TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

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Leave No Attendee Behind: Ensuring Accessibility is Key

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What does it take to truly “leave no attendee behind”? In this feature by Matt Swenson on themeetingmagazines.com, our founder and CEO, Jake Steinman, reflects on how the TravelAbility Summit moved from good intentions to measurable improvements for attendees with disabilities. With insights from experts across the accessible travel landscape, it’s a comprehensive look at why making access a priority at meeting and events is good for people and good for business. The story details why ADA checkboxes aren’t enough, what we learned by hosting 21 creators with disabilities at the 2025 Summit, and how partners like Travel Oregon and Wheel the World are setting a new bar with destination-wide accessibility verification. It’s a practical guide to what planners need from venues and cities—and how transparent details like room specs, routes, seating, assistive technology, and staff readiness turn promises into predictable experiences.

To help convention centers deliver on that standard consistently, we’re launching TravelAbility Approved: Convention Centers—a pilot program designed to provide accessibility to meeting venues so that attendees of all abilities can attend. Four DAC DMOs will lead the first cohort as we establish clear criteria, consistent reporting, and public-facing access profiles, backed by staff training and operational playbooks. Pilot venues will be featured in USAE News to share lessons learned and gauge industry demand—creating a trusted signal planners can use and attendees can rely on.

Read the article below, and stay tuned as we roll out the pilot and invite additional convention centers and DMOs to join future cohorts.

Leave No Attendee Behind: Ensuring Accessibility is Key

By Matt Swenson

Jake Steinman, founder and CEO of the TravelAbility Summit, used to describe the annual event as a travel conference built around accessibility and not an accessibility conference built around travel.

His mindset changed when the lone deaf attendee at a past event gave him a piece of her mind when she learned no American Sign Language translators were onsite. “I realized we need to walk the walk,” Steinman says.

As proof of progress, TravelAbility hosted 21 influencers with various disabilities at its 2025 conference in Oregon at Sunriver Resort, a scenic, outdoorsy destination near the Cascade Mountains that is about 45 minutes from the closest airport.

Nevertheless, Travel Oregon was the first bidding on the event with the intent of proving they are a model of accessibility, notes Steinman, who launched TravelAbility in 2019 and has created a range of travel-based conferences over the past quarter-century.

The fact that a conference dedicated to improving the experience for disabled travelers required a wake-up call is just one example of how the events industry lags behind serving a vast community many will eventually join as they get older.

According to the 2024 Destinations International’s Global Accessibility Report, 35% of survey respondents had the resources in place to make the meeting and event experience more accessible. That means that more than two-thirds were not prepared to meet the demand.

Meanwhile, Longwoods International, a hospitality-centered research firm, found in 2023 that 17% of American travelers identify as having a disability.

Arturo Gaona, chief partnerships officer & founding member at Wheel the World, an online platform that provides accessible travel planning and booking services for people with disabilities, estimates that the accessibility travel market is a multibillion dollar industry. But it has the potential to be much more, he says.

The travel industry has not been actively taking care of travelers with disabilities, he says. “Eighty percent of them are having bad experiences.”

While Gaona isn’t distinguishing between leisure and business travel in his analysis, evidence points to the meetings industry struggling to match the demand from those who need an extra hand.

Sherrif Karamat, CAE, president and CEO of the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and the Corporate Event Marketing Association (CEMA), is among those ready to see improvements. “One area that I’m hoping that all of society can do better for is people with disabilities and special needs,” he says. “I don’t think that we do a good enough job.”

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Lived Experience: Learn Through Real Travels of Disabled Content Creators with Learners and Makers

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Jodie standing by a scenic river overlook wearing a yellow dress and using a cane.

@LearnersandMakers

🗺️ Nomad Fam: 14 Countries | 🦿 Mom Amputee
📷 Tips for stress-free family travel
⏳ Slow down ~ enjoy ~ connect
✈️ If We Can, You Can!
Total followers across platforms: 20,000
Accessible Nature in North Alabama

We are the Learners and Makers: Jodie, Anthony, Connor, and Aster. Jodie is an above-knee amputee who uses a prosthetic leg. We empower families and people with mobility disabilities to travel confidently, their way. With a cozy vibe that focuses on how to slow down, connect, and enjoy each day, our worldschooling family of four has been traveling the world full time since 2022.

