TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

accessibility

TravelAbility Announces Winners of InnovateAble Pitchfest for Assistive Technology

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TravelAbility, an organization working to improve the travel experience for people with disabilities, has announced the winners of its InnovateAble Pitchfest, a virtual event that showcased the latest assistive technology and innovations for travelers with disabilities. The event took place on July 26, 2023, to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The InnovateAble Pitchfest featured presentations from 10 companies and startups that have developed cutting-edge products and services that can make travel easier and more enjoyable for people with different abilities. The presentations were judged by a panel of experts from the tourism industry, the investor community, and the CES pitchfest recruiter, as well as by the attendees who voted for the People’s Choice Award.

The overall winner of the InnovateAble Pitchfest was Enchroma, a company that makes specially engineered glasses and scenic viewers that enable people who are color blind to see colors. The glasses and viewer telescopes are offered to the public by over 200 organizations including 80 museums, 40 state and national parks in 18 states, and many other tourist destinations.

The first runner-up was Translate Live ILA, a device that allows hotels and attractions to provide close captioning, language translation, and ASL sign language assistance on demand. The second runner-up was Spoke, an app that alerts people who are deaf or hard of hearing to important public announcements in airports and other locales.

The People’s Choice Award went to Centaur Robotics, a revolutionary electric vehicle that elevates and fits into the space of a dining room chair to navigate narrow rooms spaces.

Other companies selected for InnovateAble included:

Dateability, The only dating app designed for the disabled and chronically ill communities.

Vacayit, Explore and experience sensory and audio described tours in 160 Australian locations

Lisnen, App that notifies the deaf or HOH to phone rings, door knocks and alarms that can save their life

Be My Eyes, An app that uses ChatGTP4 to help blind users navigate a hotel or attractions

Purple Lens, A digital accessibility toolkit that combines automated and human remediation

Picture Live, A photobook that enables audio descriptions or ASL interpreters via a QR code.

For more information about TravelAbility and InnovateAble Pitchfest, contact Jake Steinman at jake@travelability.net.

To access all Innovateable presentations: click here.

About the TravelAbility Portfolio of projects: 

EMERGING MARKETS SUMMIT is a boutique conference covering the growing niches of accessibility, sustainability and DE&I

TRAVELABILITY INSIDER, is an online newsletter with 3300 subscribers

TRAVELABILITY FOR HOSPITALITY is a quarterly newsletter for the hotel industry

DESTINATIONS WITH ACCESSIBILITY  is a micro-site that aggregates accessibility content for 143 destinations in the US, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, THE ACCESSIBILITY PLAYBOOK is a 38-page resource containing videos, slide decks, technology, products, tips and use case scenarios designed to help any travel organization/company advance their accessibility

THE DESTINATION A11Y CLUB,is a collection of DMO’s committed to advancing accessibility together. INNOVATEABLE, is an annual showcase of adaptive innovations, technologies, services and amenities that can be introduced through the travel channel 

Our YOUTUBE CHANNEL archives contain over 100 video sessions from prior conferences and events. TRAVELABILITY FOUNDATION is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation with the mission to work with travel industry suppliers to make travel more accessible for people with disabilities

Advancing Accessibility through the TravelAbility Community

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Our Takeaway: Here’s what’s new with members of the TravelAbility Community.

DESTINATION A11Y CLUB MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

Visit Lauderdale’s accessibility commitment wins disability conferences, trade shows and events.

Inclusive Dining Mesa includes an itinerary for people with dietary restrictions.

Palm Beach County Tourism Launches New Accessibility Plan in partnership with TravelAbilty, Wheel the World and IBCCES.

Interested in Becoming a Certified Senior TravelZ Companion?  Click here for more information.

Welcome to the Destination A11Y Club Class of 2023-24

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Our Takeaway: The TravelAbility Foundation would like to extend a warm welcome to our eight new destination partners for 2023-2024 season who join our existing partners committing to help one another to improve accessibility beyond the ADA. 

Welcome to our new DAC partners.

  • Visit Oakland, CA
  • Visit Lansing, MI
  • Discover The Palm Beaches
  • Visit Alexandria, Virginia
  • Visit Charlottesville/Albemarle County, VA
  • Visit Myrtle Beach, SC
  • Destination British Columbia
  • Visit Lexington, KY

Thank you to our charter partners, all of whom have renewed.

  • Visit Lauderdale, FL
  • Travel Oregon
  • Visit Florida
  • Visit Mesa, AZ
  • Visit Tampa Bay, FL
  • Experience Kissimmee, FL
  • Visit Fairfax, VA
  • Visit Lane County, OR
  • Discover Lancaster, PA

All Destination A11Y Club membership funds will be used to fund the activities of the TravelAbility Foundation. For more information on becoming a member contact tricia@travelability.net.

It’s Hell on Wheels When an Accessible Hotel Reservation Isn’t Honored

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Our Takeaway: While this is only one person’s account, accessible reservations are not honored countless times a day leaving disabled travelers stranded with few options.  Non-existent training and a lack of awareness about the meticulous effort that wheelchair users expend to find a hotel room that fits their specific needs only to be turned away upon arrival is one reason why so few people with disabilities travel.

After nine hours driving across the southwest in my packed minivan, I could almost feel the hotel mattress by the time I rolled into the lobby of the Phoenix Hampton Inn. My achy shoulders and rumbling stomach subsided, knowing that after a week and almost 2,000 miles of driving, it was time for my Arizona vacation to begin. Five days in the sun, six baseball games and no responsibilities — I’d been looking forward to my first post-pandemic trip since I booked everything almost four months earlier.

I handed the receptionist my ID and credit card to confirm the reservation and watched her face change as she stared at her computer screen. I could feel my stomach and shoulders starting to groan again. Something was wrong. Read More.

Belgium Destination Launches Plate-like Brochures for Deaf and Blind Visitors

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Our Takeaway: This groundbreaking technology enables blind or deaf visitors to access videos with professional level audio descriptions and sign language interpreters that can be accessed by hovering the phone over a QR code on each page. Attendees at The Emerging Markets Summit in Savannah will be able to feel and touch the actual English language versions of these books as well as the meet the developer, Alain Cloet founder of Picture Live, in person.  

The city of Ghent has launched a hardbound tourist itinerary book for hearing and visually impaired visitors, as reported by Belgian news outlet VRT. The campaign includes special booklets which contain tactile pictures of seven attractions in the historic center of Ghent, along with an audio description that people can listen to via their cell phones. There is also a version with sign language.

“It is a booklet with plates of seven Ghent sights you can touch,” Alain Cloet, who came up with the idea, told VRT. “Tactile plates are photos covered with a tactile layer. The tactile plates include an audio description that people can listen to using their mobile phones. There is also a version using sign language. A video will appear on your mobile with a sign language interpreter explaining the sight.”

The walks include a QR code to activate audio description and a link to videos in Flemish Sign Language. On the smartphone, visitors can listen to a description or watch a movie in Flemish Sign Language. The designers will continue to develop and refine the product so that it becomes even more accessible and user-friendly. Read More.