TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Mobility

Feedback from 120MM Users Puts Accessibility on Google Maps

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A #localguide checks out the view and amenities.

With the “Accessible Places” feature enabled, business and points of interest with wheelchair-accessible entrances are marked with a wheelchair icon along with information about whether accessible seating, restrooms, and parking are available, according to a Gizmodo story.

OUR TAKE This change shows the power of crowdsourcing. According to Google, the change came about after  Google put out a call for accessibility information contributors in 2017. Since then, 120 million users posted updates on Google Maps regarding the presence of wheelchair-accessible facilities and now they’re not hiding in the ‘about’ section so they’re super easy to find. Plus, it’s a tiny trivia moment for us. One of the companies at our first summit, Wheel the World, was an early supporter of this initiative, which was part of #localguides. 

The Latest in Mobility For Zoomers (you know, Boomers who will. not. stop.)

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The iLivingV8 is a blue scooter that has pedals and looks like a scooter
Looks like a kids scooter, rides like a Zoomer’s dream. photo: iliving

I’ve been going to CES for many years and based on my experience, here is the evolution of the accessibility section. About 10 years ago the health arena began to appear featuring exercise machines that became smarter with technology.  The next phase was focused on the concept of healing and how technology was being useful in measuring the process of pain elimination and healing.  The next development was IoT, the Internet of Things, where everything in daily life became connected through an ever-faster 4G and now 5G network.  A couple of years ago AI was introduced, basically, the age of machine learning and 2020 CES was the year that AI became mainstream. This means there are now customized solutions because machines are smarter and can be personalized to the needs of the user. —Laszlo Horvath CEO, Active Media.

Here, the three products you’ll see soon on the streets—and why:

  1. Zooming into the future…that’s how you feel when you test the new Segway S-Pod, a self-balancing wheelchair (also referred to by the company as a scooter or “an egg-shaped wheelchair”). Ok, so the design is a little wonky but it’s a hell of a ride, say people who tried it at 2020 CES.
  2. It’s a GPS. It’s a guide. It’s an alert system. It’s the… SEED Cane, a smart cane designed for blind people that gives the user and a guardian the location and any obstacles in their way as they walk. The cane, which was an honoree at the 2020 CES Innovation Awards, is independently powered, uses infrared signals and vibrations and syncs with smartphones.  
  3. We predict the iLiving V8 will soon achieve icon status among the senior set. The foldable mobility scooter was an honoree at 2020 CES in the accessibility category. The scooter’s sticker price is $4K and its target market is on-the-go seniors who can stash the compact design in the car. It’s lightweight and there are no tools needed so you won’t be needing to send mom and pops links to YouTube for instructions.

Paralympian Deserves Medal for Scouting Out Accessible Beaches

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Paralympian wearing a medal blue jacket huge smile
photo courtesy TEAM USA [Paralympian Rausin holds a medal and wears her TEAM USA blue jacket]

USA Paralympian Arielle Rausin has loved the beach in Florida since she was young child growing up there. But because she didn’t grow up with ADA accessible mats (imagine them like sturdy rubber runways), her family had to drag her across the sand to get to the water, according to a Tampa-area Fox13 news piece. New ADA accessible Mobi Mats installed by the city of Tampa make the trek from car to shore a breeze. Rausin said the mats make such a huge difference she’s committed to recording and posting the best accessible beaches she finds online—all 660 miles of them if she can. No surprise there.

OUR TAKE: The wheelchair accessible beach mats aren’t new. According to its website, Mobi Mats has been making them for parks and recreation departments for 20 years. So what’s changed? Greater awareness and planning for millions of tourists and locals. “It’s not just people in wheelchairs, it’s people who use walkers, it’s people with baby strollers, it’s for everybody,” said one visitor interviewed in the news piece. These portable mats are a good example of using Universal design that is movable. 

British Artists with Disabilities Show You How They’d Make Guests Miserable

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artist in over alls sits on motor scooter in what looks to be a woodcrafters shop
Samuels is an artist with a sense of humor and he’s using it to show how important accessibility in housing is. photo credit: DANIELLE BOWER

 Artist Christopher Samuel, who uses an electric wheelchair, knows how inconvenient and frustrating hotel rooms can be for people with disabilities. He spent three months in transitional housing in an inaccessible hotel room as disability agencies found a place for him, according to a story by Ian Youngs in BBC.COM. He had three words to describe the experience to you: Frustrating and sometimes humiliating. But it also made him industrious.

To call attention to the housing and accommodation issues in the U.K. he created a room that was completely inaccessible for people without disabilities. “I knew people would find [the room] amusing at first, but in reality, when you live that every day it’s not funny anymore,” says the artist. 

OUR TAKE: Frustrating and inconvenient. When you speak with people with disabilities, those words are a common thread. Awareness of how people who use wheelchairs and motorized devices to navigate the world is scarce in the travel business. The room inspired other artist to create their own personalized rooms. What’s the famous line? In so many words, it’s that art is not supposed to change the world, but to change perceptions—the way we see the world. As changemakers in the hospitality business, it’s our opportunity to make a huge difference in people’s lives, simply by changing the way you look at things.

OUR TAKE: Frustrating and sometimes humiliating. We hear those words often from people with disabilities. Awareness of how people who use wheelchairs and motorized devices to navigate the world is scarce in the travel business. The room inspired other artists to create their own personalized rooms. What’s the famous line? In so many words, it’s that art is not supposed to change the world, but to change perceptions—the way we see the world. As changemakers in the hospitality business, it’s our opportunity to make a huge difference in people’s lives, simply by changing the way you look at things. READ MORE OF THE STORY, here.

VIDEO: Hotel Manager Uses Wheelchair for a Day

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Hotel manager talks about what he learned using a wheelchair on his own property. Screenshot courtesy Spin the Globe.

Some of the most genius ideas are the simplest ones. For example, if you want to experience a hotel from a wheel-chair-users perspective and do an ADA compliance check at the same time, sit down and spend time in a wheelchair. In 2018, the hotel manager at the Alfond Inn Hotel did just that–with some coaching from Sylvia Longmire, who writes about the accessibility of destinations in her travel blog, Spin the Globe. The hotel manager later shared his insights with hospitality students. All are interviewed on camera about the experience. To see the video, visit Sylvia Longmire’s YouTube Channel here.

OUR TAKE
 The hotel manager’s nervous smile during his on-camera interview with vlogger Sylvia Longmire is priceless—he’s humble, friendly, honest and relieved. He’s a gem in a world of hotel managers, many of whom declined the offer. Longmire worked with hospitality program students at Rollins College on the video. They contacted over 50 hotel GM’s before they found one that would agree to be recorded in a wheelchair.

As for Longmire, she is her classically, compelling professional self: An Airforce intelligence vet, a 2016 Ms. Wheelchair America who is the first wheelchair ambassador for Oprah Magazine‘s Advisory Board and the author of an accessible cruise book. Working with the Rollins students on the video, the team really connects with viewers.

“I was able to navigate the hotel pretty easily—with the right coaching,” he says with a hand gesture to Longmire that infers, Yes, I needed an expert’s help but we did pretty well as a team! Still smiling he adds, “It seems as though we are compliant.” The short video has a great message, which is: The days of not understanding wheelchair users are over. I might as well try to be compliant and then some.”