TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Advisory Board

Department of Commerce Appoints 3 TravelAbility presenters to U.S. Tour and Travel Advisory Board

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White House icon on blue background.with texgt saying White House, Washington
White House, Washjngton DC logo

Congratulations to Advisory Board members Eric Lipp, founder of Open Doors Organization and emeritus member, John Sage, founder of Accessible Travel Solutions, both wheelchair users and legends in the accessible travel industry, who along with Andrew Leary, Director of Sustainable Travel and Partnerships for Leave No Trace were appointed by Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo to the U.S. Department of Commerce Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. They join other industry leaders such as the CEO’s of Airbnb, Booking.com, TripAdvisor and Expedia. See the full list of members here.

TravelAbility Insider Insight: Having two legends who’ve been deeply involved in accessible travel for over twenty years with a seat at the table contributing to future travel policy is a big win for the future of accessible travel and an acknowledgement that travelers with disabilities are an important segment for the future of the industry. 

TravelAbility Advisory Board Members In the News:

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John Morris Meets the Pope

Photo of John Morris in wheelchair wearing a blue ski jacket shaking hands with the Pope who is in a wheelchair and dressed in a white cassock

Blessings to John Morris, founder of Wheelchairtravel.org, who paid a visit to Vatican City in Rome this past November that included a face-to-face audience with Pope Francis, a fellow wheelchair user. Learn How He Did it

Wheel the World Recognized By Fast Company

Photo of Camilo Navarro with beard wearing black fleece jacket

Kudos to Wheel the World co-founder and advisory board member Camilo Navarro on being selected as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Travel Companies of 2022 as well as being invited to make a presentation from the main stage at CES in Las Vegas.

Goodmaps Wins CTA Pitch Competition

Headshot of Mike May wearing blue collared polo shirt

Hats off to Advisory Board member Mike May, chief evangelist, Goodmaps, which won the 2023 Consumer Technology Association (CTA) pitch competition at the 2023 CES in Las Vegas.

Josh Loebner in Adweek

photo of Josh Loebner in glasses wearing white shirt, purple cross hatched tie and a vest

Cheers to Advisory Board member, Josh Loebner, PhD, Global Director of Accessibility, Wunderman Thompson, who reviewed Seven of the most Accessible Brand campaigns and Actions of 2022 in an interview with Adweek.

Wunderman Thompson Agency Hires Global Director of Accessibility to Create More Adaptive Products

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Headshot of Josh Loebner

Congratulations to Josh Loebner, a prominent member of TravelAbility’s Advisory Board. No sooner had he successfully completed his Ph.D. in marketing to people with disabilities from George Washington University, than he was recruited by Wunderman Thompson, one of the world’s largest marketing agencies, as their Global Head of Inclusive Design. There, he will not only be helping major multi-national brands include accessible imaging in their advertising, but he will also work to design and develop adapted versions of their products.

To read more about Loebner’s new role, click here

Kudos to Marc Garcia on Winning US Travel’s “Destiny” Award

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Marc Garcia headshot.

Congratulations to TravelAbility Advisory Board member Marc Garcia, CEO, Visit Mesa, on winning the U.S. Travel Industry Association’s DESTINY Award in the special projects category at this week’s ESTO conference in Los Angeles. The honor recognized the extraordinary work his team has done in advancing accessibility and diversity.

It is the first time in the history of the award that anyone has been recognized in the category of accessibility and diversity.  Not exactly a walk on the moon, but…One small step for US Travel, one giant leap for legitimizing accessibility as an aspirational goal to the industry.

Congratulations, Marc!

TravelAbility Revises Its Vision and Purpose

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The TravelAbility team and the Advisory Board recently met to discuss what the organization has accomplished and a vision for the future. The result of our conversations is a revised mission statement.

TravelAbility Summit logo.

Our Vision is to become a prominent thought leader in accessible travel to improve the lives of people at ALL abilities and ALL ages.

Our Purpose is to inspire and educate the travel industry to provide accessible experiences to help people with disabilities enjoy travel as much as everyone else.

Our Goals are to help travel organizations:

  1. Easily incorporate Accessibility into Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives.
  2. Change the perception of people with disabilities from that of a compliance headache to an advanced form of guest service.
  3. Promote the bottom-line benefits of accessibility to businesses. For example, baby boomers are a high-spending group who hopes to travel, and accessible travel will attract boomers with assistance needs.

Our history and successes to date

Since we launched TravelAbility in 2019, we’ve been busy. Our first conference was in 2019, and we’ve grown exponentially since then. Check out:

  • Over 3,000 readers of the TravelAbility Insider newsletter.
  • The “Explorable” podcast series, in collaboration with Design Sensory, is up to 9 episodes.
  • Our accessible landing page initiative will launch with 41 destinations.
  • LaunchPad, the world’s only pitchfest that showcases adaptive technology and innovations designed to ease the impact of barriers during the travel experience.
  • Our website has been revamped as an online ecosystem that aggregates all the resources in one place that can help any travel organization become more accessible.