TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Denise Brodey

Opinion: The #1 Problem Cities Should Tackle to Improve Accessibility

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Do the people who create technology for products that make cities ‘smart’ solicit direct feedback from the disability community? Do they know the obstacles people with disabilities face most often on a daily basis? No according to a new survey of 175 entrepreneurs in technology incubators showed that 43% of the respondents had a strong understanding of accessibility and inclusion in their own products…one third of the respondents were uncertain whether their technological products could be disabled-friendly, according to this SmartCity Press author. That’s a huge problem—maybe the #1 problem—for people with disabilities who are hoping that cities will become more accessible as technology improves and systems are updated.   READ MORE

OUR TAKE: If you’re in the business of travel, you are probably realizing that when travel influencers seek out the advice of the disability community, accessibility radically improves. But where do you find people to give advice or lend their expertise to a new product or project? That’s one reason we created TravelAbility Summit—to connect the two communities. The TravelAbility Summit Advisory Board, which has at least 50% disability representation, has already been invaluable in shaping the panels and speakers being chosen to present this fall in San Francisco. 

 

photo courtesy: Getty images Disability Collection

A Fresh Voice Joins TravelAbility Summit Advisory Board

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Sid Marcos woking at camera wearing sweater and black hat (profile photo)TravelAbility Summit is pleased to welcome Sid Marcos, a business developer from San Diego, California, to the TravelAbility Summit Advisory Board. She is a founding member of the National Startup League and director of Commonwealth, an incubator for social entrepreneurs. She is the former director of development for Outlandish Travel and produced accessible destination guides around fun themes such as pub tours. Currently, she is writing about urbanism, design, and innovation on her personal blog. Here’s a video of Marcos, filmed a while back to explain the concept behind Outlandish Travel.  CLICK HERE

OUR TAKE: Marcos isn’t your average travel writer or vlogger. She tells it like it is. And what is it exactly? Very helpful, 100% wheelchair accessible guides to cities across the country. We were taken with her straightforward approach and the excellent points she made showing how there was a huge gap in the travel market for city guides and more. What makes her even more interesting? She travels with her Great Dane in a Smart Car. 

 

Who Will Fare Better—Disabled Passengers Using Uber or Lyft?

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Successful rideshare businesses seem to require one-part basic etiquette, two parts business strategy and of course, a customer in need of the product.  Here’s TravelAbility’s take on how both companies are meeting both short and long-term demand from people with disabilities:

OUR TAKE ON UBER The company has started to make drivers aware of the proper etiquette, offering a video and tips from Open Doors that seems easy to review and remember. That hasn’t protected them from lawsuits, however. Wheelchair users, in particular, are suing the company for discrimination, saying there are not enough rides available to serve them. These suits are non-monetary and meant to raise awareness. READ MORE

At the 2019 M-Enabling conference in Washington, D.C., panelist Malcom Glenn, head of Global Policy, Accessibility and Underserved Communities at Uber said the company is focused on boosting the number of accessible vehicles they have on the road. As for their future plans, they are particularly excited about the huge potential of self-driving cars to help give people with disabilities newfound independence.

OUR TAKE ON LYFT The company has added Access Mode to their app. In certain markets, disabled passengers can book a ride that suits their needs. (If Lyft can’t accommodate a passenger, they offer referrals to comparable services nearby. LYFT is (very strategically) also meeting passengers where they are, including the growing healthcare market. Lyft partners with hospitals, senior centers and other care facilities to offer rides to appointments and errands and sees the healthcare market as an ecosystem that is good for patients and good for business. Lyft says it curtails no shows a doctors’ offices and reduces cost by 32% on average. READ MORE

Here is an additional piece on how Uber and Lyft are overhauling their Wheelchair-Accessible Vehicle Programs.

 

More Please! A Restaurant with Great Food and an Even Better Back-story  

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Locals rave about it, and people travel from far and wide to enjoy Universo Santi Cardiz, which is located in a resort city on the Southern Coast of Spain, according to a recent piece (originally in The Guardian.) We’re recommending it for both its business savvy in staffing (every employee at the restaurant has some kind of disability) and their haute cuisine (word on the street is that they are being looked at by Michelin and may earn a star sometime soon.)

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OUR TAKE: We need more restaurant owners state-side who think like Antonio Vila, who was a major force in opening up Universo Santi. He is also the president of a nonprofit that focuses on helping people with disabilities find rewarding jobs. At last count, the restaurant had 20 employees all of whom identify as having a disability. This story begs the question Why aren’t more restaurants doing this? At TravelAbility, we’re working to learn what the biggest hurdles to providing are, and then moving them aside with the help of you—both the travel and the disability community. 

Why 285 Million People Worldwide Can’t Navigate Your Hotel or Airport

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The very existence of a tool that can map public indoor spaces is a big deal for travelers who are blind or have low vision, especially in cities and towns struggling with budget cuts, according to a recent piece in WIRED. The author interviewed the Louisville, Kentucky CEO who created the mapping tool who said, “It’s really wonderful to hear people say, ‘I can walk through malls or walk through venues without this sense of hopelessness or of missing information’.”  Find out more about Access Explorer here. (Access Explorer is available for Android phones and is available as an iTunes app.) READ MORE 

OUR TAKE: New research shows that national study that shows cases of blindness will double in the United States by 2050—and that doesn’t include the 16 million Americans expected to have difficulty seeing. A researcher at the National Institutes of Health is quoted as saying, “These findings are an important forewarning of the magnitude of vision loss to come.” One great resource for collateral is BrailleWorks.com, which helps to create menus, maps and other materials for the millions who can’t read documents because of visual impairment or blindness; they also do audio.

 

photo courtesy Access Explorer