TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Disability Awareness

650 Famous People with Non-Visible Disabilities. How Many Do You Recognize?

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Billie Eilish with neon green hair holding a microphone and singing

This website unearthed 650+ famous people with disabilities during our recent research on neurodiversity. What is an example of a disability? According to Disabled World it is:

“A disability is often used to refer to individual functioning, including physical impairment, sensory impairment, cognitive impairment, intellectual impairment, mental illness, and various types of chronic diseases. A disability can be present from birth or occur during a person’s lifetime.”

Our Takeaway: Shining the spotlight on successful people with hidden disabilities helps remove the stigma associated with hidden disabilities and reinforces the notion that a disability is not an obstacle to success. Read More.

NFL Backs Wheelchair Football League Super Bowl

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Before fans flocked to Phoenix for the Super Bowl, the city hosted another major football championship event featuring a different group of hard-hitting players.

The Wheelchair Football League held its second Super Bowl on Tuesday with a match between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Rams. The league, which was created by the NFL, the Bob Woodruff Foundation and Move United, is made up of athletes with disabilities who compete in wheelchairs, complete with uniforms and helmets of NFL teams. Read More.

Our Takeaway: The NFL has endured years of negative coverage about the perfunctory way they addressed the issue of player concussion injuries. Accessibility initiatives such as this and the half-time ASL halftime show interpretation of Rihanna’s dance (see “A Star is Born” story in this issue) demonstrates the way accessibility can be a boost to an organization’s reputation.  

A Star is Born: Did the ASL Signer Upstage Rihanna at Super Bowl LVII 2023 Halftime Show?

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Sign language interpreter Justina Miles started going viral on social media because of video showing her energetic interpretation of the performance’s lyrics. It’s not her first brush with internet fame. Miles has a popular TikTok account where she interprets popular songs into ASL with the same enthusiasm she put on display at the big game.

According to the National Association of the Deaf, Miles is from Philadelphia and was part of Team USA at the 2021/22 Deaflympics where athletes who are deaf or hard of hearing compete. She won silver as part of the 4×100 women’s track relay team. She has also interpreted for other artists around the country at various concerts, according to the NAD. Other well-known ASL interpreters were also part of the Super Bowl performance, including Troy Kostur. Read More.

Our Takeaway: Many commenters felt that Miles’ performance was physically more imposing than Rihanna’s and a huge breakthrough in awareness for what is possible for deaf interpretive dancers. Kudos to the NFL, which reportedly worked for nearly a year with the National Association of the Deaf to develop three ASL performances.

See Miles’ half-time performance here.

See Miles’ TikTok videos here.

TravelAbility Partners with Nation’s #1 Hospitality Management College to Change the Way Travelers with a Disability will be Treated in the Future

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Rosen College logo with black type and yellow shell plus TravelAbility logo with wordsThe Intersection of Travel adn Accessibility
Rosen College of Hospitality Management and TravelAbility Logo

TravelAbility is delighted to announce a new partnership with the Rosen College of Hospitality Management, a part of the University of Central Florida, to develop TravelAbility: Filling the Accessibility Gap in Hospitality, a self-paced learning module that will be part of the college’s experiential education program, a requirement of graduation for all 3000 students in the program.  A quiz will be administered.

“Perhaps more than any of the other projects we developed over the past four years,” said Jake Steinman, Founder and CEO of TravelAbility. “This collaboration has the potential to make the most impact as it will infuse a new generation of future hospitality supervisors and general managers with the awareness and empathy necessary to not only change the attitude about the way people with disabilities are perceived, but also how they are treated.”

TravelAbility will be contributing its expertise as well as content from The Accessibility Playbook, a copyrighted compendium of business cases, tips, products, innovations, and 99 videos from prior conferences and events.   

“All 3,000 plus students at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management are introduced to the wider societal challenges that impact our industry through their courses, our incredible Internship program, and the opportunities to engage through their P.R.E.P. activities,” commented Alan Fyall, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Rosen College of Hospitality.” “Our partnership with TravelAbility represents an important milestone as the travel industry awakens to the significance of travelers with a disability and the steps required to both welcome and accommodate them in a seamless manner.”

The Rosen College of Hospitality Management was rated #1 academic level tourism program in the U.S. and #2 in the world.

“Building on the success of our education on human trafficking,” remarked Dean Fyall, “our partnership with TravelAbility will have a huge impact on our students and ensure they are suitably equipped to take their industry into the future in a more inclusive and accessible manner.”

What is the Accessibility Gap? Since every disability has a spectrum, and the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) was written for the median, even if they are fully compliant, hotels, attractions and restaurants still work for only 50% of the people. The Accessibility Gapcan be filled by showcasing information online, providing training about accessibility needs, and implementing adaptive innovations that are currently available.

The course will begin with the spring semester and allow the next generation of travel industry executives, meeting planners and event managers to learn how to be welcoming to all guests. “Travel is the toy department of life,” said Steinman, “everyone should be able to enjoy it.”

About TravelAbility, now celebrating our fifth year, is an organization that works within the travel industry to improve the experience that people with disabilities have while they are traveling. As part of this initiative, we also act as a one-stop source that connects travel organizations with the expertise, innovations, and resources they need so disabled travelers have the information they require to ensure smoother sailing while planning travel.

About UFC Rosen College of Hospitality Management offers their students the opportunity to learn and work in the center of hospitality. The students at the college are given the opportunity to study within an internationally recognized faculty that consists of cutting-edge research, innovative academic programs, and strong industry and community partnerships. 

For more information, contact: info@travelability.net.

TA Insider Insight: This initiative came together after Gisela Canova, Head of internships and Associate Dean Alan Fyall, attended EMS 2022 in Orlando. In a follow up meeting in which they were shown our proprietary Accessibility Playbook, it was decided to move forward with the learning module which, hopefully, will lead to a full online course that will inspire more academic institutions to add accessibility to their curriculum.

Davos: Employees with Disabilities on the Agenda

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Photo ofsmiling Caroline Casey, social entrepreneur wearing a black shirt .She has long blonde hair

Social entrepreneur Caroline Casey, who is blind, has put disability on the main stage at this elite forum where business leaders are likely masking their true selves. Only three per cent of CEOs would go public about a disability or caregiving role, according to a recent survey by The Valuable 500 collective of global firms. Ms Casey launched Valuable at the World Economic Forum in Davos four years ago to encourage businesses to tap into the skills and consumer power of 1.3 billion people living with disabilities worldwide.

“Let’s be honest, disability has never been on a platform like this ever before, You’re here to hustle, and you can pretty much hustle and meet more people than you can imagine, It’s about using the power of business to end disability exclusion.” she said.

TravelAbility Insider Insight: Not only do workers with disabilities try to hide their disability, they are also reluctant to travel due to their negative past experiences.  We believe it was Mark Twain, who said: “Once a cat sits on a hot stove he’ll never sit on a hot stove again, but he’ll never sit on a cold one either.With 35% of the employees working remotely the reluctance to travel limits the advancement  of disabled team members as they are not privy to team building off -sites, and the opportunities at industry conferences and trade shows to network and schmooze. It is up to meeting planners, conference facilities managers and the hospitality industry to help reverse this trend in this critical segment of the travel industry.

Read more.

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