TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Disability Advocates

Some Airlines Are Still Damaging Wheelchairs at Ridiculously High Rate

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Senator Duckworth in a wheelchair at a. Democratic eventFirst, the good news: Since U.S. airlines began tracking and reporting the number of wheelchairs/mobility scooters damaged in December of 2018, there’s a clear improvement! But there’s still a lot of room for improvement. At TravelAbility Insider, we’ve been tracking the numbers and, in honor of the law’s most outspoken and effective advocate, Senator Tammy Duckworth, we’ve named it The Duckworth Wheelchair Damage Report. Here’s the short story:

American   7.2% to 4.68%
Frontier      5.31% to 2.31%
Jet Blue     4.01% to  1.39%
Southwest 6.46% to 1.28%

 

The Duckworth Wheelchair Damage Report

 

 

 

People With Disabilities Want to Make Over the Travel Industry

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beard welcoming a woman to a boutique hotel she is smiling.The travel industry need not be afraid of the seemingly high cost or complicated business of accessibility, according to a recent piece in Forbes. Progress with accessibility can be achieved one tiny step at a time by asking visitors with a disability what can be done to make their experience more enjoyable.  Sometimes it’s a simple, but obvious service request that costs nothing like having check-in staff come out from behind the counter to onboard someone in a wheelchair, or it might be an inexpensive product or app that can fill the gap between legal compliance and pleasurable experiences.. 

OUR TAKE: Just like everyone else, the disability community wants to be heard. Listening to their needs conveys respect and eventually can result in incremental changes. In aggregate, these small changes will, over time, position hotels and attractions as ready to welcome the estimated 30% of the population who will have a disability in their lifetime. It’s not just the right thing to do, it’s the right business move to make now. 

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Opinion: The #1 Problem Cities Should Tackle to Improve Accessibility

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Do the people who create technology for products that make cities ‘smart’ solicit direct feedback from the disability community? Do they know the obstacles people with disabilities face most often on a daily basis? No according to a new survey of 175 entrepreneurs in technology incubators showed that 43% of the respondents had a strong understanding of accessibility and inclusion in their own products…one third of the respondents were uncertain whether their technological products could be disabled-friendly, according to this SmartCity Press author. That’s a huge problem—maybe the #1 problem—for people with disabilities who are hoping that cities will become more accessible as technology improves and systems are updated.   READ MORE

OUR TAKE: If you’re in the business of travel, you are probably realizing that when travel influencers seek out the advice of the disability community, accessibility radically improves. But where do you find people to give advice or lend their expertise to a new product or project? That’s one reason we created TravelAbility Summit—to connect the two communities. The TravelAbility Summit Advisory Board, which has at least 50% disability representation, has already been invaluable in shaping the panels and speakers being chosen to present this fall in San Francisco. 

 

photo courtesy: Getty images Disability Collection

A Fresh Voice Joins TravelAbility Summit Advisory Board

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Sid Marcos woking at camera wearing sweater and black hat (profile photo)TravelAbility Summit is pleased to welcome Sid Marcos, a business developer from San Diego, California, to the TravelAbility Summit Advisory Board. She is a founding member of the National Startup League and director of Commonwealth, an incubator for social entrepreneurs. She is the former director of development for Outlandish Travel and produced accessible destination guides around fun themes such as pub tours. Currently, she is writing about urbanism, design, and innovation on her personal blog. Here’s a video of Marcos, filmed a while back to explain the concept behind Outlandish Travel.  CLICK HERE

OUR TAKE: Marcos isn’t your average travel writer or vlogger. She tells it like it is. And what is it exactly? Very helpful, 100% wheelchair accessible guides to cities across the country. We were taken with her straightforward approach and the excellent points she made showing how there was a huge gap in the travel market for city guides and more. What makes her even more interesting? She travels with her Great Dane in a Smart Car. 

 

More Please! A Restaurant with Great Food and an Even Better Back-story  

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Locals rave about it, and people travel from far and wide to enjoy Universo Santi Cardiz, which is located in a resort city on the Southern Coast of Spain, according to a recent piece (originally in The Guardian.) We’re recommending it for both its business savvy in staffing (every employee at the restaurant has some kind of disability) and their haute cuisine (word on the street is that they are being looked at by Michelin and may earn a star sometime soon.)

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OUR TAKE: We need more restaurant owners state-side who think like Antonio Vila, who was a major force in opening up Universo Santi. He is also the president of a nonprofit that focuses on helping people with disabilities find rewarding jobs. At last count, the restaurant had 20 employees all of whom identify as having a disability. This story begs the question Why aren’t more restaurants doing this? At TravelAbility, we’re working to learn what the biggest hurdles to providing are, and then moving them aside with the help of you—both the travel and the disability community.