TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

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Divergent Adventures and Visit Mesa Create First-of-Its-Kind Sensory Itinerary

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Divergent Adventures is a specialized travel and training program designed for neurodivergent individuals and their families, with a focus on autistic travelers. The program doesn’t just offer a trip—it offers emotional, mental, and physical preparation to help families plan for, and truly enjoy, their travel experiences.

Gene Taylor, of Divergent Adventures, partnered with Visit Mesa, the country’s first Autism Certified City, to prototype the Divergent Adventures approach to helping families with autism travel. “They had 55 certified autism centers,” Gene says, “but not all of them were guest-facing.”

So he created what he calls a guest-facing guide: a comprehensive itinerary that begins the moment a family decides to travel and walks them step-by-step through every detail until they return home.

What began as an in-person escort service is now a highly detailed 20-page itinerary customized for seven-day trips. It includes everything from travel pacing to quiet room locations—designed to remove guesswork and help parents prepare their kids, and themselves.

“There’s no magic in being autism-certified,” Gene explains. “When you land, it’s not all going to be easy. In order to have a successful trip, you need to prepare your visitors. That means preparing your parents to prepare their kids.”

You can check out the full document here.

What Other Destinations Can Learn

Gene’s message to destinations is simple: certification is a start—but it’s not enough. Destinations need guest-facing plans that empower families before they arrive, not just signage once they’re there.

And Divergent Adventures is ready to help. With over 20 years of successful training programs and custom itineraries already in place, Gene welcomes collaboration. “If you’re looking for ways to partner with Divergent Adventures to welcome guests,” he says, “reach out.”

To learn more or connect, email Gene Taylor at gt@walkingconnection.com

What Does the ADA Law Have in Common with Russian Roulette?

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photo of Jake Steinman in a striped button up, jacket, and black rimmed glasses.

By Jake Steinman 

To pass the original ADA, a compromise was made: accessibility standards were set to meet the median needs of each of four disability categories. In practice, that means that it works for half of the population and doesn’t work for the other half—because every disability has a spectrum. Unfortunately, travelers with disabilities don’t know which half they fall into until they arrive at a hotel, attraction, restaurant, or any public space. 

It’s Russian roulette—with three bullets in the chamber instead of just one!

What if you could get rid of the high-stakes anxiety with one simple, free task?

Read More on Travel Weekly

Practical Hacks From the Accessibility Playbook

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Seven years in the making, the Travelability Accessibility Playbook, created in partnership with Destinations International, is an end-to-end toolkit to equip destination organizations on their accessibility journey, enabling them to better welcome and accommodate people with disabilities within their destination. 

NEUROCOGNITIVE DISABILITIES 

Neurodivergence describes individuals  whose neurological development  and functioning differ from what is typically considered “normal” or “neurotypical.”  This includes people with conditions such as  autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit  hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, dyspraxia,  Tourette syndrome, PTSD, and more.  

Being neurodivergent is not a deficit but rather reflects natural variations in human neurological  development. They may face challenges in social  communication, sensory processing, executive  function, and emotional regulation. Individuals  with PTSD often have heightened or altered  sensory processing. Everyday stimuli like loud  noises, bright lights, crowds or unexpected touch  can be perceived as threats, triggering a fight,  flight or freeze response. Environments that are too stimulating or unpredictable can become overwhelming very quickly. 

Eight Myths about Autism  

by Peter Wharmby 

1. Autistic people don’t feel empathy.  The majority of us feel enormous amounts  of empathy, even for non-living things, and  especially for animals. 

2. Autistic people can’t make eye contact.  Some of us don’t seem to mind it at all, whilst  the many of us who hate it can force ourselves to when we feel it’s necessary. 

3. Autistic males are far more common  than autistic females. The ratio is rapidly shifting to being more balanced as diagnostic  understanding improves.  

4. Autistic people don’t have a sense of  humor. I mean, some of us don’t, and some of us have what may be seen as a ‘different’ sense of  humor, but there are a lot of funny autistic people out there, including those who do comedy professionally. 

5. Autistic people have learning disabilities.  In fact a surprisingly low percentage of autistic  people have co-occurring learning disabilities. However, people with learning disabilities are  much more likely to be autistic too. 

6. Autistic people are all antisocial. Many of  us may be asocial from trauma associated with  social interaction, but it seems many of us are  quite gregarious and even extroverted.  