Hills, trails, lakes, and gardens open green space to visitors who have mobility disabilities

When seeking outdoor recreation, a traveler with a mobility disability isn’t just looking for green space, but a welcoming space. Fortunately, from gardens in urban Huntsville to state parks throughout North Alabama, you can find not only Southern hospitality, but accessibility.

6 accessible natural wonders in North Alabama

As an above-knee amputee who uses a prosthetic leg for walking mobility, Jodie visited 6 natural spaces in North Alabama, along with husband Anthony, 13-year-old son Connor, and 11-year-old daughter Aster:

  1. Cathedral Caverns State Park
  2. Talmadge Butler Boardwalk Trail at DeSoto State Park
  3. Little River Falls
  4. Huntsville Botanical Garden
  5. Bridgeport Walking Bridge
  6. Lake Guntersville State Park

Each destination considers accessibility a priority, with constant improvements made and more underway to continue increasing access for people with disabilities, impairments, or other mobility conditions.

Cave Tour at Cathedral Caverns State Park

Our family of four has visited caves throughout the USA, and even one in Vietnam, but never have we encountered a cave as accessible as Cathedral Caverns.

Uneven stone steps? Nope. The cave is also devoid of the metal staircases often present in other public caves. A 25-foot-tall, 126-foot-wide natural entrance also made it easy for staff to add a paved, gently inclined slope for visitors.

Large illuminated rock formations reflected in water inside a cave.

The there-and-back tour totals a little over half a mile. Ever since becoming part of the state park system in 2000, Cathedral Caverns has had many improvements to its access, including:

  • Visitors with mobility disabilities can ride in an electric vehicle with the tour guide
  • A wide paved asphalt path takes visitors through the cave. Most of the way is level, with some slope, and a couple of steep sections
  • Ambient lighting so visitors can focus on the sights and features, and less on monitoring how they move through the cave

There are no tight spaces throughout the 3,350 feet you head into the cave, either. Intriguing rock formations come to life with lore throughout the large passages and caverns. Each guide has their own stories to tell and highlights distinct features of the cave and its history, from once storing barrels of Cold War survival supplies, to the shark teeth in the ceiling that remind us this once was sea floor.

While here, also visit the Unclaimed Baggage Center

Nearby Scottsboro is home to one of the region’s most famed attractions. Unclaimed Baggage Center has become a bargain store repository for items left on planes, trains, buses, and more.

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Work with Learners and Makers

Capturing the Accessible Luxury Market – How FORA Travel Booked $75 Million in Travel 

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Accessible luxury is a growth story hiding in plain sight—and the results speak for themselves. At the 2025 TravelAbility Summit, Karen Morales shared how to capture this market by treating accessibility as core hospitality and equipping advisors with the right tools. Check out the session recap below.

2026 TravelAbility Tampa 2026 ad featuring a group of people including a wheelchair user enjoying a mead in downtown tampa. the summit dates are listed.

Want to be part of these conversations in real time? Join us November 9–11, 2026, in Tampa, Florida, for the 2026 TravelAbility Summit. It’s where destinations, venues, and travel brands come together to advance accessibility in a practical, business-smart way. Over two days of case studies, workshops, and peer learning, industry leaders share proven strategies that improve the travel experience for people with disabilities—and, by extension, for families, multigenerational groups, and travelers with temporary or situational limitations. Meet the advisors, suppliers, and destination teams leading the way, and leave with a roadmap you can put to work immediately.

Register Today!

Session Recap

Karen Morales speaking on stage at a the 2025 TravelAbility Summit while seated in a power wheelchair and holding a microphone.

Speakers 

● Karen Morales — Fora Travel (luxury travel agency) 

● Kristy Durso – Founder, Incredible Memories Travel / Ambassador, TravelAbility 

Session Overview 

Karen Morales described how accessible travel intersects with the luxury segment, sharing her rapid transition to mobility disability and the gap she found between adaptive recreation progress and inconsistent accessibility at five-star properties. Partnering with Fora, she helped train advisors to sell accessibility in luxury—and suppliers are starting to listen when accessibility is framed as hospitality and revenue, not just compliance. 

