TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Airlines

Air Time for Autism Expert Alan Day on “Good Morning America”

by

Two men wearing Autism Flies T-shirts stand at the entrance to an airplane. Alan Day, one of the men, talks on the airplane's phone.

TraveAbility Advisory Board Member Alan Day, a former travel agent who has an autistic son, continues to raise awareness of the challenges facing travelers on the spectrum. Day co-founded Autism Double-Checked to educate airlines, hotels and other travel businesses on ways to remove  or reduce the obstacles confronting autistic travelers. 

In addition to identifying the obstacles, Autism Double-Checked is creating innovative solutions, such as a practice run for getting through security at Bradley Airport in Connecticut as featured in a recent spot on ABC News and Good Morning America. The program is designed to help young flyers on the spectrum get more accustomed to the protocols at their own pace.

“They’re going to come in. They’re going to check in. They will get a gate pass just like a boarding pass for a real flight that will go through an actual TSA line. They will have to be screened, go through the metal detector, then they’ll come to the gate, they’ll wait at the gate and they will be called,” Day said. Read more

Related Video:  Easterseals launched a campaign in December calling for improvements in air travel for individuals with disabilities. The story includes a good video interview with Easterseals President and CEO, Kendra Davenport (scroll down the page to the extended interview; it’s about 11 minutes long.)

TravelAbility TakeAway: Alan Day and Autism Double-Check are doing an amazing job drawing attention to the challenges facing travelers with autism and to innovative solutions. The TSA practice run isn’t just good TV, it’s an excellent resource for families with children on the spectrum.

Tips on Accessible Solo Travel by Chelsea Bear, a TravelAbility Board Member

by

Woman wearing sunglasses and smiling as she stands in front of a body of water

Research. Planning. More research. Repeat.

That’s the message threaded through Chelsea Bear’s Trip Advisor article on solo travel for people with disabilities: You can’t be overprepared.

Chelsea confesses that as a person with cerebral palsy who uses an electric scooter, she used to think that solo travel was not an option for her.  Now, she writes, “at age 30, I can happily say that my younger self’s beliefs and fears were completely wrong—I’ve traveled to 10 countries outside of the United States and dozens of states domestically.” In addition to tapping her own experience, Chelsea shares tips from leading travel influencers including Corey Lee, Sylvia Longmire, and Houston Vandergriff. Tips range from zip ties to extra batteries to mapping every conceivable destination and resource ahead of time. Read more.

Hidden Camera Investigative Report on Traveling with a Disability

by

A woman in a wheelchair with an unattached oxygen tube on her shoulder, looking into the camera with a concerned expression

Sylvia Longmire’s trip on Greyhound went fairly smoothly in part because the accessible bus had removable seats so that Longmire could remain in her own wheelchair (see related story in this issue). That’s not an option on airplanes, which can create a whole set of problems for passengers who use wheelchairs.

CBC News of Canada provides a powerful first-person view of the experience by using a hidden camera while accompanying Alessia Di Virgilio on an Air Canada flight. The trouble started several days before the flight when Di Virgilio notified the airline of her booking, as required. Despite the advanced notice, Di Virgilio did not receive a confirmation of her reservation until 24 hours before the flight. And when she arrived at the airport in her power wheelchair, no one at the gate had been alerted so it took 40 minutes for a crew to arrive to transfer her to an airline seat. The transfer is painful to watch as the ventilator becomes disconnected, a lift falls on her head, and her foot gets stuck. Meanwhile, her wheelchair is sitting out in the rain.

One crew member explains that he hasn’t been trained on the lift equipment for more than seven years.

“I did not feel safe,” Alessia Di Virgilio said after the incident.

The Air Canada flight is the centerpiece of a CBC expose of traveling with a disability. Other segments feature a woman with narcolepsy who is repeatedly turned down by taxis and rideshare drivers because of her large service dog—despite company policies that guarantee accommodating service animals. The third segment tracks the journey of a blind man trying to navigate the transit system. It’s a risky proposition with a lack of audio assistance in key spots, like trying to find the door of a subway car with the clock ticking.

The report has triggered a federal government investigation. Read more.

Watch the 22-minute video

TravelAbility TakeAway: It’s no surprise that this unprecedented investigation by CBC has launched a federal investigation in Canada. The video is hard to watch as we witness some of the indignities and injuries Alessia Di Virgilio had to endure. The physical and emotional pain of her airline trip is evident on her face as she moves from frustration to anger and fear to deep sadness. Deep appreciation and admiration to CBC and its hidden camera for putting us right there beside her—and to the other two travelers as well.  

DOT Launches Campaign to Raise Awareness of Rights of Airline Passengers Who Use Wheelchairs

by

A man in a wheelchair navigating a crowded airline terminal

The US Department of Transportation is marking the 37th anniversary of the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) by initiating the #AccessibleAirTravel campaign to underscore the right of air travelers with disabilities to safe, dignified, and accessible air travel.

“Airline passengers with disabilities deserve to travel safely and with dignity,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “DOT is proud to partner with the aviation industry and members of the disability community to ensure that all travelers with disabilities know their rights.”

As part of the launch, the DOT emphasized some of the actions the Biden administration has taken or is taking to improve the air travel experience of individuals using wheelchairs, including:

  • To address many of the significant barriers facing passengers who use wheelchairs, the Department has initiated a rule proposing to make it an automatic violation of ACAA regulations for airlines to mishandle a passenger’s wheelchair.
  • In July 2023, DOT finalized a rule which requires airlines to make lavatories on new, single-aisle aircraft more accessible.Under this final rule, airlines are required to take various steps to improve the accessibility of these lavatories short of increasing their size in the short term.
  • DOT has begun laying the groundwork for a potential rule that would allow passengers to stay in their own wheelchairs when they fly. Read more.

Our TakeAway: We applaud the DOT’s new campaign and the actions it is taking to improve the air travel experience for passengers who use wheelchairs. But we have to wonder how much can be done to improve the accessibility of lavatories without increasing their size?

EMS 2023 Presentation of the Month: Visit Tampa Bay

by

In each edition of Insider we’ll be sharing presentations from the Emerging Markets Summit. This month’s featured presentation comes from Patrick Harrison at Visit Tampa Bay and focuses on their Accessible Riverwalk Pass.

Our Takeaway: This campaign serves as a great model and Patrick shares concrete results. Nearly 2000 passes were sold and generated $103,000 which was distributed to their partners.  Fun Fact: Most sales were to residents via word of mouth. Read more

Slide from the Visit Tampa Bay showing these statistics: 1986 Total Riverwalk Passes Sold with $103K Total Sales (Profits Distributed to Partners)

/