As part of her regular column, U.K.-based equal rights and accessibility campaigner Emma Spagnola (left) describes the experience of taking her six-year-old son Mason, who is autistic, abroad on holidays. Traveling with children is never easy but add the ‘A’ word onto that and it is incredibly hard, she says. Find out more about the hurdles that she faces. READ MORE
Editorial
New Emojis Can Help People With Disabilities Feel More A Part of the Smartphone World
This month the Unicode Consortium released a 2019 update to their collection of emojis with some people, but not all, praising designers’ efforts to be more inclusive and diverse. The symbols, now ubiquitous in electronic messages, will be available on most platforms in the fall. Of the 230 just-released emojis, Unicode includes more options for people (of varying gender, skin and hair color) who use hearing devices, prosthetics, a white cane, guide dogs, service dogs, and wheelchairs, according to Forbes.com READ MORE
Welcome to the TravelAbility Report
Our mission each month is making travel accessible and enjoyable for everyone. So busy with the holidays that you didn’t get to read our first Travelability Report? No problem, you can find it here.
Notes From Our Guest Editor
Welcome and thanks for reading about making travel accessible and exciting for everyone. You can be sure this is a topic that is close to my heart. I write about the role of disabilities in the workplace for Forbes.com and cover wellness, mental health and learning disabilities in print and online. My book about raising quirky kids is titled The Elephant in the Playroom. Equally important is my favorite place to travel. That’s Fire Island, NY, where there are no cars—only the (mostly) quiet hum of families having fun. Spending time with my children and without the summer traffic that clogs New York City was pure heaven each summer, particularly for my son, who, as a young kid, had severe sensory issues. Safe travels and see you next month! In the meantime, find out more about our upcoming 2019 TravelAbility Summit in San Francisco —Denise Brodey
Disabled People Must Be Able to Talk More Openly About Sex—It’s Important for Their Health.
Here’s a fact you probably didn’t know: Only 5% of people who aren’t disabled have ever been asked out or been on a date with a disabled person, according to one study. Actress and disability campaigner Samantha Renke hopes to change that statistic. She writes candidly in MetroNews UK that, to make matters worse, she has to endure either intrusive questions from those around her or total silence around the topic in general. Renke writes that she thinks that silence has probably led her to lose out on the chance to have some valuable relationships. Read more.