TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Disability Advocates

How DMO’s and Hotels Can Help Conferences Become More Accessible

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Wheelchair user Sylvia Longmire using a lift to attend a social gathering at a recent TedX conference.Sylvia Longmire, president of Spin the Globe, refers to herself as an accessible travel agent, blogger, disabled veteran and MS’er. She is also one of the most influential—and opinionated—voices reviewing destinations, cruise lines, hotels and attractions from a wheelchair user’s point of view. She doesn’t hold back. In a recent blog piece, she discussed the challenges of attending conferences and conventions.  

Our Take: Please, share this post with Meeting Planners, an integral part of our industry, who can use her suggestions to make their events more inclusive. Longmire’s spot-on advice can help raise awareness and improve accessibility conditions. We’re looking forward to what she writes next.

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New IATA Resolution Addresses 30% Rise in Wheelchair Requests

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Requests for wheelchair assistance skyrocketed to 30% between 2016 and 2017, “putting a strain on the quality of the service provided, reports the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in a recent press release. (The average increase in requests between 2010-2018 was 17%, according to Open Doors Organization.)

At their Annual General Meeting, IATA overwhelming passed a resolution that promises the organization will have two new priorities: First, to work with airports to ensure that wheelchair assistance is available to those who need it. Second, to dramatically lower the number of mobility devices (scooters and wheelchairs, for example) that are damaged or lost in transport.READ MORE

OUR TAKE: If they’re smart, they’ll be speaking with Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who has made it her mission to see that airlines are accountable to the public for damage done to wheelchairs. Legislation sponsored by Duckworth now requires airlines to report wheelchair damage monthly. If the IATA resolution is any indication, Duckworth’s advocacy is already having a profound effect on the industry. TravelAbility Insider has been tracking the results in our Duckworth Damage Report.

All airlines ranked by the number of wheelchairs damaged in one month and YTD

As Hotels Become Sitting Ducks for Predatory Lawyers, What Can They Do?

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Close up shot of two people looking at a paper with their laptops open next to themHotels are common targets for lawsuits because of the depth of regulations that govern the industry, according to Hospitality.net. This piece suggests solutions including TravelTripper.com, a new monitoring system made specifically for hotels. They also do website audits regularly. Clients include small hotel groups, as well as at properties flagged by industry-leading brands such as Marriott, Equinox, Westin, Renaissance, Sheraton, and Le Meridien. 

OUR TAKE: While the disability community, long beaten down by a lack of enforcement may be understandably ambivalent and believe that litigation is the only way to force organizations to comply with the law, these click-by lawsuits are harming their image in the long run. More and more media outlets are running investigative reports portraying plaintiff attorneys (one has filed 2000 lawsuits and is under investigation himself for tax fraud) and their clients as greedy scam artists. TravelAbility Summit will hold a panel session that will include hotelier who’s been targeted for both website and physical property lawsuits. They will address what they learned and how they eventually complied.

 

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Must-read: “Don’t Let a Disability Keep You from Exploring the World”

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Cover of book with three men standing on a mountain one in a backpack (which is Kevan)We Carry Kevan is the true story of how six friends carried one man across three countries. “Don’t let your disability stop you from exploring the world,” says Kevan Chandler in his new book, and documentary, and yes, even a Ted Talk. The man is unstoppable. Read more here.

The author is on a mission to redefine independent travel for wheelchair users like himself. And that he has. You can even buy the same backpack he designed for the trip. It will be available for purchase this summer. Details on his website.

 

 

 

 

Google Goes Accessible with Routes for Wheelchair Users. Plus: More Options

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birds eye view of planes and houses

The tool: Google maps that integrate wheelchair accessible public transit routes into its directions feature.

The reviews: Cautiously optimistic, according to a New Mobility review.

The buzz: Few travel industry folks we spoke with even knew about the Google tool, which could become a helpful solution, particularly for city wheelers.

Who its best for right now: According the New Mobility review, “Users in six cities – New York, Boston, Tokyo, London, Mexico City, and Sydney – can search for directions between locations, choose public transit as the method of travel and then select “wheelchair accessible” from the route-options menu. As with all public transit searches in Maps, a selection of routes will appear, but now only routes with accessible stations and modes of transit will be included.” 
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Another option: Project Sidewalk, a crowdsourced navigation tool that gamifies collecting data has been developed at the University of Washington Makeability Lab, was successfully tested in Washington, D.C. and according to their Twitter feed, has launched in Seattle with massive success. A recent tweet via @projesidwalk: “Project Sidewalk is now officially live in Seattle! In our first week, we collected over 10,000 sidewalk accessibility labels. Help us get to 20,000! You can participate from all seven continents–all you need is an Internet connection & a laptop!

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Our vote: Project Sidewalk, which looks like it’s off to a promising start.

Editor’s note: Don’t confuse Project Sidewalk with another (controversial) initiative from Alphabet called Sidewalk Labs, which will collect data on commuter routes in Portland. (This piece in Geekwire makes no mention of tracking wheelchair users or routes.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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