TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Disability Advocates

Insights from TravelAbility’s Winter Advisory Board Meeting

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This month we’re thrilled to welcome three new members to our Advisory Board:

Megan Kimble smiles in a professional headshot against a textured gray background. She has long light brown hair worn straight and wears a sleeveless patterned top, looking directly at the camera with a friendly expression.

Megan Kimble| United Airlines

As the manager of customer strategy and innovation, Megan is moving United forward towards welcoming all. She’s currently focused primarily on accessibility and wheelchair travel with mobility devices, though she’s learning about what the travel experience looks like across multiple disabilities, and she’s working for better solutions. She’s excited to make travel better for all.

Austin Whitney smiles outdoors while wearing yellow-framed sunglasses and a leopard-print button-down shirt. He has short light pink hair and a beard, standing in front of a white slatted wall in bright sunlight.

Austin Whitney | Accessibility Live

As the founder of Accessible Festivals, Austin has provided accessibility services for over 150 major events. His focus is on bringing events beyond ADA to become truly welcoming.

Karen Morales smiles confidently in a studio portrait. She wears a navy blue dress with black detailing, standing against a dark neutral background.

Karen Morales | FORA Travel

As a luxury travel specialist at FORA Travel, and the lead of their accessibility division, Karen booked $100 million in accessible travel in 2025 (out of over a billion each year). She’s working to democratize the travel industry.

News from the Team

The new year is full of promise. We’re reminded of this when we look at all that our advisory board members accomplished last year, and at all that’s already been initiated for the new year. Here are some highlights from our winter board meeting.

Ivor Ambrose | European Network of Accessible Tourism

Continuing to lead on a global scale through the European Network of Accessible Tourism, gathering and sharing best practices across destinations worldwide. Actively advancing conversations around ethics and accessibility, hosting a major global summit with more than 400 participants, and partnering with UN Tourism on a new manifesto for accessible tourism that helps define what “destinations for all” truly means.

Curt Cottle smiles in a professional headshot against a light background. He wears a dark blazer over a light-colored shirt and has a full gray beard, looking directly at the camera with a friendly expression.

Curt Cottle | National Travel and Tourism Office

Momentum is building at the National Travel and Tourism Office with the appointment of new director Robert O’Leary, who is highly receptive to accessibility and inclusion and eager to deepen engagement in this work.

Alison Brooks smiles in a professional headshot against a dark background. She has long blonde hair worn down and wears a sleeveless patterned top, looking directly at the camera with a warm expression.

Alison Brooks | Visit Mesa

Love on the Spectrum is coming to Mesa! Alison continues to spotlight inclusive adventure travel and has launched a food inclusivity program designed specifically for travelers with food sensitivities.

Chris Maher smiles in an outdoor photo wearing a navy quilted vest over a collared shirt. He stands in front of a glass surface with trees reflected behind him.

Chris Maher | Samaritan Partners

Accessibility moved up from the sidelines at CES, the most powerful tech event in the world. 180 people came early specifically to participate in a disability round table.

Camilo Navarro sits in a purple chair in an office setting, smiling at the camera. He wears a dark Columbia quarter-zip pullover with a “Wheel the World” logo, with wooden bookshelves and a softly blurred workspace in the background.

Camilo Navarro | Wheel the World

Wheel the World closed 2025 with 130 accessible destinations worldwide. They’re moving into 2026 better funded and ready to scale access globally.

Steve Nelson smiles in a selfie taken near an airplane doorway beside a blue sign that reads “Welcome aboard.” He wears a dark blazer over a black shirt and stands inside the aircraft entrance area.

Steve Nelson | Alaska Airlines

Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines have opened their most accessible building to date, while continuing critical work on aircraft lavatory designs aimed at creating fully accessible restrooms, even within narrow-aisle aircraft.

Rob Harris poses in a professional headshot inside a modern office setting with large windows in the background. He wears a dark suit jacket over a white dress shirt, with neatly styled hair and a trimmed beard, looking confidently at the camera.