Key Insights 

  • Advisor training moves markets: In one year, 300+ Fora advisors were trained on selling accessibility, contributing to ~$75M in accessible travel sales (within a company targeting ~$1B total). 
  • Supplier blind spot: Major brands rarely include accessible rooms, food-allergy handling, or autism supports in sales decks—yet many have untapped assets (e.g., properties with numerous accessible rooms, beach wheelchairs, adaptive surf). 
  • Luxury clients, real scenarios: 
    • Multi-gen Greece (14 ppl): privacy for an immunocompromised traveler. 
    • “Bill,” 82, first overseas trip in a wheelchair: premium cabins; practical questions like airplane bathroom access. 
    • High-spend allergy travel: families flying a private chef; $200k itineraries. ○ Safaris, Europe villas, river cruises (often less accessible). 
  • Policy & momentum (as stated by speaker): New builds in New York require an accessible room in each room category; similar practices cited in Boston and London. National and destination campaigns spotlighting accessibility were noted (e.g., Australia; interest in Japan, Spain, U.K., Colombia). 
  • Hospitality > compliance: The winning pitch to luxury suppliers is guest welcome, ease, and revenue—“meeting individual needs” as core hospitality. 

Actionable Takeaways 

  • Communicate clearly: It’s “not an infrastructure problem, it’s a communications challenge.” Publish accessible room counts by category, doorway/bed/bath specs, allergy protocols, and on-site equipment. 
  • Package accessibility: Provide ready-to-use lists for advisors: accessible rooms by tier, vetted transfer options, adaptive excursions (e.g., surf, ski, golf-cart city tours), and how to book them. 
  • Make access effortless: Beach mats and wheelchairs on demand (simple signup, no bureaucracy). Train front-of-house so staff know what exists on property.
  • Show proof: Share short videos and real guest stories demonstrating access; partner with creators to amplify wins.
  • Connect the dots locally: Link hotels and DMO partners with adaptive providers (e.g., National Ability Center in Park City) so concierge pre-arrival emails include inclusive options. 

Notable Quotes 

  • “Where can I go? People aren’t limited by dreams—they’re limited by the box they think they now live in.” — Karen Morales 
  • “We’re not talking about compliance—we’re talking about hospitality.” — Karen Morales

Tactile Restroom Maps: Even Grounds Uses 3D Models to Improve Accessibility for Blind Visitors

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Tactile restroom sign with braille and raised map showing accessible men’s restroom layout.

Even Grounds began as an accessibility consulting company in 2023, but its roots run much deeper.

“I have been an accessibility consultant for over 25 years,” says founder Tom Babinszki.

Originally, Even Grounds focused on digital accessibility. But that quickly evolved.

“Originally I offered digital accessibility consulting services, but soon it expanded to holistic accessibility, all you need to do to be inviting for people with disabilities.”

Holistic accessibility. Not just compliance. Not just websites. But the full, lived experience of being welcomed into a space.

And then, travel changed everything.

A Blind Traveler Missing Out on Famous Architecture

Tom is a blind travel enthusiast. And like many travelers, he loves visiting landmarks and historic buildings.

But there was a problem.

“When I was visiting different buildings, I didn’t know what they looked like.”

So he did what innovators do: he built a solution.

“I hired a 3D designer and a 3D printing company to create replicas for a few famous buildings.”

When he shared them with friends, the response was immediate.

He began creating additional replicas and tactile maps, tools that became especially relevant for museums and educational organizations looking to offer meaningful inclusion, not just verbal descriptions.

Today, Even Grounds’ tactile products are being used and exhibited on four continents.

“One of our greatest achievements is the work with the Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired. We sent tactile maps and educational objects to African schools.”

Access to understanding space shouldn’t depend on sight and this work proves what’s possible when inclusion is designed intentionally.

The Icky Restroom Problem No One Talks About

“For me, when I visit a restroom in order to find my way around, I have to touch so many things I’d much rather not.”

It’s something sighted people rarely consider. Navigating a public restroom often means trial and error and physical contact with surfaces you’d rather avoid.

“Thus, we created a 3D representation of a restroom so that blind people can understand the layout of the restroom before they enter.”

Instead of exploring by touch inside the restroom itself, a person can study the layout in advance.

“Instead of finding their way around, they know exactly where everything is — down to the detaisl of knowing where the flush button is or where the soap is at the sink.”

That level of spatial awareness changes the experience from uncertain to confident.

How Do You Find A Sign You Can’t See

Tom is used to this question. 

“This tactile map is designed to be placed by the ADA restroom sign so that people who look for the restroom would find it without having to look for it.”

Most importantly, the design goes beyond braille.

“The innovation is that all objects are so tactile that even if you don’t read braille, you could feel what they are.”