7. Autistic people are all STEM subject  specialists. Though plenty are, there are many  of us who have skills, jobs and qualifications in  the humanities, arts and other fields. 

8. Autistic people are all super-gifted in  some way. Though some of us might be  skilled in certain areas, and some of us might  have excellent memories, plenty of us are  perfectly average.  

A WARM WELCOME 

• Respect Individual Differences: Recognize that neurodivergent individuals have  diverse experiences, strengths, and challenges.  

• Listen and Validate: Listen attentively to  the person’s perspectives, experiences, and  preferences.  

• Respect Interests: Respect the individual’s  personal space, boundaries, and ways of  interacting. Ask for consent before initiating  physical contact or offering assistance and  respect their right to decline if they are not  comfortable. Do not pressure the individual  to conform to neurotypical norms such as eye  contact and hand shaking

Josh Loebner Shares How Accessibility Marketing Has Gone Mainstream

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Accessibility isn’t a niche – it’s the new standard. At last year’s TravelAbility Summit, Josh Loebner gave a talk on how what was once seen as a compliance checkbox is now a creative frontier. From fast food to fine dining, Super Bowl ads to global travel, accessibility is shaping the way the world connects. 

Clients like Coca-Cola and Ford are proving that inclusive design is central to modern branding. This session dives into why accessibility matters to everyone—and how it’s becoming the gold standard across industries.

Watch the video and dive into the summary below! For more insights like this, join us in Central Oregon for the 2025 TravelAbility Summit from October 13th to October 15th at the Sunriver Resort. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn from industry leaders, meet accessible travel influencers, and stay up to date on new innovations in assistive technology for the travel industry.

Register Today!

Summary

  • 🎙️ Introduction and Personal Background
    Josh Loebner shares his 20-year journey in advertising, his PhD focus on disability inclusion, and his leadership at VML as the Global Head of Inclusive Design.
    Watch here
  • 🏆 Creative Accessibility in Advertising
     Accessibility is shifting from compliance to creativity. VML’s initiatives, like winning the Grand Prix Lion, illustrate how design can be both imaginative and inclusive.
    Watch here
  • 🌍 VML’s Global Reach and Clients
     VML is a vast global agency with 30,000 employees and notable clients such as Ford, Coca-Cola, and Unilever, all integrating accessibility into diverse brand strategies.
    Watch here
  • 📈 Accessibility Goes Mainstream
     Search trends and public interest in accessibility are on the rise. It’s now seen as relevant to everyone, not just those with disabilities.
    Watch here
  • 🧏 Captioning for All
     Captioning is widely used, even by those without hearing loss, enriching media experiences through creative and nuanced text.
    Watch here
  • 🍔 Accessible Advertising Examples
     Wendy’s global campaigns are cited as inclusive. Accessibility is considered at all touchpoints, including fast food and fine dining experiences.
    Watch here
  • 🚗 Accessibility in Travel and Public Spaces
     The video explores how accessibility is integrated across travel experiences—from airports to local venues—highlighting thoughtful design.
    Watch here
  • 🏪 Retail Accessibility
     Retail giants like Walmart and Target now have accessibility centers and leads, showing industry-wide commitment to inclusion.
    Watch here
  • 📱 Innovative Scenic Audio App
     A powerful example involving a Scenic audio app for blind users uses AI and generative tools to create immersive travel experiences.
    Watch here
  • 🔮 Future of AI and Accessibility
     VML aims to make all ads accessible by 2025 using AI for audio descriptions and captions—blending tech and inclusion.
    Watch here

Insights Based on Numbers

  • 🌐 30,000 Employees at VML: Emphasizes the scale and global capability of the agency.
  • 📊 Rising Google Trends: The year-over-year growth in accessibility-related searches shows societal shifts.

Lived Experience: Lily Yu Explores Torrance, California

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Lily Yu is the adventurous soul behind Deaf Journey – a travel blog for Deaf travelers. Driven by wanderlust and fueled by inclusion, she has visited 54 countries and shares her experiences online to show that deaf people can travel and overcome barriers without hearing sounds. In addition to her blog, she has over 117k social media followers.

Her latest blog post features Torrance, California. From tea rooms to Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s house, find out why she calls it one of the most exciting and accessible destinations in the South Bay!

Read Here