Rob Harris | Royal Caribbean

Royal Caribbean Group is embedding accessibility into its culture by installing Accessibility Ambassadors across all ships and fleets. Core accessibility training has been redeveloped, with active work underway to scale and deploy it globally.

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Todd Brook smiles while speaking at a podium on stage. He wears a dark blazer over a white dress shirt and stands behind a clear lectern with a microphone, set against a dark background with stage lighting.

Todd Brook | Envisionit and Unchained

Building the Playbook Companion AI into a powerful accessibility assistant designed to function like an employee that can support basic communication, coordination, and administrative tasks for users.

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Mark Jones smiles in a selfie taken outdoors in front of Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World. He wears black-framed glasses and a black collared shirt, with the iconic castle and park walkway visible behind him in bright daylight.

Mark Jones | Disney

Disney continues to elevate storytelling and craftsmanship. Accessibility updates can be found on the Disney website.

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Patty David smiles in a professional studio headshot against a light gray background. She wears a black cardigan over a white top, with short layered blonde hair styled neatly around her face.

Patty David | AARP

AARP is driving future-focused research on accessible travel, including surveys exploring what travel will look like in 2030 when every baby boomer has reached age 65.

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Danica Gonsalves smiles in an outdoor headshot with trees and greenery in the background. She wears a black blazer over a red top, with her long brown hair styled down and parted to the side, standing in bright natural sunlight.

Danica Gonsalves | Paralyzed Veterans of America

Paralyzed Veterans of America is developing a practical resource for hotels focused on achieving best-in-class accessibility, including guidance on how AI tools can support and enhance accessibility efforts.

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Meg Raby Klinghoffer stands in front of a white background with straight dark hair, wearing a black shirt, and smiles slightly at the camera.

Meg Raby Klinghoffer | KultureCity

KultureCity has launched new training for hotels and travel agencies, completed airport training initiatives, and certified nine beaches.

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Carol Giuliani smiles outdoors in front of a historic stone castle wall. She wears a white coat with a teal and green scarf, and the setting appears to be a scenic travel destination.

Carol Giuliana | Senior Travel Companion Services

Celebrating her 150th trip as a senior travel companion, Carol is responding to growing demand by building a “companion army” to support travelers who need one-on-one assistance.

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Kristy Durso is sitting in her wheelchair on the beach, smiling over her shoulder with the beautiful turquoise ocean in the background.

Kristy Durso | TravelAbility Ambassador

Leading a new initiative to create an accessible wedding planner guide for venues and destinations.

asha Blair-Goldensohn faces the camera in a close-up headshot. He wears round brown eyeglasses and a dark top against a plain white background, with a neutral expression.

Sasha Goldenstein | Google

Google now offers verified accessibility information for more than 50 million places worldwide. Later this year, Google will open an Accessibility Discovery Center at its New York City offices.

Laurel Van Horn smiles in an outdoor headshot surrounded by green foliage. She has long brown hair worn down and wears red lipstick, dark earrings, and a patterned scarf draped around her shoulders.

Laurel Van Horn | Open Doors Organization

The Open Doors Organization celebrates its 25th anniversary as a pioneer in accessible travel. Current efforts are focused on aviation, with the 10th annual Access in Aviation Conference approaching and ongoing research into boarding methods, neurodiversity, and wheelchair user experiences.

Houston Vandergriff stands smiling in the middle of a city street, holding a Nikon camera with both hands. He wears glasses and a rust-colored button-down shirt with a camera strap over his shoulder, with storefronts and parked cars softly blurred in the background.

Houston Vandergriff | Downs and Towns

Houston completed ten paid accessible-travel collaborations in 2025 via TravelAbility, appeared on the cover of the Charlottesville Visitor’s Guide, and attended an international travel market in London where accessibility was underrepresented. He was just selected by the National Park Service as an artist-in-residence for Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

Chelsea Bear smiles at the camera while standing on a beach promenade at sunset. She wears a bright blue sweater and a black crossbody bag, with the ocean, beachgoers, and a colorful sky behind her.

