The Intersection of Travel and Disability
Advisory Board Member John Morris of Wheelchair Travel is always ahead of the news when it comes to accessible travel. His most recent find? An app that shows where wheelchair spots are available on local buses. While it’s still only in Europe, we see a groundswell of accessible technology solutions coming to the states soon.
OUR TAKE: Advancing accessible transportation— what better way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act? Learn more, here.
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.
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:
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.
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.
You must be logged in to post a comment.