TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Editorial

Key Experts Join Advisory Board, Bring Expertise to TravelAbility Summit 2020

by

A warm welcome to all of the new TravelAbility Summit Advisory Board Members who will join us in 2020. These subject experts further expand our expertise and understanding of the landscape at the intersection of disability, technology, and travel. 

Bonnie Lewkowicz, Program Manager of Access Northern CA at Bay Area Outreach & Recreation Program

Bonnie Lewkowicz, whose experience includes operating a special needs travel agency, has worked in the field of Inclusive Tourism for over 30 years specializing in lodging accessibility, accessible trails, customer service training with a disability focus and as an accessibility information specialist.  

headshot of Kathryn Speer Shoaf smiling red hair

Kathryn Speer-Shoaf, R.N., is the Owner/ CEO of Elite Cruises & Vacations

Kathryn Speer-Shoaf is a dementia-friendly travel expert as well as a Supported Senior Travel and Accessible Group Travel Specialist. As an R.N. and experienced Group Travel Expert, Speer-Shoaf has created travel opportunities in a wide range of venues including exclusive cruise, land tour, and topical social itineraries. Speer-Shoaf also consults on Luxury/ VIP, Faith-based, accessible, senior, diabetes, cancer care, educational /CEU, and other topical group cruise events.

Nicole King-Smith Ph.D., CHT, CGSP, CEO at NK Enterprise
Consulting, LLC

Dr. Nicole King-Smith is a generational expert whose work focuses on
training professionals and organizations on how to achieve their desired
results and overcome generational gaps in their workplace culture. As the
director of customer service training for Ft. Myers CVB, she developed and
incorporated one of the DMO industry’s first accessibility training modules.

Judi Durant, Director of Visitor Services, The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel, Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau

Judi Durant, Director of Visitor Services, The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel – Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau, has extensive experience helping families to get the most out of vacation venues that they may have once avoided due to noise and other sensory issues. As Director of Visitor Services Durant is a pioneer in customer experience training for consumer-facing staff not only at the airport, where she is headquartered but also for hotels and attractions. Durant serves as chair of the ADA Advisory Board of Southwest Florida and works with community experts in the disabilities field.

Josh Loebner, Director of Strategy at Designsensory

Josh Loebner, director of strategy at Designsensory, specializes in brand planning and brings conviction, visibility, and voice to a rarely discussed topic—advertising and disability. He is based in Knoxville, TN.

Edward Harris Chief Marketing Officer at Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board

Edward Harris, chief marketing officer at Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board, has been the driving force behind the Valley Forge accessibility initiatives. In just six months the destination has researched and organized accessible attractions and hotel product and developed “Access Montco” an inclusive awareness video that wowed the crowd the annual meeting. Ed’s background in executive marketing positions with eBay, Under Armour, and Timberland will be quite valuable as the event moves forward.

Toby Willis, Technical Program Manager at Expedia Group

Toby Willis, technical program manager at Expedia Group say: “My vision loss has made me a creative problem solver and diplomat. This, coupled with my strong work ethic gives me the relentless drive and dogged determination I have to break down the social and attitudinal barriers that allow people with disabilities to live full, rewarding lives. I am a tenacious, life-long-learner with a vibrant, entrepreneurial spirit. I love people and teamwork. I am currently building an Equal Productivity Access Program for the Expedia Group Information Technology organization.

Find a complete listing of TravelAbility Summit Advisory Board members on the Summit website.

The 2019 TravelAbility Summit Slideshow: A Fabulous Audience, Expert Speakers and a Lot of Learning!