Chelsea Bear | Influencer

Refining her business structure to take on more travel partnerships consistently. After recently moving back to South Florida, she’s excited to highlight more local destinations while seeking new travel partnerships globally. She was recently quoted in major travel media covering accessible travel from AFAR and Travel Pulse.

TravelAbility Summit Session Cheatsheet: In Conversation with Sasha Blair-Goldensohn

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When you leave your house, do you know if you’ll be able to access the place you’re going? Can you get through the door? Use the restroom? Find an accessible path? These are questions many people with disabilities face every day. One helpful tool is Google Maps’ accessibility features. At the 2025 TravelAbility Summit, our CEO Jake Steinman sat down with Sasha Blair-Goldensohn, Google Maps’ Disability Inclusion Lead and wheelchair user, to discuss his story, how Google Maps is making accessibility visible, and how individual advocates can drive meaningful change. Read our one-page recap below.

2026 TravelAbility Tampa 2026 ad featuring a group of people including a wheelchair user enjoying a mead in downtown tampa. the summit dates are listed.

Want to be part of these conversations in real time? Join us at next year’s TravelAbility Summit, taking place November 9-11, 2026 in Tampa, Florida. The summit brings together destinations, venues, and industry leaders committed to making travel and events more inclusive for everyone.

Session Recap

Jake Steinman and Sasha Blair-Goldensohn on stage at the 2025 TravelAbility Summit.

October 15, 2025 

Speakers 

Overview

Sasha Blair-Goldensohn shared his personal journey from Google Maps engineer to accessibility activist after a life-altering spinal injury in 2009. His experience navigating the world in a wheelchair exposed major gaps in accessibility—not just in infrastructure, but in information. Sasha used his platform at Google and through legal advocacy to expand elevator access in NYC, influence global mapping standards, and make accessibility information visible to millions of users around the world.

Key Insights

  • A single individual can create systemic change in infrastructure, policy, and global products.
  • After becoming disabled, Sasha recognized that accessibility in maps was broken: you could find great restaurants, but not whether you could get in the door or use the bathroom.
  • His activism helped secure a legally binding agreement forcing the NYC subway system to install elevators—tripling the installation rate.
  • Google Maps now displays accessibility icons by default, not just for disabled users—because accessibility benefits everyone (wheelchairs, strollers, deliveries, aging travelers).
  • 50 million+ places worldwide now have verified accessibility data through Google Maps.
  • 125 million Local Guides contribute to crowd-sourced information, adding global scale.
  • Accessibility details continue to expand: entrances, restrooms, parking, seating, hearing loops, and more.
  • AI tools are enabling destinations to generate custom accessible maps with simple prompts—no big development team needed.
  • New features in development include visual AI street descriptions for blind / low-vision travelers.

Actionable Takeaways for Destinations

  • Encourage local businesses to update their own accessibility info on Google Maps—it’s free and visible to travelers everywhere.
  • Use Maps’ accessibility features in marketing: “highly-rated wheelchair accessible cafés in ___”.
  • DMO staff can create custom accessible maps using Google’s “Build with AI” tool.
  • Add QR codes on websites or printed guides linking directly to Google Maps with accessibility filters applied.
  • Partner with Local Guides or disability advocates to verify accessibility information at scale.
  • Advocate for infrastructure improvements—Sasha demonstrated that legal action + public visibility works.

Notable Quotes

  • “Disability isn’t those people over there — it’s all of us.”
  • “Nobody signs up for this community, but once you’re in it, you realize its beauty.”
  • “You can find soup dumplings… but can you get in the door or use the bathroom?”
  • “When the icons are on by default, accessibility becomes real for everyone.”
  • “A single person really can change the world.”

