” into Google. Up popped a blog post, “An Accessible Weekend on Amelia Island” by a travel blogger that contained links to the accessible attractions, museums, coffee shops and restaurants she visited. I then Googled “wheelchair transportation on Amelia Island” and found three wheelchair taxi companies and an accessible charter boat. I forwarded all the links I had found to Nate twenty minutes after I started my search.

“Here’s the first iteration of your accessible landing page. You can begin with wheelchairs and iterate later by adding other disabilities,” I said.

Well, while Rome wasn’t built in a day, Amelia Island’s accessible page was as I received this link from Nate less than 24 hours later.

Top 10 Takeaways from TravelAbility 2021

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TravelAbility Summit logo.

Between the in-person and virtual sign-ups there were 101 total attendees at the second annual TravelAbility Summit in Tampa last month.  I believe we were the only tour and travel industry event that attempted a fully hybrid event—including in-person/virtual attendees and presenters. This issue of TravelAbility Insider explores the highlights of this year’s event, and we begin with the top 10 take-aways from TravelAbilty Summit 2021.

  1. 55 million accessible places. Google Maps has over 100 million “local guides” that have been activated to verify accessibility features for over 55 million places in 24,000 cities. Currently this information is available only on smartphones, however, due to connections made at TravelAbility Tampa, efforts are now in motion to make the accessibility features available on desktops and laptops so that the information can be used during the planning phase of travel.
  2. Lack of Information: According to the 13 presenters with disabilities who have the lived experiences of traveling in a world not made for them, the number one barrier they face is the difficulty in finding information about accessibility on most tour and travel websites.  
  3. Listen. The phrase, “nothing about us without us” often used by the disability community is apt guidance for any entity seeking to improve accessibility. Patrick Harrison, CMO for Visit Tampa Bay, which has developed one of the most robust accessibility programs, said it best: “I’m an able bodied straight white male; what do I know about disability, diversity or LGTBQ+? I listen to people who live it every day to guide me.”
  4. Heavy doors. According to the 2020 Open Doors/Harris Poll study, the number one pain point wheelchair travelers face is encountering heavy doors in accessible bathrooms or hotel rooms—which can be remedied with a screwdriver or Allen wrench.
  5. Upscale accessible travelers. Contrary to the perception that people with disabilities are all on Social Security Disability, according to a report by Destination Analysts, disabled travelers’ incomes are about the same as nondisabled travelers, however, they are 7% more likely to spring for 5-star hotels than the general traveling public.
  6. Communication: When communicating about someone with a disability, it’s best to use the “person-first” approach (i.e. ‘Jim is a person with a visual disability’), while many disabled people prefer “identity-first” language in direct communication (i.e. ‘George is disabled’). Terms such as “special needs” are often debated by members of the disability community, while “handicapped” is universally and unequivocally rejected.
  7. Autism: One primary concern for families with children on the autism spectrum when they travel is elopement—where young children run away while their parents are asleep and are often drawn to water which has sometimes ended tragically. Hotels can prevent this with a door alarm available on Amazon for $39.99.
  8. Opportunity around sports. Disabled sporting events, according to Adam Thomas CEO of Florida Sports Coast, which hosted the USA disability hockey event three years ago, counted 2300 hotel room nights sold booked at the destination hotels and locals turned out in droves to volunteer.
  9. Accessibility is not controversial. Unlike other components of DE+I, accessibility—which is usually an afterthought if considered at all, is non-controversial and draws bi-partisan support. 
  10. Training: Often, the most seemingly inconsequential act of kindness can have an immense impact on the experience of a guest with a disability. For example, providing a blind guest with a bowl so their service dog can drink water, or coming out from behind the reception desk to serve someone in a wheelchair who can’t reach the counter, or even printing out a menu in large type at a restaurant, becomes an almost reverential level of service as it is so rare.