TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Editorial

Is Fear Keeping You From Tackling Accessibility Challenges?

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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. 

 

 

Let A Travel Pro Design Accessible Itineraries For Your Destination

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meet the TravelAbility itinerary design teamIf you are looking for an accessible itinerary to post on your site or offer as a service to the burgeoning group of travelers who need some accessibility built into their stay, where do you start?

You could go with what comes up on Google (meh) or you could trust five of the most curious, experienced and trustworthy pros in disability tourism (yes!) Imagine: Signed, sealed, delivered, it’s yours to publicize on your website and share through your social media channels.

Niche travel is sold through itineraries that include attractions, tours, and sites that cater to a specific audience,” stated Jake Steinman, founder of TravelAbility Summit. “We brought them together to help destinations add authenticity to their accessible itineraries by having them created by actual travelers with different disabilities who are prominent professionals in the industry.

“Once these itineraries are designed, DMO’s can promote the fact that they were designed by disability travel thought-leaders, all of whom have their own extensive following and can offer cross-promotion opportunities as well as consultation advice.”

Here is some background information on each itinerary design team member.

head shot of Cory Lee smiling wearing t shirt. He has eyeglasses and is sitting in his wheelchairCory Lee Woodard writes a travel blog Curb Free with Cory Lee and recently started his own travel agency. On his blog, full of detailed itineraries from around the globe, his mission is to show readers how, where and why to travel as a person with a disability. If you’ve got questions—what city is the most wheelchair-friendly? to what’s the best way to determine if a hotel has a roll-in shower? Cory Lee has answers.

sid in a black hat and olive green sweater


Sid Marcos is a business developer from San Diego, California. She is the former director of development for Outlandish Travel, where she produced accessible destination guides around fun themes such as pub tours. She is a founding member of the National Startup League and director of an incubator for social entrepreneurs. Learn more on her blog.

sue Slater head shot she has red hair and is smiling wearing a jacket and black topSue Slater, the founder of Presto Magic Travel, is a cruise and groups specialist who will soon be celebrating her 20th year in the travel industry creating accessible itineraries. She’s sent thousands of people on cruises all over the world, including cruise destination weddings. Accessibility is a personal passion and a necessity. Sue is blind and her husband has a chronic disability that requires him to use a wheelchair. Both travel extensively, hence she can find a work-around for pretty much any travel need you might have. Learn more, here.

upper body shot of John wearing a navy jacket and blue shirt sitting inside a plane smiling, wearing glasses John Morris approaches travel from a critical angle—in a good way. His fact-checking and reporting on the latest news in accessible travel is unrivaled. That’s probably because he’s traveling the world an average of 310 days a year as a triple amputee with one hand, a passport and a power wheelchair, writing about his travels and adventures—and asking crucial accessibility questions along the way. Read his blog, wheelchairtravel.org.

All five experts will be on-site at TravelAbility Summit, November 12-13 in San Francisco. The team will be given designated “office hours” at the end of each day to talk with you about creating authentic accessible itineraries

 

Handicap Accessible vs. Wheelchair Accessible: Do You Know the Difference?

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Entire family with Dad in front sitting in wheelchair

All accessibility is not equal, although there is some crossover, according to an informative post on thrivingwithparalysis.com. The author clarifies the differences according to her personal experience as a caregiver. This piece covers all the details from ‘the dreaded aisle seat, the perfect table for a wheelchair user and more.  

OUR TAKE: There’s no better expert than a traveler with a disability or their caregiver. This blog, with all of its details, couldn’t possibly be written with such detailed and trustworthy advice had in not been done by a caregiver whose got a lot of real-life knowledge to share. Destinations, attractions, and hotels would be wise to take caregiver through a tour of a place and do some on the spot usability testing.  It’s the little things that can make a huge difference in a traveler’s experience.

 READ MORE

 

Mom Worried Her Son Would Bother His Seatmate on the Plane. But Instead…They Became Buddies

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If you saw the two seatmates cracking jokes and having fun on the direct flight from Las Vegas to PDX, you might have assumed that they were father and son. But this wasn’t the usual son-tells-father-to-stop-making-Dad-jokes banter. They were strangers: One, a 7-year-old autistic boy traveling on a short flight without his mom and the other, a passenger who happened to take the seat next to him. Because mom was a bundle of nerves, she decided to write a note of introduction for whoever might sit next to her son, shown here. The ride turned out to be a shining moment for both of them, each enjoying the trip and getting to know each other. The video has since gone viral. SEE MORE, here.   

OUR TAKE: If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism. In the travel industry, which is all about new life experiences and connections, the story of the two seatmates couldn’t be a more appropriate example of that. Landon is definitely one of a kind! Find information on travel providers who specialize in working with people with autism, here. 

Personal Story: Arriving in the City That Never Sleeps Without My Legs

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When fashionista Madison Wilson arrived in New York City for Fashion Week, her wheelchair never made it off her departing flight and got left across the country. So, she had essentially arrived in the city that never sleeps while American Airlines left her legs in Chicago. When her wheelchair finally arrived in NYC five days later, it was broken and continued to become increasingly broken on the flight back home…READ MORE

OUR TAKE: Making connections with real people with real disabilities is the path to understanding them and the challenges they may face while traveling. At TravelAbility Summit, we take this idea seriously and our board, our content and our plans for our upcoming Summit all include the voices and experiences of people with disabilities. Use the links here to learn more about our Summit speakers and the Advisory Board instrumental in helping is to find such top-notch expertise.

photo credit: Madison Wilson

 

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