Hosting Para Events – Learning from Visit Fort Wayne’s Success

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By Jennifer Allen from an interview with Jazmin Zavala

Women’s sitting volleyball teams compete at a para sporting event, with athletes reaching for the ball at the net while teammates and officials watch from the sidelines.
Photo Credit Visit Fort Wayne

Destinations don’t suddenly “get” accessibility when a major para event comes to town. The places that step confidently into hosting roles are usually the ones that have already been doing the work to position themselves as welcoming destinations.

That’s why I wasn’t surprised when I learned that Fort Wayne hosted a World ParaVolley event.

Last summer, we visited Fort Wayne through a partnership focused on advancing accessibility and inclusion. We were blown away by the ease of navigating the city, woodland trails, attractions, and even the water. Almost everything was designed with clear intention to welcome all, and when we stumbled upon something that hadn’t been done before, like running the bases in a wheelchair after the ballgame, we were met with enthusiasm to adapt and welcome.

Long before international athletes arrived, Fort Wayne had already built a reputation as a city that understands accessibility as infrastructure, not accommodation.

From adaptive sports to inclusive community partnerships, accessibility here isn’t treated as a checklist: it’s part of the culture. That mindset showed up clearly in how Visit Fort Wayne approached preparing for the first-ever Sitting Volleyball World Cup in the U.S.

Why Fort Wayne Took on a World ParaVolley Event

As one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the Great Lakes region and Indiana’s second-largest city, Fort Wayne has intentionally positioned sport as a pathway to inclusion. Home to Turnstone, a U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Site, the city already had deep roots in adaptive athletics and a history of welcoming para athletes.

According to Jazmin Zavala, Visit Fort Wayne’s Sports Sales Manager, hosting a World ParaVolley event wasn’t just about filling a calendar date. It was a strategic decision aligned with the LA28 Paralympic pathway, designed to elevate adaptive sport on a global stage while welcoming elite international athletes to the city for the first time.

Rather than asking if Fort Wayne could host a para event, the question was how to do it well: in a way that reflected the dignity, professionalism, and scale of any major international competition.

Preparing a City, Not Just a Venue

What stands out most about Fort Wayne’s approach is the way preparation extended far beyond the volleyball court.

In just six months, Visit Fort Wayne and Turnstone delivered the first-ever Sitting Volleyball World Cup hosted in the United States. Zavala shared that, “more than 1,000 volunteers and 100 regional partners came together, demonstrating the community’s capacity to host complex international competitions.”

One of the most impactful steps was education. Ahead of the event, Visit Fort Wayne hosted a media day with immersive demonstrations, giving local media and partners firsthand experience with adaptive sport and disability access. Even more notably, over 150 hotel and hospitality staff completed comprehensive accessibility training.

These staff members didn’t just attend a session, they continued on to serve as “Accessibility Ambassadors” throughout the two-week event. This initiative shifted accessibility from something reactive (“call us if there’s a problem”) to something proactive and visible.

Lessons for Destinations Looking to Host Para Events

When asked what advice they would give to other destinations interested in hosting para events, Visit Fort Wayne emphasized three core principles: intention, collaboration, and anticipation.

First, intention matters. “Recognizing the diversity within the disability community and planning accordingly is critical to a successful para-event.” That means recognizing the diversity within the disability community and understanding that access needs are not one-size-fits-all.

Second, collaboration is essential. “Early coordination with venues, hotels, and hospitality partners ensures athletes’ needs are anticipated rather than reacted to.”

Finally, anticipation is everything. The most successful para events don’t wait for problems to arise. They plan ahead, ask better questions, and remain flexible. As Visit Fort Wayne noted, “Adaptive sporting events mirror able-bodied competitions, with success driven by flexibility, knowledge, and a willingness to adapt.”

