TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Travel

Busting Records & Myths: One Rider Spends 1,000 Days Straight on Rails to Trails

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Four riders including Ian Mackay with a backdrop of mountains snow and green grasss
Four riders, including Mackay, tackling the mountains on a gorgeous days out. photo courtesy: Rails to Trails.

It takes a certain kind of dedication to get out on a trail every day. As in, every day. Seven days a week. Rain or shine. Scorching days, freezing days and every kind of day in between. The last day I missed was Halloween 2016, Ian Mackay told Rails to Trails. He surpassed consecutive day number 1,000 in July. In this piece, writer and rider Scott Stark, who also enjoys exploring trails across the country, describes how a serious bike injury changed Mackay’s approach to enjoying time spent trail’riding’.

OUR TAKE:  There is a way for everyone to enjoy the outdoors—and thankfully, some people are driven enough to find that path and share it with the entire state. At the TravelAbility Summit on November 11-13, the focus will always be on ability. We have found there’s an entire world of people like Mackay adventuring through life and will continue to highlight them, helping travel and destination marketers get a more accurate picture of the ‘accessibility’ customer. READ MORE on the Rails to Trails blog.

SFO Uses Therapy Pig (and Other Cute Furry Friends) to Reduce Airport Stress

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two women travelers bend down to pet a pig named LiLou while an airline pilot watches and smilesPure joy is not something you come across often in an airport. Flights are delayed, security lines are long, and more often than not travelers are grumpy and stressed, writer Madeline Wells in SFGate. So why all the smiles at San Francisco International Airport? It’s the Wag Brigade, SFO’s very own fleet of volunteer therapy dogs—and one particularly adorable pig. Find a gallery of aww-worthy photos, here.

Our take: Fortunately, the recently issued new regulations clarifying which therapy animals are allowed on flights don’t apply to airports where the stress of delays and cancellations can be overwhelming.

photo courtesy SFGate.com

 

 

 

Let A Travel Pro Design Accessible Itineraries For Your Destination

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meet the TravelAbility itinerary design teamIf you are looking for an accessible itinerary to post on your site or offer as a service to the burgeoning group of travelers who need some accessibility built into their stay, where do you start?

You could go with what comes up on Google (meh) or you could trust five of the most curious, experienced and trustworthy pros in disability tourism (yes!) Imagine: Signed, sealed, delivered, it’s yours to publicize on your website and share through your social media channels.

Niche travel is sold through itineraries that include attractions, tours, and sites that cater to a specific audience,” stated Jake Steinman, founder of TravelAbility Summit. “We brought them together to help destinations add authenticity to their accessible itineraries by having them created by actual travelers with different disabilities who are prominent professionals in the industry.

“Once these itineraries are designed, DMO’s can promote the fact that they were designed by disability travel thought-leaders, all of whom have their own extensive following and can offer cross-promotion opportunities as well as consultation advice.”

Here is some background information on each itinerary design team member.

head shot of Cory Lee smiling wearing t shirt. He has eyeglasses and is sitting in his wheelchairCory Lee Woodard writes a travel blog Curb Free with Cory Lee and recently started his own travel agency. On his blog, full of detailed itineraries from around the globe, his mission is to show readers how, where and why to travel as a person with a disability. If you’ve got questions—what city is the most wheelchair-friendly? to what’s the best way to determine if a hotel has a roll-in shower? Cory Lee has answers.

sid in a black hat and olive green sweater


Sid Marcos is a business developer from San Diego, California. She is the former director of development for Outlandish Travel, where she produced accessible destination guides around fun themes such as pub tours. She is a founding member of the National Startup League and director of an incubator for social entrepreneurs. Learn more on her blog.

sue Slater head shot she has red hair and is smiling wearing a jacket and black topSue Slater, the founder of Presto Magic Travel, is a cruise and groups specialist who will soon be celebrating her 20th year in the travel industry creating accessible itineraries. She’s sent thousands of people on cruises all over the world, including cruise destination weddings. Accessibility is a personal passion and a necessity. Sue is blind and her husband has a chronic disability that requires him to use a wheelchair. Both travel extensively, hence she can find a work-around for pretty much any travel need you might have. Learn more, here.

upper body shot of John wearing a navy jacket and blue shirt sitting inside a plane smiling, wearing glasses John Morris approaches travel from a critical angle—in a good way. His fact-checking and reporting on the latest news in accessible travel is unrivaled. That’s probably because he’s traveling the world an average of 310 days a year as a triple amputee with one hand, a passport and a power wheelchair, writing about his travels and adventures—and asking crucial accessibility questions along the way. Read his blog, wheelchairtravel.org.

All five experts will be on-site at TravelAbility Summit, November 12-13 in San Francisco. The team will be given designated “office hours” at the end of each day to talk with you about creating authentic accessible itineraries

 

We Took the Bait! Could This Be the Most Accessible Fishing Cabin in America?

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Cabins that are wheelchair accessible are few and far, reports Emerging Horizons. But this find called Rhinelander Cabin in Wisconsin’s North Woods is a winner. It’s an example of what possible, even in a remote location. It designed by a wheelchair user, so the property has all the comforts of home and the access to match. Scroll through the photos and check out that roll-in shower—pretty darn nice! 

READ MORE

OUR TAKE: Wisconsin is catching up to the National Parks we wrote about last month, where accessibility is top of mind.

 

 

7 Wow-Worthy Destinations Where Using A Wheelchair Isn’t a Hassle

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centuries old trees in a park with green grassThe Getty Museum offers wheelchairs for free. The San Diego Zoo provides special parking, restrooms and access to shows. New Orleans’ oldest parks have plenty of paved paths to get around.  And of course, there’s always The White House. 

OUR TAKE: If you’ve got it, flaunt it. Accessibility shouldn’t be a second thought—it should be top of mind and easy to find on your website, in advertising when visiting. Yes, the destination is the real gem, but if 1 in 5 people with a disability can’t access all it has to offer, it loses some of its sheen. See all of MSN.com’s picks in their slideshow.
 READ MORE

 

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