by

  • Susan Sygall, Mobility International meets Carole Astley & Sachie York from Travel Oregon
  • Lara Sandora, Adrian Smith, Madeline Chase share their travel stories as moms of children on the autism spectrum with Marc Garcia, Visit Mesa
  • An engrossed audience at LaunchPad
  • Kerry Mauger, Wings for Autism Program Manager, The Arc
  • Conference Guests enjoying themselves at the LaunchPad reception.
  • Laszlo Horvath, LaunchPad Emcee with Jason McKee from Accessibility Shield
  • Conference Session
  • Theresa Stern from Guide Dogs for the Blind
  • Brandon Hochman from My Shower Buddy, co-winner of LaunchPad 2019
  • two women smiling at reception
    Carole Astley & Sachie York from Travel Oregon
  • Jeff Yoshioko, WHill & Lesli Wang, Free2Go Mobility Solutions- LaunchPad 2019 Winners
  • Mike May from Access Explorer
  • Nate Lane, Pegasus, Harris, Visit Valley Forge & Art Jimenez,Reno-Tahoe USA
  • Jay Cardinali with Kirsten Baker, Jeenie
  • Meegan Winters from Able Eyes presents at LaunchPad
  • John Morris from wheelchairtravel.org
  • The Judges at LaunchPad
  • Chris Lona, CL Designs presenting at LaunchPad
  • Troy Otillio, Aira and Christopher Shilder, Marriott International
  • Srin Madipalli and the audience members listening to conference presentation
    AirBnB Accessibility Expert Srin Madipalli
  • Sid Marcos, Outlandish Travel
  • Patty David from AARP shares data on the Boomer Travel Market
  • Michael Sobell, Autism on the Seas, Ron Pettit, Royal Caribbean and Julie Jones from Australia
  • Mary Kay Vrba tells the story of the Think Differently initiative in Dutchess County
  • Makiko Matsuda Healy from NYC & Co
  • We Love NY Makiko Healy,Sara Emmert, Susanne O’Neil & Mary Kay Vrba
  • Karlene Holloman, Point Hospitality
  • Judi Durant & Josh Lambert from the Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel share the secrets of their customer service training
  • Advisory Board Members Dave Lorenz, Visit Michigan & Josh Loebner, Designsensory
  • Janis Ross of Eugene & The Cascades shares the accessibility initiatives from Eugene
  • TravelAbility Founder Jake Steinman fields a question
  • Accessible Travel Pioneer Eric Lipp of Open Doors organization
  • Dave Lorenz from Visit Michigan explains how they raised the bar on accessibility
  • Lunch time
  • Accessible Travel Experts Sue Slater, Presto Magic Travel, Myron Pincomb IBCCES & JohnSage, Accessible Travel Solutions
  • Camilo Navarro shares the mission of Wheel the World
  • Overcoming the Fears of Accessibility Mike May, Access Explorer, Isabell Ducharme Keroul & Srin Madipalli AirBnB

Thank you to all who attended. We can’t wait to see you in 2020.

Congratulations to the Winners of the TravelAbility LaunchPad Pitchfest

by

TravelAbility’s pre-conference LaunchPad, a pitchfest featuring 15 companies (a mix of start-ups and established businesses), showcased emerging assistive technology and products to the travel and disability community. The voting outcome revealed that the judges favored practical products engineered for everyday use. Each winner provides a practical solution to make an aspect of travel accessible for people with a disability. Note: In the first-place category for Established Business, winners were tied.

Jeff Yoshioko headshot wearing tie and black jacket smiling dark hair and eyes

1st place winner,
Established Business:
 Jeff Yoshioko, Sr. Marketing Manager, WHILL

WHILL provides a worldwide Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) model to improve the current travel landscape for mobility device users by improving their freedom and independence. Currently in beta testing at Winnepeg and Minneapolis airports, WHILL offers cutting-edge Model Ci and Model A Intelligent Personal Electric Vehicles (EVs). “WHILL has won several design and innovation awards including a TIMES Best Invention of 2018,” said Jeff Yoshioka, national sales manager. “It’s great to be further recognized as a product that can create a unique and more positive experience for people with a disability as they travel.”  See the brief explainer video here. Note: WHILL recently merged with Scootaround, a leading wheelchair and scooter rentals solutions company.