Women’s sitting volleyball teams compete at a para sporting event, with athletes reaching for the ball at the net while teammates and officials watch from the sidelines.
Photo Credit Visit Fort Wayne

Quick Takeaways for Hosting Para Events:

  • Start with intention, not logistics. Hosting para events works best when accessibility is treated as a core value, not a last-minute accommodation.
  • Build partnerships early. Close coordination with adaptive sports organizations, venues, hotels, and transportation partners ensures access needs are anticipated, not reacted to.
  • Invest in training, not just infrastructure. Accessibility training for hospitality and frontline staff builds confidence, consistency, and trust for athletes and attendees.
  • Designate accessibility champions. Empowering staff as visible “Accessibility Ambassadors” signals commitment and provides clear points of contact during events.
  • Plan for diversity within disability. The disability community is not monolithic. Flexibility and a willingness to adapt are just as important as technical compliance.
  • Think beyond the event itself. The systems, relationships, and knowledge built for para events elevate accessibility for all future visitors.

A Model Worth Paying Attention To

What Fort Wayne demonstrates so clearly is that accessibility isn’t a hurdle to hosting major events: it’s an asset. When destinations invest in training, partnerships, and inclusive planning, they don’t just prepare for one tournament. They raise the bar for every future visitor.

For more on the value and logistics of hosting an adaptive sports event, check out these takeaways from TravelAbility’s 2025 Summit.

Advice Line: Lessons with Kristy Durso Part Seven

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Lesson 7: Measure What Matters 

How can destinations effectively measure the impact of their accessibility efforts? Why does it matter?

Measurement is the next frontier for accessibility. For a long time, we simply haven’t been tracking it. And if we’re asking destinations to invest in accessibility, then we absolutely need to help them understand the return on that investment, both socially and financially.

I’ve started asking DMOs: If you’re spending money to improve accessibility, wouldn’t you want to know what kind of change it’s making in your destination? Until recently, most hadn’t even thought to ask that question. But that’s changing. There’s a growing awareness that you can’t improve what you don’t measure.

So what can you measure? Start with the basics: increased visitation from people with disabilities and their families. Look at whether those visitors are staying longer now that they know they’ll be supported. Track repeat visits—because when we find a destination that truly gets it, we come back and we bring others. Word-of-mouth is powerful in the disability community, especially in online travel groups. And don’t forget usage data:

  • How often are sensory rooms or adaptive equipment being used?
  • Are visitors using visual wayfinding tools or assistive services?
  • Are people engaging with accessibility-focused web content?

You can also look at behavior online. Are visitors clicking into your accessibility pages? Are they spending time with content that features inclusive imagery or shows accessibility in action? These signals tell you what’s resonating—and what might still be missing.

But it’s not just about numbers. It’s about the stories behind them. I’ve seen guests in tears after attending a festival where they finally felt included. I’ve heard from families who were able to spend an entire day at an attraction, for the first time, because a sensory room gave them the space they needed. That’s impact. That’s what success looks like.

And here’s the thing: the data will follow the effort. When you invest in accessibility, when you prepare for guests instead of just meeting the legal minimum, your destination becomes more welcoming for everyone. 

That builds loyalty. It drives revenue. And it creates a culture people want to be part of.

So yes, we absolutely need to measure it. When you can point to results like bookings, web traffic or transformed experiences, you give stakeholders and investors a reason to keep going. That’s how real, lasting change happens.

Check back next month for the final part! Noble Studios conducted a thorough interview with Kristy Durso going over the many facets of creating a destination that is truly for everyone. This series is pulled directly from the interview. Check out thearchives for the rest of the series.Click here for the full interview. 

Kristy Durso is sitting in her wheelchair on the beach, smiling over her shoulder with the beautiful turquoise ocean in the background.

Featured public speaker, accessibilities advocate, entrepreneur, Army veteran, and military wife Kristy Durso is Travelability’s Ambassedor and owns and operates Incredible Memories Travel, a full-service travel agency that assists everyone, including those with accessibility needs. She has three children, one who has autoimmune issues and food allergies, another on the spectrum, and another with cognitive and intellectual disabilities. 

Community News

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