TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Disability Awareness

50+ Brains to Pick at TravelAbility 2023 Savannah

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Our Takeaway:  Accessibility is a journey without a destination! Whether you’re just beginning or trying to improve your existing accessibility, it can be an incredibly daunting task. That’s why TravelAbility has assembled over 50 speakers/presenters/panelists under one roof as well as 12 DMO members of our Destination A11Y Club that can help you.

For your convenience, we’ve organized them by their field of expertise.

Assessment Providers

  • John Sage, Accessible Travel Solutions
  • Eric Lipp, Open Doors Organization
  • Camillo Navarro, Wheel the World
  • Meredith Tekin, President, IBCCES
  • John Morris, founder, Wheelchair Travel

Accessible Training Experts

  • Camilo Navarro, co-founder, Wheel the World
  • Kristy Durso, owner, Incredible Memories Travel
  • John Sage, owner Accessible Travel Solutions
  • Eric Lipp, founder, Open Doors Organization
  • Meredith Tekin, President, IBCCES
  • Meegan Winter, founder, AbleVu
  • Lynn Smith, Sunflower Lanyard

Getting the Word Out. Accessible Travel Influencers

  • Houston Vandergriff: Downs and Towns (500k followers on TikTok)
  • Cory Lee Woodard, Curb Free with Cory Lee (100k+ followers on social/blog)
  • Jennifer Allen, Wonders within Reach (50k followers)
  • John Morris, Wheelchair Travel (25,000 followers)
  • Chelsea Bear, Breaking BEARiers (500k followers)

B2C Contacts: Travel Agents

  • Camilo Navarro, co-founder, Wheel the World
  • Kristy Durso, owner, Incredible Memories Travel
  • Amy Garner, KHM (host agency: 4000 agents)
  • John Sage, Owner, Sage Traveling
  • Chad Burr, Co-owner, Outside Agents (host agency: 3000 agents)
  • Kristy LaCroix, owner, Wheelchair Escapes
  • Debra Kerper, Owner, Easy Access Tours

Free Consultation

 “Pop Up Out-of-the-Box Consulting Room.”  Over 25 experts will be available for one-to-one advice sessions.

New Sessions Added

  • Airbnb’s head of Accessibility discusses their new outreach.
  • Developing a Bad Ass Accessibility Strategy.
  • Should accessibility be DE&I, DEI&A, or should it stand alone?
  • How America’s top nude beaches are embracing accessibility.
  • How (and where) to begin your accessibility journey.
  • How to use accessibility to win more meetings business.

TravelAbility EMS 2023 August 18-20, Savannah, GA

 AGENDA, https://travelability.net/summit/agenda/

SPEAKERShttps://travelability.net/summit/speakers/

REGISTER NOW: https://travelability.net/summit/register/  

TravelAbility and Becoming RentABLE Launch a Disability Events Calendar

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image of a calendar with 3 call-outs of disability events happening in May
TravelAbility and Becoming RentABLE are proud to announce the launch of a new calendar of events for disability conferences, events, and para sports events in North America. This collaboration aims to provide a comprehensive resource for individuals with disabilities and destinations so that they can prepare their stakeholders for upcoming events. The full calendar will be available on both the TravelAbility web site and Becoming RentAble web-site.

The calendar will include a wide range of events, from conferences on accessibility and inclusion to para sports competitions. The goal is to provide a one-stop-shop for individuals with disabilities to find events that interest them and provide opportunities for networking, learning, and fun.

“Disability has never had more visibility to the mainstream,” said Becoming RentAble CEO, Lorraine Woodward.  “Providing information about adaptive sports events and conferences creates networking and relationship building opportunities for a community that is woefully underserved.”

“We are thrilled to be working with Becoming RentAble on this project,” added TravelAbility founder, Jake Steinman. “Our goal is to raise awareness among destinations that hosting adaptive events and disability conferences provides an excellent opportunity to educate their hotels, attractions, restaurants about how to serve these visitors in a way that is welcoming and inclusive for everyone, and this calendar is a big step towards achieving that.”
The calendar will be available on both the TravelAbility.net and BecomingRentAble.com websites and will be regularly updated with new events.  
Stay tuned for more information on this exciting collaboration!
 
If you know of an upcoming event in your destination add it to the calendar . Listings are a free service for the community.

Conde Nast Magazine announces, “Beyond Barriers” Monthly Column Celebrating Accessible Travel

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photo of a disabled skier on top of the mountain

Tom D Morgan-Courtesy Sophie Morgan

Our Takeaway: In some ways, the UK media is light years ahead of their American counterparts when it comes to inclusive values.  Will others follow?

I would like to share a photograph. In it, a smiling 18-year-old girl wearing a faded sleeveless vest and ragged jeans leans forwards to counterbalance a backpack. She is embarking on her first intrepid adventure, standing on the precipice of a journey, but also of girlhood. She’s at that giddy time when everything seems to offer the promise of potential opportunity. The world is her oyster, and she knows it. When I look at this picture, nostalgia twists gently in my stomach. Then the feeling tightens with foreboding. In just a few weeks, that girl—her wanderlust tickled from a trip around southern India—will be paralyzed in a car crash. Read More.

College Students Rebel Against Inaccessibility with “F*ck The Stairs “campaign.

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photo of sign saying This Entrance Is Not Accessible. Use Ramps, Elevators and Accessible Doors F*ck the Stairs

Our Takeaway: The title says it all. Outrage is contagious as college students nationwide revolt the unfairness of wheelchair-using classmates having to struggle just to attend classes.

This past April, the Student Accessibility and Disability Alliance at the College of William and Mary organized an advocacy campaign titled “F*ck the Stairs.” The campaign challenged able-bodied students to spend two days using accessible means of travel to better understand the experience of mobility impaired individuals, promoting accessibility awareness on campus. 

Last fall, Student Assembly Undersecretary of Disability Initiatives Allison Stovall ’25, Heather Christensen ’23 and Cameron Lynch ’23 co-founded the SADA. The organization received official recognition from the College in March 2023.

“There were three of us that ended up founding it,” Stovall said. “We got together in October last year and we got approved by the university in March. This has been a very short timeframe that we’ve done a lot of this.”

The “F*ck the Stairs” movement advocates for only using wheelchair accessible ramps, elevators, elevations, and bathrooms for traveling around campus.

“F*ck the Stairs is all about showing everybody what it’s like to have to take inaccessible entrances on campus,” SADA Advocacy Chair Grayson Bunting ’26 said. “We’re making able-bodied students take only accessible entrances on campus today and tomorrow.”

Read More.

Are you Blue, Green or Purple? Egypt announces Color-coded Service Cards for PwDs

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The Ministry of Social Solidarity has started issuing coloured integrated services cards for people with disabilities as the government moves to ensure adequate accessibilty to more people with special needs in public life.

Egypt aims to include 2.7 million persons with severe disabilities in its nationwide integrated services card system by the end of 2023.

There are 12 million persons with various disabilities in Egypt out of a population of 104 million, according to the United Nations Development Program. Read more.

Our Takeaway: Egypt’s constitution is quite enlightened when it comes to caring for their disabled population. The color-coded system—blue= severe disability, green moderate disability and purples=mild disability—is admirable on its surface but may cause a wave of people inflating their disability status to maximize their benefits.  

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