1st place winner,
Established Business:
Israel Gamburd, Founder, My Shower Buddy

Many of us take the experience of showering for granted—there’s not much for us to worry about. But for people with disabilities, it’s a lot different. Shower Buddy offers independence and freedom from anxiety or worry about slips and falls or needing someone to help you bathe. The six different models range from pediatric to adult. Having one in a hotel would easily convert a regular bathtub or step over shower into an Accessible shower. “I had no idea there would be so much interest in Shower Buddy from the hotel industry until we were invited present at TravelAbility’s LaunchPad Pitchfest,” commented Israel Gamburd, president of  Shower Buddy. “ We’re now looking into the possibility of exhibiting at hotel procurement shows. TravelAbility has opened the possibility of an entirely new channel of distribution for us.”   See a video here. 

headshot of Lesli Wang wearing white collared shirt and black sweater smiling, short hair

1st place winner,
Emerging Business:
Lesli Wang, Founder, and CEO, Free2GoMobility

By combining the benefits of toilet safety products used in the home (a raised toilet seat on toilet safe frame) along with a compact rolling walker ‘rollator’ the award-winning Free2GoRollator allows anyone to safely use a toilet in a restroom while traveling—whether you are off with family and friends, in a public restroom or at an airport, hotel or cruise line bathroom.)  “I am thrilled to have won TravelAbility’s award for Best start-up among the 15 finalists that presented during the LaunchPad pitchfest,” said Lesli Wang, founder and CEO of Free2Go Rollator. “ I invented this product because my mom needed assistance in using the restroom and we thought a rolling walker that could be adapted to any toilet was the right solution. This award validates all the hard work in developing and marketing this product.”See the video here. 

About the Judging and Criteria

Eight judges, divided into two-hour shifts, were asked to evaluate each of the finalists on a 1-5 scale using the following criteria:

  • What is the problem and solution that you provide?  
  • Does the product make travel easier for people with a disability? 
  • Does the company have a viable business model?
  • Is the value proposition convincing? 

What Can the Travel Industry Learn from a Pizza Maker? A Lot.

by

Photo of Dominos pizza and garlic knots with a soda and a cell phone.

OUR TAKE: Experts say there has been a nearly 200% increase in ADA website accessibility-related lawsuits between 2017 to 2018.  How will Google’s algorithm come into play? What can the travel industry do to be proactive? That’s where we hope play a significant role.

The TravelAbility Summit is the first-ever conference to bring together the travel industry with product and service innovators dedicated to improving travel experiences for individuals with physical, visual, auditory and cognitive disabilities. “The goal is to help bring accessibility to a higher level,” said Jake Steinman, founder of TravelAbility Summit.

Not sure if your website is compliant with accessibility requirements—or if it even needs to be? Perhaps the best place to start is by taking a cue from Domino’s. According to featured speakers at the upcoming TravelAbility Summit, including an attorney who specializes in defending hotels with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) claims, companies in the travel sector can learn a lot from Domino’s recent ADA-related legal setback.  

For those readers not familiar with the case: In 2016, Guillermo Robles filed a lawsuit against Domino’s after he had attempted, at least two times, to order a pizza from the food chain’s website and mobile app.  At issue? Robles is blind and uses screen-reading software that allow him to successfully navigate websites. As it turns out, Dominos isn’t one of them. 

Robles is just one of an increasing number of people with disabilities in the USA who are suing businesses they say are discriminating against them by not providing accessible websites as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In fact, ADA web accessibility-related lawsuits increased 181% from 2017 to 2018, with 814 cases in 2017 and 2,285 lawsuits filed in 2018, according to tracking by the accessible technology firm UseableNet,who says the pace of ADA lawsuits is equivalent to one per hour. 

“Website accessibility is the latest trend in ADA litigation and this ruling essentially provides a green light for a slew of new predatory lawsuits by attorneys using digital crawlers to target travel supplier’s websites that are not accessible,” says Jake Steinman, founder of the TravelAbility Summit.  “On the other side, there will also be a surge in spam e-mails from third-party web vendors trying to sell accessibility upgrades to anyone and everyone.  Travel Tripper’s Nate Lane recommends that companies should exercise prudence by requesting references and focus on those with developing travel websites. But what may motivate suppliers and even destinations to justify investing inaccessibility, even more, may be rumors that Google’s algorithm may eventually bury websites that are non-compliant off the first page of organic search results reminiscent to what happened to websites five years ago that were not mobile-friendly. The result of this was an explosion of innovative development that ultimately led to Responsive Design, which today is universally incorporated in every mobile design. Hopefully, history will repeat itself.” 

