TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Hidden Disabilities

Actors With Intellectual Disabilities Steal the Show in “Champions”

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Five actors with disabilities, including Down Syndrome, wearing basketball uniforms huddle in a scene from the film "Champions"

Never mind Woody Harrelson. The real standouts of the movie Champions, directed by Bobby Farrelly and adapted from a Spanish film by Mark Rizzo, are the actors who portray the Friends basketball team.

“As a writer, you hope that the actors like the material and that they elevate it in some way,” Rizzo said in a recent interview. “In this film, each and every member of the cast did exactly that. I was blown away by how the funny scenes were just funnier with them in them. They made brilliant choices that I could not have imagined.”

Woody Harrelson plays a tough minor-league coach whose dream of working in the NBA is derailed when he is court-mandated to work with a team of players with intellectual disabilities, the Friends.

Rizzo said his goal was to allow plenty of room for the young actors to make the creative choices necessary for bringing their characters to life.

“For me, it was making sure that the disabled people in the movie carried as much story and as much agency as the non-disabled people. That was really my sole focus. I wanted to give them as many choices and emotional arcs as any other character would have.” Read more.

TravelAbility Takeaway: Who doesn’t love a good underdog sports movie? Harrelson is convincing in the Tom Hanks “there’s-no-crying-in baseball-role”, but the movie is stolen by the team of actors with intellectual disabilities. They are at once funny and believable. Note: Both the original Spanish film and the American remake draw inspiration from the true story of the Aderes basketball team, a Valencia-based team of players with intellectual disabilities who who win multiple championships in Spain.

Tips on Accessible Solo Travel by Chelsea Bear, a TravelAbility Board Member

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Woman wearing sunglasses and smiling as she stands in front of a body of water

Research. Planning. More research. Repeat.

That’s the message threaded through Chelsea Bear’s Trip Advisor article on solo travel for people with disabilities: You can’t be overprepared.

Chelsea confesses that as a person with cerebral palsy who uses an electric scooter, she used to think that solo travel was not an option for her.  Now, she writes, “at age 30, I can happily say that my younger self’s beliefs and fears were completely wrong—I’ve traveled to 10 countries outside of the United States and dozens of states domestically.” In addition to tapping her own experience, Chelsea shares tips from leading travel influencers including Corey Lee, Sylvia Longmire, and Houston Vandergriff. Tips range from zip ties to extra batteries to mapping every conceivable destination and resource ahead of time. Read more.

UK Blue Badge Access Awards Recognize Hospitality Leaders in Accessible Design

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Seven people, one in a wheelchair, smiling and holding up award statues

TravelAbility recently attended the BLUE BADGE ACCESS AWARDS 2023  held at London’s Great Scotland Yard Hotel. We also attended a West End performance of Little Big Things, an incredibly rousing, accessibility-themed musical. The Blue Badge Access Awards want to raise the profile of accessibility in the industry and to honor the venues that are excelling at—and proud of—their accessibility.

The 11 Awards—for everything from best and worst bathrooms (loos), to hotels, spas and bars—were presented to venues and individuals that have provided exceptional accessibility, style, and design in the hospitality business and beyond…as well as those who haven’t! Read more.

TravelAbility Takeaway: This was not only a wonderful ceremony celebrating the best of Britain’s accessibility with a cheeky nod to the not-so-great, but also a blueprint for any destination to create their own award luncheon to showcase and honor their industry partners that provide stand-out accessibility and perhaps even generate FOMO.  After listening to various speakers discussing their frustrations with the inconsistent and catch-as-catch-can accessibility, it made us appreciate the ADA which, inadequate as it may be, provides a baseline of physical accessibility that is generally available.  In the UK, which has had the Disability Equality Act since 2010, there is no enforcement and many buildings—including hotels—are centuries old and grandfathered out.  

Disability Opportunity Fund Awards $250,000 in their own Shark Tank

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Group of 13 people posing with an oversized check bearing the Maidenbaum logo and standing in front of a Maidenbaum backdrop

Long Islanders typically cringe at the mention of sharks, but eight companies serving the disability community were thrilled to enter the Shark Tank in Garden City last month organized by the Disability Opportunity Fund (DOF). The fund gave out $250,000 during the pitch fest to support product development and job creation benefiting individuals with disabilities. First prize of $50,000 went to Valence Variations, which has developed an AI-powered app that can read and interpret a speaker’s emotions.

“Thank you so much to the Disability Opportunity Fund for this opportunity,” said Valence Vibrations Co-Founder and CEO Chloe Duckworth. “This capital is going to accelerate our growth to be able to support more neurodiverse people and help in building digital accessibility.”

The Shark Tank competition was part of the DOFs (DOF) 15th anniversary celebration. The evening also included a major funding announcement from the Maidenbaum Property Tax Reduction Group, which together with DOF awarded $75,000 in grants to 15 Long Island nonprofit organizations that support people with disabilities. Each organization received a $5,000 grant to continue and expand on their work. Read more.

TravelAbility TakeAway: Are Shark Tank competitions taking a bite out of the traditional phone book-sized grant proposal? (By the way, what’s a phone book?) That could be a welcome trend in the industry, particularly for the extroverts out there who make it look easy. Don’t be fooled: Pitching to an audience is still a lot of work and a lot of pressure.

Travel Oregon Awards 3.6 Million in Grants for Inclusive Tourism

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Woman using a wheelchair on a beach with steep cliffs rising out of the ocean

As part of an ongoing and far-reaching statewide initiative, Travel Oregon has awarded $3.6 million in competitive grants to DMOs, attractions, and cities for inclusion and accessibility projects.

The grants program targets funding for accessibility and inclusivity for underserved and under-resourced communities including people with disabilities, BIPOC, Oregon’s nine federally recognized tribes and LBGTQIA+. Funded projects reflect and align with Travel Oregon’s vision of a welcoming destination where tourism drives economic prosperity, benefits the natural environment and celebrates rich, diverse cultures—and must improve tourism infrastructure or enhance promotion of accessible and inclusive tourism.

“To say I’m inspired by the potential of this year’s grant awards would be an understatement,” said Todd Davidson, CEO of Travel Oregon. “Upon completion, each project will make a substantial impact on the accessibility and inclusivity of the tourism industry in Oregon, supporting Travel Oregon’s vision of a welcoming destination for all where tourism drives economic prosperity, benefits the natural environment and celebrates rich, diverse cultures.” Read more.

TravelAbility TakeAway: No question that Oregon is one of the key states to watch for leadership on inclusive and accessible travel. As we reported in last month’s Insider, Travel Oregon had the largest contingent of attendees at the Emerging Markets Summit in Savannah in August, with more than 30 staffers. They are using the TravelAbility network to great advantage, studying model initiatives from around the country and the world and turning that research into sustainable practice.