Accessibility

It’s been over three years since we started TravelAbility, and in that time, I’ve learned a great deal from the DMO’s that have embraced accessibility to become more inclusive and welcoming to everyone. It inspired our tagline: “All Means All” and resulted in many unintended consequences that surprised destination leaders.

Here’s a summary of what we found:  https://destinationsinternational.org/unintended-consequences-becoming-accessible-destination

As accessible tourism continues to grow, one social enterprise is running ground-breaking multisensory trips around Australia.

James ‘Buck’ McFarlane, founded Cocky Guides, a company dedicated to providing multi-sensory group tours for those who are blind or have low vision, following many years of working as a tour guide. Through the years he was often surprised to have never encountered blind or low-vision travelers on his trips. Finding a lack of tour operators catering specifically to blind and low-vision travelers, McFarlane found a new purpose and four years later, Cocky Guides was born.

Travelers with Cocky Guides can still experience the big tourist attraction, just in a different way. Tours are simply sensory in other ways, focusing on touch or smell to give travelers a sense of where they are. Trips are always about the client’s experience. As McFarlane says, “If we need to stay in a treehouse in the Daintree because that makes the experience better… we’ll go for the treehouse.”

Click here to learn more about Cocky Guides and their numerous destinations.

In the highly curated world of social media, Chelsea Bear’s Instagram and TikTok feeds look a lot like those of many young professionals: Brunches and happy hours with friends, mornings at the gym, a new outfit and even a quick jaunt to Vegas. To be an urban-dwelling millennial in Florida these days is to live a life that is stylish, fun, and seemingly effortless — at least on social networks.

The reality for Bear, though, is that moving through daily life is anything but easy. The 29-year-old navigates her world with cerebral palsy, a condition that has made parts of her life complicated and at times disappointing.

The stories that Bear shares on social media have made her one of Florida’s most notable advocates for people with disabilities, and now national and international brands have taken notice. Recognizing their own need to be more inclusive brands such as Disney and Zappos and organizations such as Visit Tampa Bay work with Bear to demonstrate their accessibility or showcase new products. 

Note: TravelAbility will be working with Ms. Bear to expand its presence on social media through Facebook and a private Q & A forum on LinkedIn through which members may collaborate on way to their organizations more inclusive for people with disabilities.

Learn more about Bear, the work she does, and how it helps create more inclusivity.