TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

John Morris

Drop Everything! 23 Women Travel Influencers to Help You Drive Off-Season Travel

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Woman seated in her wheelchair in front of a mural of wings painted on a brick wall.

The popular women’s travel blog, She’s Wanderful, recently published a list of 23 female accessible travel influencers to follow right now, and it includes some of our favorites from all around the world!

First on the list is Stacey Marlene, the founder of Deafinitely Wanderlust, a blog that will challenge your perspective about Deaf travelers. Stacey has traveled the world, inspiring others with hearing loss to follow in her footsteps.

Emma Muldoon, founder of the UK’s leading accessible travel and lifestyle blog, Simply Emma, makes an appearance on the list as well. Emma has Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy, and shows her readers how to manage traveling (and attending music concerts) with a disability.

Accessible travel influencers like Stacey and Emma can play an important role in helping your destination or business reach new customers with disabilities – people who are interested in and ready to travel!

To read more about the top female accessible travel influencers, check out the full list at She’s Wanderful.

Summer’s Here: 9 of the Best Wheelchair Accessible Beaches in the USA

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Lifeguard stand on beach at sunset.

It’s summertime and America’s beaches are open! For wheelchair users, a beach day can offer a welcome respite from everyday life – a chance to enjoy the sun, sand and waves while spending a day out with friends.

Accessible travel writers Barbara and Jim Twardowski recently published an article in Smarter Travel highlighting nine of the best wheelchair accessible beaches in the United States.

Two beach destinations that really stand out are Huntington Beach, California and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

In Huntington Beach, there are multiple accessible beach entrances, but also an adaptive surfing program! Beach wheelchairs are available for rent from a local vendor.

In Myrtle Beach, more than 40 wheelchair accessible beach access points are used by disabled visitors. Parking is free for people with a disabled parking permit, and loaner beach wheelchairs are delivered free of charge.

Our take: Park and Recreation departments, which fall under the purview of the City Manager’s office, are now becoming more proactive in accommodating people with disabilities by establishing budgets for adaptive equipment such as mat surfaces and beach chairs so that locals as well as visitors can enjoy them.

To read more about the top wheelchair accessible beaches in the USA, check out the article in Smarter Travel.

Travel Training Tips for People with Autism

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Mother with autistic daughter, pointing in the distance.

When traveling, people with Autism face a unique series of challenges and obstacles that other disabled travelers may not need to consider. When developing travel products and programs, businesses and destinations should be mindful of the unique needs of autistic travelers to ensure accessibility for all.

Verywell Health recently published an article which provides a thorough guideline for families preparing to travel with their autistic children, or for autistic adults planning to travel independently. The resource is equally valuable for businesses within the travel industry, as they begin thinking about how to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for disabled visitors.

Travel training is an important step in preparing to travel with autism, or with autistic children. One popular way this familiarization can be achieved is through social stories, which are used by an increasing number of businesses – including Alaska Airlines – to help travelers with autism better understand what they’ll face while traveling.

To learn more about how autistic travelers prepare to travel, and how your business or destination can better meet their accessibility needs, read the full article that appeared in Verywell Health.

Exercise for All: Wheelchair Accessible Gym Program

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Handheld weights for exercise.

Julie Jones, the blogger behind Have Wheelchair Will Travel and the mother of BJ, a 25-year-old nonverbal wheelchair user with cerebral palsy, recently wrote about a new gym which caters to people with CP, the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Gym.

Booking an assessment with an exercise physiologist for BJ, Julie wasn’t sure if it would be to her son’s liking. Since he began going to the gym, BJ has gained a number of new skills like throwing a ball with two hands, and he has increased his endurance – increasing the amount of time on a treadmill from 5 to 15 minutes.

Julie attributes the success of this gym to its excellent team members, their understanding of her son’s disability, and the sense of community it promotes.

In speaking to the gym’s benefits, Julie writes that “Going to the Cerebral Palsy Alliance gym has certainly taken persistence and encouragement to keep BJ working towards his goals but he’s gained so much strength, improved his stamina and an added bonus has been gaining better depth perception.”

OUR TAKE: This is an opportunity for gyms in America and the world over to cater to a new audience during low use periods while performing a needed public service that will garner positive P.R. at the same time.

To read more about BJ’s experience at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Gym, read Julie’s full article at Have Wheelchair Will Travel.

New Restaurant in New York Designed By and For Disabled People

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Restaurant interior with tables of different heights.

Yannick Benjamin and George Gallego, both wheelchair users, have created one of America’s most accessible restaurants, right in the heart of East Harlem in New York City. Contento, as it is called, is a casual restaurant with a Peruvian flair – and lots of accessibility.

The restaurant’s accessibility features include a lowered bar top for wheelchair users, space to maneuver a wheelchair between tables, a QR code activated menu accessible to screen readers and a truly accessible bathroom on the same floor as dining room.

After Benjamin was involved in a car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down, he began dreaming of a restaurant that would welcome all patrons – including disabled guests. Consento, the finished product contains “small modifications that can go a long way” toward improving accessibility, something Benjamin says isn’t often done by other restaurants.

He hopes that Consento will contribute to changing the way people think about disability, inspiring a sense of empathy and understanding.

To learn more about the Consento restaurant, read the article from NBC’s TODAY.