The Intersection of Travel and Disability
One customer says she was subjected to absurdly strict treatment regarding the items she was bringing into the cabin of her overnight flight from Toronto to Paris this month — namely, a set of crutches. Read More.
Our Takeaway: This dismissive attitude is not only harmful to the travel industry’s reputation, it’s completely unjust and removes the ability of the mobility impaired to travel via air. You cannot charge for the ability to walk.
“As service providers, as business owners, and as professionals, we always need to consider that accessibility and inclusion is something that will impact our lives sooner or later. And that’s why it’s so important, right? That’s why we need to consider it [in] every aspect of our society.” Listen for a conversation around considering disabilities in travel, the importance of accessible travel experiences, and how you can help make travel open to all. Read More.
Our Takeaway: Accessibility in travel matters, because accessibility matters everywhere – impacting almost everyone at some point. If we don’t know how to become accessible, we won’t know how to welcome tomorrow’s guests.
This research, focused on the role of media and advertising in improving attitudes, found the following principles to be important: raising the status of disabled people; sharing stories and personal experiences; encouraging people to think about how they would feel facing inequality, but not asking people to imagine being a disabled person; and taking care when talking about injustice and using facts and figures. Read More.
Our Takeaway: Embracing these principles can lead to a more inclusive and welcoming environment, attracting a diverse customer base and enhancing overall business success.
Noticing a lack of options on the market, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has released a set of royalty-free stock photos that feature people with disabilities using common home safety devices. Read More.
Our Takeaway: The creation of media with better disability representation remains a unique opportunity for the hospitality industry. By incorporating these inclusive images in marketing materials, websites, and promotional campaigns, hospitality leaders can send a powerful message of acceptance and representation to potential guests.
TravelAbility, an organization working to improve the travel experience for people with disabilities, has announced the winners of its InnovateAble Pitchfest, a virtual event that showcased the latest assistive technology and innovations for travelers with disabilities. The event took place on July 26, 2023, to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The InnovateAble Pitchfest featured presentations from 10 companies and startups that have developed cutting-edge products and services that can make travel easier and more enjoyable for people with different abilities. The presentations were judged by a panel of experts from the tourism industry, the investor community, and the CES pitchfest recruiter, as well as by the attendees who voted for the People’s Choice Award.
The overall winner of the InnovateAble Pitchfest was Enchroma, a company that makes specially engineered glasses and scenic viewers that enable people who are color blind to see colors. The glasses and viewer telescopes are offered to the public by over 200 organizations including 80 museums, 40 state and national parks in 18 states, and many other tourist destinations.
The first runner-up was Translate Live ILA, a device that allows hotels and attractions to provide close captioning, language translation, and ASL sign language assistance on demand. The second runner-up was Spoke, an app that alerts people who are deaf or hard of hearing to important public announcements in airports and other locales.
The People’s Choice Award went to Centaur Robotics, a revolutionary electric vehicle that elevates and fits into the space of a dining room chair to navigate narrow rooms spaces.
Other companies selected for InnovateAble included:
Dateability, The only dating app designed for the disabled and chronically ill communities.
Vacayit, Explore and experience sensory and audio described tours in 160 Australian locations
Lisnen, App that notifies the deaf or HOH to phone rings, door knocks and alarms that can save their life
Be My Eyes, An app that uses ChatGTP4 to help blind users navigate a hotel or attractions
Purple Lens, A digital accessibility toolkit that combines automated and human remediation
Picture Live, A photobook that enables audio descriptions or ASL interpreters via a QR code.
For more information about TravelAbility and InnovateAble Pitchfest, contact Jake Steinman at jake@travelability.net.
To access all Innovateable presentations: click here.
About the TravelAbility Portfolio of projects:
EMERGING MARKETS SUMMIT is a boutique conference covering the growing niches of accessibility, sustainability and DE&I
TRAVELABILITY INSIDER, is an online newsletter with 3300 subscribers
TRAVELABILITY FOR HOSPITALITY is a quarterly newsletter for the hotel industry
DESTINATIONS WITH ACCESSIBILITY is a micro-site that aggregates accessibility content for 143 destinations in the US, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, THE ACCESSIBILITY PLAYBOOK is a 38-page resource containing videos, slide decks, technology, products, tips and use case scenarios designed to help any travel organization/company advance their accessibility
THE DESTINATION A11Y CLUB,is a collection of DMO’s committed to advancing accessibility together. INNOVATEABLE, is an annual showcase of adaptive innovations, technologies, services and amenities that can be introduced through the travel channel
Our YOUTUBE CHANNEL archives contain over 100 video sessions from prior conferences and events. TRAVELABILITY FOUNDATION is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation with the mission to work with travel industry suppliers to make travel more accessible for people with disabilities
SUBSCRIBE TODAY!Your name and email will never be sold to third parties.
Your name and email will never be sold to 3rd parties.
You must be logged in to post a comment.