TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

John Morris

Chris Lona and CL Design Win 1st Place at 2021 Go Global Awards

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Chris Lona headshot.

The International Trade Council’s Go Global Awards celebrate organizations that drive the global economy through their innovations, technologies, and strategies. Chris Lona and his company, CL Design, were honored with a 1st Place Award in the Hospitality category.

Receiving the award, Chris Lona, Owner/principal designer of CL Design, stated “It is a great honor to receive this prestigious award. We are very grateful and humbled by it.”

Kristal Parcon, head of the ITC’s Awards Committee, said “Winning an Award is no small feat. We received a total of 6416 entries, coming from organizations in 178 countries. The breadth of award nominations was truly amazing.“

She continued, “We are humbled by organizations such as CL Design who, in the face of a global pandemic, have displayed leadership, resilience and innovation, while embracing change and supporting their employees and communities in a way never seen before.”

Congratulations, Chris!

Alaska Airlines’ Dream of Becoming the Most Inclusive Airline for Everyone is Beginning to Happen

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Seattle-based Alaska Airlines recently shared an article on its blog, in which it committed to “becoming the most accessible and inclusive airline for everyone.” To highlight its commitment, the airline released a new video to celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

The company stated, “We recognize that our diversity and inclusion efforts MUST include people with disabilities to positively impact the lives of ALL our employees and passengers.” That’s a refreshing take, given how frequently disability is left out of DE&I initiatives.

“We’ve come a long way in terms of helping our employees and customers with disabilities, but we didn’t do that alone. We rely heavily on our disability partnerships to let us know where we need to go to improve,” said Ray Prentice, Director of Customer Advocacy, Alaska Airlines.

To learn more, read the story from the Alaska Airlines blog.

Crusing for a Bruising? Grand Rapids Mixes It Up as Wheelchair Rugby Returns After Covid Hiatus

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Close-up view of man in athletic wheelchair with hand on one of the wheels.

It was a full court for the home tournament for the Grand Rapids Thunder Wheelchair Rugby Team. A big morale boost following a cancellation last year due to the pandemic.

To learn more, read the original story from FOX 17 Online.

Why Are Many Tourism Boards and CVBs Lagging on Accessible Travel?

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Grayscale image of older woman in wheelchair peering over a river running through a city.

Dawn Barclay, in an article for The Insider Travel Report, conducted her own research, visiting the tourist board websites of some of the country’s most populated cities as well as most popular tourism destinations. Her goal was to understand the extent to which these organizations are providing information to the populations who most need it — namely, disabled travelers.

She wrote, “Considering that the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law in 1990 and we are now 31 years into it, you would think that every tourist board and CVB site would have at least a page dedicated to Accessible or Wheelchair or Special Needs Travel, especially since this is a growing and lucrative market. But they don’t and here’s why.”

To learn why tourism boards are lagging in the push for accessible travel, read the full article from Insider Travel Report.

Texas Woman Uses TikTok Videos to Inspire People with Disabilities Just Like Her

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Young woman wearing colorful dress seated in wheelchair.

Through her inspiring TikTok videos, Marcela Marañon of Plano, TX is proving that people can conquer mountains both literal and symbolic by creating TikTok videos designed to provide support and inspiration for others, especially people like her who are living with disabilities.

After hearing about her story, TikTok recognized her as one of 15 Latinx TikTok Trailblazers. Marañon became a paraplegic at age 20 after she was paralyzed from the hips down and lost her lower left leg in a 2002 car crash in Dallas. Her boyfriend was killed.

Since then, Marañon has gained 203,000 TikTok followers and 3.3 million likes. Marañon said that she believes the social media platform is unique in that it allows people to quickly gain a large following if they provide valuable content.

To read more about Marcela’s success on TikTok, read the full article from the Dallas Morning News.