TravelAbility Ambassador Kristy Durso had a full summer with speaking engagements, industry connections, advocacy projects, and a growing list of initiatives designed to make travel more accessible.
Outside Days
At Outside Days in Denver, Kristy was the only wheelchair user represented outside of two disability-focused sessions. Rather than letting that lack of representation define the experience, she used her seat at the table to challenge the industry and their emphasis on intentional communities.
During a session on data and consumer tracking, she asked, “Are you tracking your clients with disabilities? Are you tracking your visitors with disabilities when they come?” The answer was no.
Later, during a conversation about building intentional communities, she raised a bigger question: “The first thing you lose when you have an accident and become disabled, you have an illness that makes you disabled, or you have a child born with disabilities, you lose your community.”
She continued, “As you sit here and you talk about these intentional communities, I have to wonder: Is there a place for me?”
The response was significant. Kristy connected with industry leadership and is now hoping to return next year as a speaker in the conference’s regular programming, rather than only disability-focused sessions.
She also began working with more than a dozen adaptive outdoor recreation programs in Colorado, connecting them with mainstream tourism providers. The goal is to make it easier for families with mixed abilities to discover and book adaptive recreation without navigating a maze of separate reservations and providers.
Travel Nevada Rural Round Up
At the Travel Nevada Rural Round Up, where she returned for a second year, Kristy’s breakout session sparked action. Two grant organizations told her they were changing their criteria to give greater preference to disability-focused businesses.
One attendee even returned with news that he had received a grant based on an idea Kristy gave him at last year’s conference. Working with a dark-sky site, she had suggested 3D models of constellations so visitors who are blind or have low vision could better understand what they are experiencing. The proposal received automatic approval.
National Lieutenant Governors Association Conference
At the National Lieutenant Governors Association conference, Kristy says she was given “10 minutes to change the way they think, and I think I succeeded.” She later accepted a keynote invitation for the Louisiana Governor’s Conference and has already been invited to participate in the upcoming Florida Governor’s Conference.
Outside Agents
At the Outside Agents conference, where Kristy was a keynote speaker, she organized an informal dinner conversation, where 27 travel advisors showed up to learn more about accessible travel.
“As you sit here and you talk about these intentional communities, I have to wonder: Is there a place for me?”
Kristy Durso
Building Bridges Across the Travel Industry
Kristy’s advocacy is also producing tangible industry connections. She introduced Ignite Adaptive Sports to Hero Door Opener, which has since been purchased for the facility, and connected Royal Caribbean with Freedom Tracks for potential beach access on a private island.
She presented her airline and hotel SOP protocols to United Airlines for consideration and created both a booklet and web-based version of hotel protocols to help front desk staff quickly understand how to accommodate travelers with disabilities.
At the Schoolhouse Hotel Accessibility Innovation Showcase, Kristy served as MC.
Kristy led a disABILITYsa webinar and had the opportunity to talk with physical therapy students through Regis University.
She is also pushing the travel insurance industry to address wheelchair and prosthetic coverage. “Airlines are going to continue breaking wheelchairs,” she told insurance representatives. “If we can get big businesses like you guys behind us, pressure on the airlines to do better, rather than it just being individuals, I think we can actually create movement.”
What’s Next
Kristy’s calendar isn’t slowing down. By the time this hits your inbox, she’ll have wrapped up four days of content creation in Fort Lauderdale and the Florida Governor’s Conference. Next up is work in Huntington Beach and Anaheim, the All Wheels Up Conference in Colorado Springs, and Access the Skies by PVA, where she’ll help wheelchair users prepare for air travel.
“I don’t want to appeal to just people with disabilities,” Kristy says. “My goal with anything I do is to bridge the gap and cross over between the two in ways that make people laugh and think.”
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