TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Transportation

Visit Florida partners with UK Travel Industry Mag to Offer Online Accessibility Training Seminar for Agents

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Information about the webinar on accessible travel, which includes a reference to a free on-demand viewing option

London-based TTG hosted its first webinar on accessible travel last month in association with Visit Florida. An on-demand recording of the webinar is available for free download. Speakers included:

  • Lynne Kirby, managing director, Enable Holidays
  • Monique Jarrett, model, influencer and diversity advocate
  • Richard Thompson, co-founder, Inclu Travel
  • Narelle McDougall, general manager, Amilla Maldives

The opening session featured a presentation by Visit Florida detailing what the Sunshine State is doing to make its tourism industry more accessible and inclusive. Read more.

Our TakeAway: Smart idea for Visit Florida to tap into the reach of TTG to share their insights and experience on the journey toward more inclusive travel. 

DMO DIY Dept: Travel Oregon Shows How You Can Create Your Own TravelAbility Summit

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A group of 30+ Oregon DMO employees wearing their summit badges beneath a "Welcome to Oregon" headline set against an image of an evergreen tree on a hilltop

If you attended the TravelAbility Summit in Savannah in August, you were probably just as likely to meet someone from the Northwest as the Deep South. Oregonians seemed to be everywhere. And they were. Travel Oregon brought a posse of 34 people to Georgia, seizing the opportunity to create a kind of Summit-within-the-Summit.

“It worked out well for the state,” said Kevin Wright, VP of Marketing for Travel Oregon. “We brought the attendees, and they did the work and now we’ll be one of the most accessible states in the country.” Read more.

Our TakeAway: It sounds like Oregon is laying down a challenge. Next year’s summit in San Francisco provides a great opportunity for other states to follow Oregon’s lead and bring an even larger delegation. Competition aside, it’s a smart idea to leverage the national event to foster state-level collaboration.

Plus-Size Travel Advocates Speak Out

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Jeff Jenkins, an African American male with cropped beard and glasses and JerVae Anthony, an African American female with hoop earings

Whatever size we are, we know the look. The one a large airline passenger receives from a seatmate when they arrive at their row. Sometimes the look is accompanied by an audible gasp. 

“Society has an anti-fat bias, and you can encounter it anywhere,” writes Cheyenne Davis in the essay “The Uneasy Truth About Traveling While Fat” in the online magazine thrillist. “Living in a world fueled by fatphobia creates unnecessary barriers, from limited clothing options to discrimination in medical care, employment, and relationships. According to the NIH, more than two in five adults live in a large body. And yet despite this fact, we continue to face daily challenges—including in travel, where inequities like the ones outlined below so often deny us access to the same life-changing experiences available to others.”

Jeff Jenkins, a National Geographic travel host and award-winning content creator, says that airlines can definitely do more to make flights accessible for everyone. “We are still waiting on the FAA to give dimensions for standard seat sizes for each aircraft,” he says. “We hope that they listen to us and make the seats wider.”

Throw in additional ableist and racial biases, and these roadblocks can escalate substantially. “Whenever I’ve visited Chicago, I’ve observed a recurring issue where Black disabled individuals, myself included, are left waiting for assistance for extended periods,” explains Jervae Dionne Anthony, artist and founder of Fat Black Liberation. “The available wheelchairs don’t cater to those with infinifat bodies, typically above size 32. It’s a struggle to survive a form of violence that often goes unnoticed and unaddressed.” Read more. 

Our Takeaway: The failure—and in some cases the refusal—to meet the needs of plus-size travelers is a serious accessibility issue for the entire industry. Beyond airline seats and wheelchairs, there are size problems with amusement park rides, hotel bed dimensions, zipline harnesses, and on and on. . . 

United Leads the Way with its Embrace of Braille and Other Navigational Aids

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Braille directions on the seat and row of a United Airlines plane.

For eight years running, United Airlines has been recognized as a Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion. No surprise then that they also play a leadership role in integrating accessibility into their product design. United is the first U.S. airline to incorporate Braille into its aircraft interiors. United has already equipped a dozen aircraft with Braille markings for individual rows and seat numbers, as well as lavatory interiors and exteriors. The airline anticipates outfitting its entire mainline fleet with Braille by the end of 2026.

The Braille initiative is just a first step. United is also collaborating with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the American Council of the Blind (ACB), and other disability advocacy groups to investigate the application of other tactile navigational aids, such as raised letters, numbers, and arrows, throughout the cabin. Read more.

Our Takeaway: United’s incorporation of Braille and other navigational aids will relieve some of the stress of flying for millions of blind and low vision travelers. These features should become the industry standard.

Cruise, the GM-backed Autonomous Car Maker, Forms Accessibility Council

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Michele Lee in a wheelchair looking into the Cruise Origin Mobility (Photo credit: Cruise]

Self-driving cars are the zenith of accessibility according to Cruise, the San Francisco-based and GM-backed autonomous car company. Fully autonomous cars are a game-changer says Michelle Lee, the company’s senior public affairs manager.

“It’s going to enable independence,“ Lee said. “It’s going to enable freedom to move about as you want and live your life. I am so excited for the day that Origin Mobility is on the streets. I dream of it honestly—I have to always rely on somebody to drive me, or a bus driver, a train conductor, Uber driver, Lyft driver, or taxi driver. [With autonomous cars], I’m not always relying on someone. I want to go places and I want to do things. I know I’m not alone in that. People with disabilities want to live life..”

Lee came to Cruise as a disability advocate and echoes the refrain “nothing about us, without us.” That belief led to the recent formation of the Accessibility Council, “a cross-disability group of leaders and advocates who will provide external, independent input on Cruise’s product, programs, and approach to accessibility.” The Accessibility Council comprises seventeen people representing various disability organizations, including the National Federation of the Blind, the United Spinal Association, and the National Association of the Deaf. Read more.

Our Takeaway: The independence afforded by the promise of fully-autonomous cars may well be a game changer for many people with disabilities. So too is Cruise’s formation of a cross-disability council, provided the group has genuine influence on the design of the vehicles.