Robles’ case against Domino’s, which was originally dismissed in 2017 by a district court judge in California, was re-instated in January of this year unanimously by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9thCircuit. In sending the case back for the lower court judge to decide, Circuit Judge John B. Owens wrote, “At least since 1996, Domino’s has been on notice that its online offerings must effectively communicate with its disabled customers and facilitate ‘full and equal enjoyment’ of Domino’s goods and services. While we understand why Domino’s wants DOJ to issue specific guidelines for website and app accessibility, the Constitution only requires that Domino’s receive fair notice of its legal duties, not a blueprint for compliance with its statutory obligations.”

The lawsuit has now been active for more than three years—and gained more ground this month when the Supreme Court denied Domino’s petition to hear its case and determine whether its website is required to be accessible to the disabled. Domino’s position in its request to the Supreme Court was the ADA doesn’t apply to websites and mobile apps since the law established in 1990 predates the birth of the modern web and no clear rules to follow regarding online accessibility exist. Attorneys for Robles say otherwise, and the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case means Domino’s must defend its position in court.

According to legal experts, the Supreme Court’s decision is a huge loss for the company and huge win for people with disabilities. It’s also another warning sign for the travel and hospitality industry, says Stuart Tubis, an ADA defense attorney who will be presenting at TravelAbility Summit. “All travel-related businesses should understand the legal liability of having a public website that isn’t accessible. It can cause a lawsuit.” Tubis regularly counsels businesses on the full spectrum of ADA compliance and represents their interests in civil litigation and Department of Justice investigations. Nate Lane, senior director of digital platforms, Travel Tripper & Pegasus, which specializes in helping hotels build accessibility into their websites, emphasizes the time is now to take the initiative. “Even before the Domino’s ruling we looked at accessibility as something that was mandatory, because so many of the lawsuits had merit. My advice is to not bother to debate the merits of an accessible lawsuit, but be proactive because it’s the right thing to do in the first place,” says Lane, who will also be presenting at the TravelAbility Summit. When asked how to evaluate the range of accessibility service providers, Lane suggested that they should make sure they have travel-industry related expertise, use a holistic approach, and have verifiable references. “Many hotels get into trouble with multi-vertical vendors who don’t understand the nuances of travel,” Lane continued. “The effect of this ruling for existing vendors such as us, will be to enhance and bring accessibility offerings to even higher levels.”

According to the Napa Valley News, California wineries have been hit hard with web accessibility lawsuits this year and when the marketing director of one of Sonoma’s most prominent wineries was asked why she finally made their website accessible, she said: “It’s the most effective form of customer service we can possibly offer.” 

TravelAbility Summit attendees will be able to pick the brains of five presenters with expertise in website accessibility.  Nate Lane, Travel Tripper; Stuart Tubis, ADA hotel defense attorney, Jeffers, Mangel, Butler,  Shenyse Lujan, Audioeye; Chris Lona, CL Designs.  

See the newly updated agenda here.  Register here.

This piece was updated on October 15, 2019.

 

Is Fear Keeping You From Tackling Accessibility Challenges?

by

mom and dad hug their grown son who is smiling. son has Down's syndrome.Apart from the obvious moral arguments, people with disabilities comprise a huge and growing market, explains Catherine Roberts in a piece for Travel Mole. She writes that while people working in the travel industry love to share that passion for travel with other people—and hopefully inspire them to travel, too—the industry still has a way to go when it comes to accessibility needs. Roberts comments make sense: “One of the reasons is fear. But we don’t have to be perfect straight away. We just have to start a dialogue with travelers who live with disabilities – and be willing to say yes, we’ll try to help. We can ask openly about holiday requirements, as we would with any client.” Read more of her insightful comments, here.

Our take: Many people fear that their attempt to become accessible will fall short. Every disability has a spectrum and it’s almost impossible to be 100% accessible. The goal is trying and making it known that you are.