TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

John Morris

Revolve Air Wheelchair Promises to Be A Game Changer

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Two of the most often-reported frustrations about air travel with a disability are delays in receiving wheelchair assistance and damage to personal wheelchairs.

Italian designer and inventor Andrea Mocellin hopes to remove those pain points with his latest invention, a new wheelchair called Revolve Air. What sets the Revolve Air apart from other manual wheelchairs is its small size and portability – the chair’s folding wheels allow it to collapse into a small form factor that can be stowed in an airplane’s overhead bin.

The chair has the same 24-inch wheels as most manual wheelchairs, meaning that it can still propelled easily by the user, but the innovative design allows the chair to be condensed down into a size that is 60% more space-saving than other folding wheelchairs on the market.

Revolve Air was the winner of the Audience Award at TravelAbility’s LaunchPad held on April 1, 2021. To learn more about the Revolve Air wheelchair, see this article from NewzHook.

How to Adjust a Heavy Door – It Could Protect Against An Expensive Lawsuit

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Close-up view of door closing mechanism above door.

Earlier this year, a federal court upheld a jury verdict that awarded a wheelchair user $500,000 because a door at his employer’s office building was too difficult to open.

The Americans with Disabilities Act sets clear regulations on the maximum force that can be required to open interior doors in businesses and other places of public accommodation. 5 pounds of force is the greatest amount permissible, and “heavy” doors that require disabled people to exert greater effort violate the ADA regulations.

StepNpull, the company behind the ingenious hands-free door opener that relies on foot power, recently published a guide to the ADA Design Standards for doors, and described how doors can be easily adjusted to make them easier to open. Turns out, it’s actually very simple: A few turns of an Allen wrench or screwdriver could prevent an expensive lawsuit.

To read StepNpull’s guide to adjusting doors for ADA compliance, visit the StepNpull website.

Conde Nast Traveler Profiles Tour Companies for Disabled People

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Car driving toward sunset with a road map on the dashboard.

Conde Nast Traveler recently published a list of 6 tour companies dedicated to serving travelers with disabilities.

Among the accessible tour companies listed were Tapooz Travel, founded by TravelAbility Advisory Board member Laurent Roffe, Go Wheel The World, which participated in the 2019 TravelAbility Summit LaunchPad in San Francisco and Easy Access Travel owned by TravelAbility Advisory Board member Deborah Kerper.

Accessible travel and tour providers like Tapooz Travel and Go Wheel The World offer disabled vacationers unique insights into accessibility and specially adapted tours that few other travel agents can provide. Their expertise provides disabled travelers with increased confidence, and makes it possible for many to explore the world.

To see the full list of the travel agencies profiled, visit the Conde Nast website.

WTTC Issues New Guidelines for Accessible Travel

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WTTC logo over aerial photo of tropical beach and resort hotels.

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) released new guidelines for accessibility and inclusion in the travel and tourism sector. The guidelines focus on four pillars: Developing an Inclusive & Accessible System, Creating Safe Spaces, Designing an Engaging & Relevant System and Exemplifying Inclusion & Accessibility.

Among the recommendations are the following:

Developing an Inclusive & Accessible System

  • Consider the creation of a specific role for an accessibility expert
  • Collaborate with other businesses in areas where there are gaps in accessibility knowledge, experience and services
  • Consider conducting meaningful research with travelers with disabilities whenever possible
  • Offer travel products, services and facilities without accessibility barriers for those with physical, cognitive, intellectual or sensory needs
  • Avoid making assumptions about a traveler’s disability or their needs
  • Provide clear, detailed and accurate information for travelers with disabilities and share the information in a consistent manner across the business
  • Provide training to staff on disability awareness and how to support travelers with disabilities, including how to counter unconscious bias or stereotypes

Creating Safe Spaces

  • Foster a respectful environment at all locations and for all activities
  • Provide clear signage throughout the traveler’s journey for varying physical, cognitive, intellectual and sensory abilities
  • Make accessibility decisions using feedback and information obtained from travelers with those disabilities, empowering them to share honest feedback

Designing an Engaging & Relevant System

  • Regularly and proactively engage travelers with disabilities in the creation of accessible products and services and obtain their feedback
  • Include accessibility features in the booking process
  • Consider flexible itineraries for those with disabilities

Exemplifying Inclusion & Accessibility

  • Regularly and proactively engage travelers with disabilities in the creation of accessible products and services and obtain their feedback
  • Include accessibility features in the booking process
  • Consider flexible itineraries for those with disabilities

Although the recommendations are by no means groundbreaking – disability advocates and industry experts have promoted them as best practices for some time – it is valuable to have the principles of accessibility broadcast to a larger audience. At the next TravelAbility Summit event on June 24th, speakers will expand on these and other topics to help destinations and businesses reach their accessibility potential.

To read more about the WTTC guidelines, see this article from Travel Off Path.

Elephant with Prosthetic Leg Can Travel Again

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When Mosha, an elephant, was two years old, she lost her right front leg after encountering a landmine along the border of Thailand and Burma.

An orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Therdchai Jivacate, stepped-in to create a prosthetic leg for the young elephant – a first for a creature of this size. As Mosha has grown into an adult, Dr. Jivacate has remained by her side, fashioning new prostheses to withstand her increasing weight and larger size. The two have a unique bond, and Mosha has gone about living her life in the elephant sanctuary, where staff members can care for her and the prosthesis.

Dr. Jivacate’s work has inspired other sanctuaries around the world to offer the same life-saving interventions for other injured elephants.

In 2016, I met Chhouk the elephant in Cambodia. Like Mosha, he lost one of his front legs at a young age. The animal sanctuary Wildlife Alliance took him in, and developed a prosthetic device to improve his quality of life. You can read more about that in my WheelchairTravel.org article on Chhouk the Amputee Elephant.

Mobility is a key component of quality of life – not just for human beings, but also for elephants. Whether one is independently mobile or with the assistance of mobility equipment, these elephants have shown us that life can be rich and vibrant, with or without a disability.