TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Editorial

Is L’Oréal’s New Robotic Lipstick applicator just Lip Service?

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Today, many people with disabilities face a sense of exclusion when they browse the cosmetics aisle. There are often few, if any, products designed for someone with limited fine motor skills. L’Oréal has introduced a robotic lipstick applicator designed for people with limited hand and arm mobility.

“Hapta is essentially a miniature robotic arm that requires lots of machine learning and complicated algorithms. Combine that with our sense of purpose and drive around inclusion, I truly believe this is the result of the marriage of these two forces.” said Guive Balooch, the global chief of L’Oréal’s technology incubator.

TravelAbility Insider Insight:  While there have been other accessible personal products developed by major brands for people with limited arm and hand mobility, Degree Inclusive deodorant comes to mind, this may be the tip of the beauty-industrial complex iceberg as robotics and advanced AI such as CHATGPT, may portend a future of robotic cosmetologists providing on-demand automated makeovers. However, today, it provides a welcome layer of independence for those with cerebral palsy or Parkinson’s disease. Read More.

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.

TravelAbility in the News 2022

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December 19, 2022:  Hospitality Associations Petition to send “Tester” cases to the Supreme Court.

December 5, 2022:The Unintended Consequences of Being an Accessible Destination

November 19, 2022:  Seven Unintended Benefits of Becoming an Accessible Hotel.

June 27, 2022:  TravelAbility’s Emerging Markets Summit: A Review

June 13, 2022:  TravelAbility’s 2022 Emerging Markets Summit Overview

May 30, 2022: TravelAbility Emerging Markets Summit 38-Page Preview Edition

February 21, 2022:  TravelAbility Publishes industry’s first Accessibility Playbook.

January 20, 2022. TravelAbility Announces Free Portal Linking people with Disabilities to Free Travel content for 125+ destinations.

The Evolution of TravelAbility 2020-2022

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Since 2019, when we formed TravelAbility, our efforts have focused on creating an industry hub that provides research, tools, tips and innovations that the travel industry needs to be accessible for people with disabilities.  Below you will find a summary of the progress we’ve made on the portfolio of projects we’ve undertaken over the last three years. 

New for 2023:

  1. TravelAbility has signed an MOU with the Rosen College of Hospitality Management, part of the University of Central Florida , to develop a weekly one hour Accessibility in Travel learning module that will be a requisite for graduation for all 3300 students.
  2. TravelAbility for Hospitality, targeted to our proprietary database of 3300 hotel management company executives covering accessibility and sustainability
  3. Testing Ideas that can scale: Develop a series of beta/ pilot programs that will be introduced at EMS 2023 in Savannah
  4. Expand Accessible Destinations landing project top 20 tourism destinations in Europe
  5. Re-branding TravelAbility’s Launchpad pitchfest to the InnovateAble Showcase

Seven Unintended Consequences of Being an Accessible Hotel

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This is the second installment in our “Unintended Consequences…” series which focuses on the upsides that are experienced when accessibility is a priority. The first in the series, Unintended Consequences of Being an Accessible Destination, was introduced to the industry through Destinations International. The second installment, published as an op-ed in Travel Weekly, summarizes the unforeseen benefits hoteliers derive from simply being more inclusive for people with disabilities, foremost of which is that they will be prepared for the tsunami of aging travelers that will evolve into a disability in the very near future.  Read More.