TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Vision

The Joys and Challenges of Traveling While Blind

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Penny Zibula, a native of Montreal, Canada, grew up blind but developed a deep desire to explore the world through books.

Penny Zibula headshot.

In an article for Travel Awaits, Peggy recounted the first destination she had an interest in visiting – Cornwall – a desire inspired by Susan Howatch’s 1971 novel, Penmarric.

After finishing college, her uncle sent her on a trip to Israel and, though she was legally blind, she remembers it fondly. “I can still feel the ancient stones of the Western Wall of the destroyed Second Temple of Jerusalem beneath my fingertips,” she writes. Her senses on that trip were alive, as she recalls “The sounds of haggling in Arabic and Hebrew, along with the smells of cooking food, garbage, and sweat intermingled to create an atmosphere that was both disturbing and enticing.”

To read more about Peggy’s experiences as a blind traveler, read her story in Travel Awaits.

Vacations for Blind and Low Vision Travelers

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Young black couple walking through a park, man is blind and using a white cane.

“Sightseeing is not reserved exclusively for those with good eyesight,” according to Responsible Travel. “There are many more ways to ‘see’ a landscape, a historic building, a plate of food in a restaurant, than with just your eyes.”

Responsible Travel is an “activist company” that offers tours designed to work with travelers and the planet, with the goal of making a positive impact on both.

The company says that, for blind and low vision travelers, “there’s no reason that being visually impaired need hold you back.” The company works to maximize the sensory experience for travelers, no matter whether they are visiting India, Japan, South Africa or other destinations.

To read more about the company’s work in making trips accessible for blind and partially sighted travelers, visit the Responsible Travel website.

Protactile is a New Language to Enable DeafBlind Communication

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Two men talking to each other through sign language while touching each other's hands.

It’s not often a new language emerges. But in the last 15 years, a new language was created in the Pacific Northwest: Protactile. Developed by DeafBlind people, the Protactile language places an emphasis on touch, which is a method of communication that many DeafBlind people prioritize.

Jelica Nuccio, one of the creators on this new language, recently moved to Monmouth, Oregon. There, the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration recently awarded Western Oregon University with a $2.1 million grant that will be used to train Protactile language interpreters.

DeafBlind people like Nuccio have traditionally used variations on sign language to communicate, but it can be easy to miss important details in a language that is designed to be seen. That’s a shortcoming in traditional languages that Protactile aims to overcome, restoring the depth of interpersonal communication to the language used by DeafBlind people.

To learn more about Protactile language, see the article from Oregon Public Broadcasting.

10 Things You Didn’t Know About the White Canes Used by Blind People

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Blind man holding a white cane.

Tap tap tap. That’s the sound of independence.

That’s the sound of people with visual impairments around the United States – and all over the world – using a white cane to confidently navigate to work, around their neighborhoods or to wherever their plans take them.

There’s no better day to celebrate the power of the white cane than October 15 – White Cane Safety Day. It’s the day set aside by the federal government to recognize the independence and skill of people who use white canes. It’s also a reminder that laws in all 50 states require drivers to yield the right of way to people with white canes, even when they’re not on a crosswalk.

In honor of White Cane Safety Day, take a look at 10 quirky facts about the white cane in the article from the Perkins School for the Blind.

A Talking Menu for People with Visual Disabilities Debuts in Mill Valley, CA

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A prototype for a “talking menu” will be unveiled at the Bungalow 44 restaurant in Mill Valley, California. Designed to improve access to the menu for those who are blind or have low vision, it was designed and developed by Chris Lona of CL designs, who presented his concept of a talking website at the 2019 TravelAbility Summit Launch Pad Pitch fest in San Francisco. The talking menu is the first innovation that will be invited to be part of an “incubator” where innovative assistive technology and products will receive mentorship and guidance from a team of investors, prominent travel industry suppliers and professional marketing consultants.

Screenshot of restaurant menu on website with audio files to play the content.

“Since Covid-19 cleanliness protocols were in place during 2020 when many restaurants deployed ‘touchless’ menus by snapping a QR code photo from their smart phone, many diners and restaurants are very familiar with the process,” remarked Jake Steinman, of TravelAbility. “I personally shared this link to this menu to mangers of five restaurants ranging from upscale fine dining to a breakfast and lunch diner who immediately grasped the concept and saw benefits that I hadn’t thought about.” 

The following summarizes the benefits they saw:

  • It provides an alternative to braille menus as 90% of people who are blind don’t read braille.
  • Due to soft dinner lighting, many menus are difficult to read for seniors
  • Talking menu can be accessed from their website to support blind people

Other benefits include availability in four other languages–French, Spanish, Portuguese and German—three different voices and the fact that it communicates a commitment to inclusivity to the local community.

The cost range is between $500-750 for an average menu and $250-400 per additional language.

To see the Talking Menu in action, check out Bungalow 44’s Autumn 2021 menu.

For more information contact: clona@cldesignonline.com