Autism

WORDS OF ADVICE

Alan Day (left) is a leader in the effort to make the travel experience both meaningful and positive for autistic children and their parents and a TravelAbility Summit Board Member. An experienced travel agent, Day began his travel agency career with Liberty Travel in 1999 and then, on moving to Connecticut in 2005, he formed his own travel agency. Day’s son has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and, based on the significant challenge autism had on their own family vacations, Alan refocused his agency to specialize in providing assistance and support to families who are similarly impacted. With his colleague David Tait—both are British expatriates—he co-founded Autism Double-Checked, which provides a training and certification program for businesses and organizations who provide travel product. You can find his website, here.TravelAbility Report interviewed Day recently and asked him about his work and mission. The following are excerpts from our conversation.

Q: How is it that you have come to be such an ardent advocate for individuals with disabilities who want to travel?

A: We weren’t able to travel with my son for the first, about eight to nine years of his life because of my wife’s work schedule. When we finally managed to get some time, we took him on vacation and, of course, realized after a couple of days what a tough thing that was to do to try to take a vacation with him without some support. I came back from that trip and started researching what help is out there for traveling with autism. I found nothing. I thought, “There must be more people like us. Somebody better do something about this.” I got involved. But I think what made me so ardent about standing up for the whole community was that I realized how many people are involved in this—and what little provision there is. This is more than just a few individuals. There’s a whole community out there. Autism is not a disability, autism it is a different ability. That’s something I feel very strongly. We need to make those worlds meet, whether that’s with travel or with anything else.

Autism is not a disability, autism it is a different ability. That’s something I feel very strongly, says Day.

Q: Are there special needs for autistic travelers that are not readily apparent when one discusses people with disabilities?

A: There are. The clear, obvious thing to say is that autism is not generally a visible disability—in the way that you would not miss someone who has a wheelchair. With autism, there may be no outward signs. There are some clues occasionally—stuff like kids wearing noise cam headphones in a situation where there’s not that much noise. The first issue, which is not obvious or visible are the problems related to reduced executive function (Executive function is a term that is widely used in autism circles to describe a broad array of skills that have to do with an individual’s cognitive function.) This impacts waiting online for attractions, etc… It’s not apparent until you meet that situation. The other issue that is not readily apparent is that, because of the way autism is, they really struggle to understand figurative language. My prime example of that is telling a kid with autism I’ll be back in just a minute. You are very likely setting the expectation that you’ll be back in 60 seconds. These obviously are not apparent issues.

Q: Of late we have noticed that Autism Double Checked has certified certain destinations and attractions as autism prepared. How does this work?

A: It’s possible for anybody to turn around and say, “Hey, we’re autism-friendly!” Okay, what does that mean? Autism Double- Checked actually does mean something with a national standard comprised of two elements. The first is the training part. For certification, every member of staff whoever gets to meet the public has to undergo training and must pass the test of knowledge at the end of that training. The second element is the production of the visitor guide, which provides information to the parents in a standard format which has been specifically produced to meet the needs of the autism community.

Q: What are the most common slights experienced by autistic travelers?

A: Very likely, none that the autistic traveler would notice. But the common slight is to the parents. For example, someone who has no real comprehension of all this cannot distinguish between an autistic meltdown and a temper tantrum. Guess which assumption they make? Parents are judged as being lousy parents who have a brat that they won’t control when, in fact, it is a physiological behavior which exhibits itself in the distress of a meltdown. But parents are concerned that they will be perceived as bad parents. It’s very, very common. And there just aren’t good answers to it. One of the answers is having trained staff. If they see a situation like that, they will be able to patiently explain to others. Part of the training is how to explain common issues to bystanders.

Q: Are there any steps that travel suppliers could quickly take—actions that do not require special training or require a substantial outlay of resources—to make them more aware of the needs of travelers who have autism … or other “invisible” disabilities?

A: First off, although it is a national standard, an Autism Double-Checked certification can be rolled this out very quickly and it is very inexpensive for what it is. That said, it does take some time and does involve some costs. The cost-free answer is to treat every individual with respect; make no judgments, and listen to the parents of that child. Three commandments are: Respect, don’t judge, listen.

Q: Are there any major attractions in the U.S that are examples of “best practices” when it comes to accommodating travelers with disabilities?

A: The shining star is the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex in Cape Canaveral, Florida. They were very good at just regular ADA issues and when they undertook our training, their pass rate was 96.4%. They put I don’t know how much resources over and above what we said was going to go into their Visitor’s Guide. When you’re talking about Best Practices, it doesn’t get better than that. For want of a better word, a stellar visitors guide.

Q: What specifically about the Kennedy Center Visitor’s Guide (KCVG) makes it such an example?

A: The KSCVC Guide is great for two reasons: In addition to pointing out every possible sensory hazard, it also explains accommodations offered in order to navigate them. Very importantly the index is by sensory issue. This means that a parent who is concerned only about noise can easily find the necessary pages. If only concerned about some other issue they can find it without having to read through the things that have no impact on their child.

Q: Since the in-flight experience can be so traumatic for autism family members, are you working with any airlines? If so, how?

A: Two airlines are currently working through the certification program. The first is JetSuiteX in California/Nevada. They are most of the way through. The second is Flair Airlines in Edmonton Canada. They have started and should be fully certified soon.

Q: What could be done to improve the overall situation?
A: We need to get to a mindset that inclusivity includes everybody. We can’t just pay lip service.

For more information, for example, on specific airlines or the Kennedy Center Visitors Guide mentioned here, Alan Day can be reached at aday@autismchecked.com