TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Technology

Belgium Destination Launches Plate-like Brochures for Deaf and Blind Visitors

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Our Takeaway: This groundbreaking technology enables blind or deaf visitors to access videos with professional level audio descriptions and sign language interpreters that can be accessed by hovering the phone over a QR code on each page. Attendees at The Emerging Markets Summit in Savannah will be able to feel and touch the actual English language versions of these books as well as the meet the developer, Alain Cloet founder of Picture Live, in person.  

The city of Ghent has launched a hardbound tourist itinerary book for hearing and visually impaired visitors, as reported by Belgian news outlet VRT. The campaign includes special booklets which contain tactile pictures of seven attractions in the historic center of Ghent, along with an audio description that people can listen to via their cell phones. There is also a version with sign language.

“It is a booklet with plates of seven Ghent sights you can touch,” Alain Cloet, who came up with the idea, told VRT. “Tactile plates are photos covered with a tactile layer. The tactile plates include an audio description that people can listen to using their mobile phones. There is also a version using sign language. A video will appear on your mobile with a sign language interpreter explaining the sight.”

The walks include a QR code to activate audio description and a link to videos in Flemish Sign Language. On the smartphone, visitors can listen to a description or watch a movie in Flemish Sign Language. The designers will continue to develop and refine the product so that it becomes even more accessible and user-friendly. Read More.

INNOVATEABLE Pitch Fest Showcases 11 Cutting Edge Adaptive Innovations for Travel

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Our Takeaway: For the past four years TravelAbility has hosted LaunchPad, a pitch event curating the best innovations that can help the industry make travel easier for disabled travelers. This year’s event has been rebranded as the InnovateAble Showcase and will be held via Zoom on July 26th from 10AM to 1PM PST to commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the ADA.

“We are excited to bring together some of the brightest minds in assistive technology to showcase their latest innovations,” said Jake Steinman, Founder of TravelAbility. “This is a B2B event and an opportunity to feature entrepreneurs with innovations that can be introduced through the destination channels to their industry partners.”

This year’s pitch event will be held via Zoom. Those interested in attending should contact us at: info@travelability.net.

Delta’s Support of Roll-in Wheelchair Securement System Creates Burst of Hope for Disabled Travelers

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Our Takeaway: The new Wheelchair Securement System unveiled at an annual trade show in Germany gained spectacular credibility once Delta Airlines announced its support.

TravelAbility provided part of the funding that helped advisory board member John Morris’ travel to the Hamburg Aircraft Interiors Show so he would be the first to test drive the securement system in real time.

Here’s what he found:

Delta Flight Products, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines that was established to re-think aircraft interiors, announced it was backing the Air4All wheelchair securement system on commercial jets — the company plans to unveil its design prototype at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany next week. Chris Wood, my friend and colleague in accessible travel advocacy, is a partner in the Air4All seating product. Last year, he spoke to me about his design innovation — you can watch our conversation here and read my initial reporting on Air4All here. With the announcement that Air4All will debut in Hamburg, I decided that I needed to be there — critical reporting on this product, its advancements, features and opportunities for improvement should come from within the disability community. I look forward to seeing, touching, and testing the Air4All system myself, and sharing my insights with each of you. Read More.

India by Rickshaw:  Leading Provider of Accessible Travel to Build 5000 Accessible Electric Rickshaws

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photo of a blue electric accessible rickshaw

Our Takeaway: Maybe Musk should have invested in EZ MOV rather than Twitter! A wonderful example of how a public-private partnership enhances existing—and familiar—transportation with infrastructure that converts a primitive method of getting from one place to another, in a completely contemporary way.

In the first-ever massive initiative in India to provide wheelchairs in auto rickshaws for physically disabled or mobility-challenged people for ease in travel, Ezy Mov, India’s leading Accessible Transport operator, has partnered with New Delhi-based Goenka Electrical Motors Private Limited (GEM) to manufacture 5,000 accessible wheelchair friendly e-rickshaws over the next two years.

Driven by its mission to realize the future of Accessible Transportation in India for disabled, handicapped or mobility–challenged people, Ezy Mov has plans to bring accessible transport even in the auto rickshaw segment right to the doorsteps of passengers.

Goenka Electric is one of the leading electric rickshaw manufacturers in the country with a wide variety of high-quality E – Rickshaws and Electric Vehicles. Ezy Mov is India’s leading and fastest-growing accessible transport provider with its fleet of on-call wheelchair taxis already plying in India – Mumbai

Apple’s New Accessibility Innovations Will Blow You Away

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photo of a MacBook anf an i-phone with the Apple logo showing

Our Takeaway: More evidence that disability is having its moment.  The major tech companies are all pioneering accessible new features for an inclusive world.

Apple previewed a handful of new features designed to boost cognitive, vision, hearing, and mobility accessibility, around Global Accessibility Awareness Day. The features are slated to roll out later this year. This comes as Apple gears up for its Worldwide Developers Conference, which kicks off June 5. 

One feature, called Live Speech, is geared toward users who are nonspeaking or who have diverse speech patterns or disabilities. Live Speech lets someone type what they want to say and then have it spoken aloud. The feature can be used for in-person conversations as well as over the phone and on FaceTime. It works on iPhone, iPad and Mac, and uses any built-in device voices like Siri. You could say, “Nice to meet you, I’m . . . ” and introduce yourself, for example, and can also save favorite phrases such as, “Can I please get a black coffee?” Read More.