This matters. Because not all blind or low-vision individuals read braille and inclusive design needs to account for that reality.

What’s it Worth?

True inclusion means understanding space, feeling oriented, and entering a room without anxiety.

“Since all restrooms are different, anywhere from a single family restroom to a large complex, the pricing differs.”

The basic order begins at $300, with significant discounts available for similar layouts, such as men’s and women’s restrooms or identical floor plans across multiple levels.

“What we need is a drawing of the location, and a few photos or videos so that we understand the sizes and proportions.”

From there, Even Grounds creates a tactile model tailored to the space, turning an everyday necessity into an accessible experience.

Learn more and order your tactile maps at https://evengrounds.com/accessible-tactile-3d-printed-restroom-maps/

Accessibility Playbook Quiz: Are You Prepared for the Largest Demographic Shift in Modern Travel?

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Take this quiz to find out!

The Real Question

If:

  • 70% of older adults are planning travel,
  • they already drive the majority of travel spending,
  • disability rates increase significantly with age,
  • and 20% of our population is about to be over the age of 65…

Is your destination, business, or strategy ready for 2030? 

When one older adult needs accessibility, it rarely affects one booking. It affects grandparents, kids, siblings, cousins — entire reunion itineraries.

2030 isn’t coming quietly: it’s arriving with three generations in tow.

Learn more about this important demographic below in the Accessibility Playbook Excerpt.

Accessibility Playbook Excerpt: Ageing into Disability

More than half of U.S. spending on travel comes from the 50-plus community, yet many destinations are unsure on how to meet their evolving needs. In 2023, the annual leisure travel spend among adults over 50 was $236 billion.  

The average 50+ traveler anticipates spending about $6,847 in 2025.  Source: AARP Research.

As of 2020, 55.8 million individuals in the United States were ages 65 and older; close to 17 percent of the U.S. population. This age group is projected to grow to over 20 percent by 2030. (U.S. Census). 

Many older Americans have a disability and many more will acquire disabilities in the future as they age. Among adults 50-plus, 25 percent indicate having a disability. For adults aged 65 and older, this percentage increases to 35 percent. While many adults over the age of 50 need accommodations for a disability or health condition, aging travelers often don’t identify as disabled. Half of adults 50-plus say their difficulty began within the last 5 years, so these challenges are not something they have gotten used to. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many may be traveling for 

Behavioral Shifts Among Aging

55% Say their conditions have resulted in making changes to the way they travel, such as:

  • Travel more by car (48%)
  • Take shorter trips (49%)
  • Travel to a single location/destination (39%)
  • Limited mobility accommodations (10%)
  • 45% say their conditions have resulted in less travel
  • Book activities before arrival (26%)
  • 2 in 3 (66%) have made changes to the destinations they choose to go to
  • Less walking (19%)
  • Closer destinations (13%)
  • Choosing more often to stay with friends or family (38%) or in hotels (43%).

Aging Travelers Want to Travel More

Older adults are increasingly motivated to travel to reconnect with loved ones, relax, and recharge. If accessibility accommodations were put into place, half of non-travelers say they would be interested in future travel. Among non-travelers, the most difficult aspects of travel are activities at the destination (46%) and transportation to and from the destination (39%).

  • 95% believe travel is good for mental health
  • 85%​​ believe travel is a benefit for physical health

“Yes, our knees hurt from hiking,  we get pains here and there, but  we have also enjoyed massages in many different countries, along  with red light therapy, reiki and  more. We don’t believe that old  age equates with poor health.”  – Jack and Elaine from Seniors with Latitude. 

Travel Trends 

  • Top Domestic Destinations: The  South (38%) and West (31%) remain  the most visited regions, with hotspots  including Florida, California, and Las Vegas. 
  • Top International Destinations: Europe (42%) and Latin America/ Caribbean (33%) lead in popularity,  especially Italy, Great Britain, and Mexico. 
  • Health as a Travel Driver: Many  aging travelers are motivated by the  mental and physical health benefits of  travel. Destinations can position travel  as a form of wellness, not just a luxury.
  • Biggest Barrier: Cost is the leading  obstacle to travel—more so than personal health concerns or the health  of a loved one. 

Check back next month for tips on welcoming the aging traveler! To learn more about the Accessibility Playbook, visit https://travelability.net/accessibility-playbook/.

Learn more about TravelAbility’s Vision 2030 here.