TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Trends

Apple’s New Accessibility Innovations Will Blow You Away

by

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.

College Students Rebel Against Inaccessibility with “F*ck The Stairs “campaign.

by

photo of sign saying This Entrance Is Not Accessible. Use Ramps, Elevators and Accessible Doors F*ck the Stairs

Our Takeaway: The title says it all. Outrage is contagious as college students nationwide revolt the unfairness of wheelchair-using classmates having to struggle just to attend classes.

This past April, the Student Accessibility and Disability Alliance at the College of William and Mary organized an advocacy campaign titled “F*ck the Stairs.” The campaign challenged able-bodied students to spend two days using accessible means of travel to better understand the experience of mobility impaired individuals, promoting accessibility awareness on campus. 

Last fall, Student Assembly Undersecretary of Disability Initiatives Allison Stovall ’25, Heather Christensen ’23 and Cameron Lynch ’23 co-founded the SADA. The organization received official recognition from the College in March 2023.

“There were three of us that ended up founding it,” Stovall said. “We got together in October last year and we got approved by the university in March. This has been a very short timeframe that we’ve done a lot of this.”

The “F*ck the Stairs” movement advocates for only using wheelchair accessible ramps, elevators, elevations, and bathrooms for traveling around campus.

“F*ck the Stairs is all about showing everybody what it’s like to have to take inaccessible entrances on campus,” SADA Advocacy Chair Grayson Bunting ’26 said. “We’re making able-bodied students take only accessible entrances on campus today and tomorrow.”

Read More.

“Slow Travel”:Decelerating the Pace of Travel for the Over 50+ Set?

by

Inspired by the slow food movement that began in Italy in the 1980s as a reaction to the proliferation of fast-food restaurants, slow travel started, well, slowly. It has accelerated significantly since the COVID pandemic turned travel upside down and Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, the world’s first hotel school, expects it to grow 10% per year.

Slow travel emphasizes staying in one place long enough to personally connect with the local people, culture, food and even music. While purists advocate avoiding touristy spots in favor of locations more off the beaten path, there are no hard and fast rules. You decide where, how, and for what period to apply these basic principles . . .  Read more.

Our Takeaway: The growth in Slow Travel makes perfect sense as the population ages. Longer stays in a singular location require less logistical planning and can be way more relaxing than the “if It’s Tuesday This Must Be Belgium” style of travel.

Reimagining Destination Accessibility as Welcoming . . . All Means All

by

“Several years ago, I was hired as a strategic research consultant by a leading European tourist destination wanting to refocus and reposition their image by capitalizing on long-term, sustainable trends in travel that my team had identified. A key concept I put forward was – accessibility for all visitors – and I advised strongly to the destination not to characterize consumers or people with disabilities (PwD) as ‘niche’ but rather to cater for people of all abilities as part of their standard travel industry planning, infrastructure and operations.

For example, the destination I was advising is hugely popular with multi-generational visitors travelling together including grandparents often coming over with their grandchildren every year because they loved it so much. The ‘older adult’ segment I concluded was worth hundreds of million Euro a year in revenue but was most definitely not being adequately supported in terms of providing accessibility even at the most rudimentary level. For instance, there was very limited accessible transportation to and from the airport; there were physical barriers at many heritage sites; and the majority of hotel accommodation had no training, expertise or motivation to cater for guests that were not fully abled” Jem Golden

Read more.

Our Takeaway: Positioning accessibility to be inclusive for all is the best overall strategy when addressing industry partners. But it’s always useful to remind them about baby boomers for whom aging is a form of disability on the installment plan.

QVC Rolls Out “Accessible and Adaptive” Lifestyle Collection

by

Selma Blair in a pink suit sits on a teal velvet couch holding a cane. There is a large golden dog sitting next to her and leaning its head on her knee

Live video commerce giant QVC is expanding its commitment to adaptive clothing and accessible products and named actor, author, and disability advocate Selma Blair as its brand ambassador for accessibility.

In a statement, QVC said it was looking to grow its accessible and adaptive offering by streamlining how customers find and explore them and enhancing the accessibility of its end-to-end shopping experience.

The move will target those with disabilities, illnesses, injuries, recovering from surgery, or aging, by offering hundreds of products spanning fashion, home, electronics and beauty with a dedicated ‘Accessible and Adaptive’ category.

Our Takeaway: This means that QVC is one of the first US retailers to offer a full lifestyle of accessible products into a single multicategory medium that will be an enormous convenience for the disability community. Read More.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

Your name and email will never be sold to third parties.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

Your name and email will never be sold to 3rd parties.