TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Travel Industry People

TravelAbility Welcomes Eight New Advisory Board Members

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As evident from this jam-packed newsletter, TravelAbility is growing. In addition to launching new partnerships and initiatives, we are broadening and deepening our leadership by expanding our advisory board with a stellar group of executives, advocates, and industry insiders:

Suzanne Edwards, Head of Accessibility Standards, Airbnb. She is a wheelchair user and a surfer/para-athlete who will help Airbnb prepare for hosting Paralympians in 2024. Read more about Suzanne.

Curt Cottle, Senior Policy Advisor, National Tour and Travel Office (NTTO) . He represents the travel industry’s voice within the U.S. Department of Commerce. Read more about Curt.

Lesly Simmons,  Head of Community Innovation, Amazon. She is a pioneer in the event industry who created and curated impactful experiences for Amazon’s events division. Read more about Lesly.

Chris Collinson, Entrepreneur and Investor. He founded Connect and grew it into a strong leader in the meetings and events industry over 20 years, before retiring.  Read more about Chris.

Sophia Hyder Hoch, Chief Diversity Officer, Destinations International. She is our main contact as we work with DI to make accessibility available to all their 700+ destinations. Read more about Sophia.

Jason Holic, Sr. VP, Operations and Community Involvement/former politician, Experience Kissimmee. He has shown his ability to provide TravelAbility with insights on how to use data and creativity to motivate partners to adopt accessibility. Read more about Jason.

Alexander Hauerslev Jensen, Accessible Partnerships, Google, who helps create pathways to Google products that enhance the experiences of users with disabilities. Read more about Alexander

Rebcca Stair Gill,  VP Business Development, TravelAbility and publisher of Accessible Journeys.  She is a skilled marketer and builder of strategic, branded, social content partnerships. Read more about Rebecca.

View the full advisory board here.

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.

How to Ride the Greyhound Bus as a Wheelchair User

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Greyhound logo beside an image of a bus employee operating a wheelchair lift connected to a bus

Award-winning travel blogger Sylvia Longmire has put a whole lot of miles on her electric wheelchair. She has visited 57 countries, 48 of those as a wheelchair user and 34 of those by herself. Along the way she has written four books and launched a consulting business.

For her latest adventure, she decided to leave the driving to Greyhound on a trip from Minneapolis to Fargo, North Dakota—her 50th state. Longmire shares her experience from the booking of a ticket on an accessible bus (accessible except for the bathroom) to tracking the on-time performance of each leg of the journey to assessing the pros and cons. Pictures included. Read more.

TravelAbility TakeAway: Longmire’s account of her Greyhound trip doesn’t make bus travel look easy but she does make it look doable in a wheelchair. And preferable in some important ways to the alternatives. One of the surprises of her trip was the on-time performance of the buses she took. That hasn’t typically been our experience.

Make Your Parades More Accessible with a “Sensory Block”

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Woman standing near home plate of a baseball field, smiling into the camera

In her 15 years working for the Midlands Michigan Parks and Recreation, Marcie Post has left her mark all over the city. And that mark has been an A for Accessibility as the first priority.

Post serves on several boards and advocates for inclusion at every turn. Last year she led the construction of Miracle Field, a soft-surfaced baseball diamond for athletes with disabilities. And when she was recently offered the role of Grand Marshal of the Midland Santa Parade, she saw it as more than a ceremonial role. She introduced the idea of a sensory-free zone along the parade route.

“We’re asking the people in the parade to not play their instrument or not flash their lights or not honk their horns for one block, totally doable,” says Post. “By doing that, it now creates that inclusive environment. It’s a no-brainer.”

The parade organizers, Nicki and Steve Smith, said they selected Post as grand marshal because of her dedication to the community and her leadership on inclusion.

“She is a wonderful asset to the community,” Nicki said. “She saw a need and she acted on it. And she brought others along with her.” Read more.

TravelAbility TakeAway: It’s wonderful to see champions of accessibility recognized for their contributions to the community. And rather than simply accepting the honorary role of parade grand marshal, Marcie Post saw it as another opportunity to make life a little more enjoyable and equitable for individuals with disabilities.

TravelAbility and Destinations International Announce Partnership to Promote Accessibility

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Photo collage including head shot and title of Don Welsh, CEO of Destinations International and Jake Steinman, Founder and CEO of TravelAbility. Includes logos of the two companies.

TravelAbility, the leading conference and media company dedicated to making travel easier and more enjoyable for people with disabilities and the aging population, has announced a partnership with Destinations International, the world’s largest and most reliable resource for destination organizations and tourism boards.

The partnership aims to help scale accessibility to Destinations International’s 700+ destination organization members as part of their social inclusion strategy. TravelAbility will serve as Destinations International’s official accessibility advisor, providing guidance on how to create more welcoming destinations for people with different abilities through content, prospective speakers, and a satellite version of their InnovateAble pitch event where assistive technology entrepreneurs will present their solutions for improving accessibility in the travel industry.

Destinations International will also market The Accessibility Playbook, a comprehensive guide for destinations and travel businesses to improve their accessibility and inclusion initiatives for travelers with disabilities. The Playbook contains over 100 videos, PowerPoint decks, and a series of “TravelAbility Trusted” innovations, amenities, and third-party assessment providers that may help them scale accessibility by sharing it with their industry partners.

“We are thrilled to partner with Destinations International to advance the cause of accessibility in the travel industry. This is a win-win situation for both organizations and for the millions of travelers who can benefit from more accessible and inclusive travel experiences,” said Jake Steinman, founder and CEO of TravelAbility.

“Accessibility is a key component of our social inclusion strategy, and we look forward to working with TravelAbility as our official accessibility advisor. They have the expertise, the network, and the passion to help our 700+ members create more inclusive destinations for all travelers,” said Don Welsh, president and CEO of Destinations International.

The Accessibility Playbook will be available for purchase online at the Destinations International website in 2024. To learn more about this partnership or the Accessibility Playbook, contact Sophia Hyder Hock, Chief Diversity Officer at shyderhock@destinationsinternational.org or Jake Steinman, founder and CEO of TravelAbility at jake@travelability.net