TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

destination marketing

Meet the TravelAbility Team

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Group photo of the TravelAbility team on stage in front of a TravelAbility step-and-repeat banner, with two dogs and a few people posing on the floor.

Behind every fearless leader, bold dreamer, and change maker is the team that helps to bring the vision into fruition. Meet the team behind TravelAbility and its initiatives.

Headshot of Jake Steinman, smiling, wearing glasses and a dark zip-up.

Jake Steinman

Founder and CEO 

Visionary, networker, and leader extraordinaire, Jake is continuously identifying the gaps in accessibility and inclusion and prescribing ways to fill them. Since 2019, he’s been leading various initiatives to educate, inspire and connect the travel industry on accessibility issues.

Lillian Karl smiling outdoors in front of green foliage, with shoulder-length brown hair and bangs, wearing a maroon, tan, and sage patchwork-print button-up shirt.

Lillian Karl

Communications and Events Director

The maestra behind the magic, Lillian turns big ideas into organized action. She takes the vision, breaks it into manageable pieces, keeps all the moving parts on track, and makes sure the right people have the right pieces at the right time. From the Summit and Accessibility Playbook to the newsletter and everything in between, Lillian is the organizational force that helps bring TravelAbility’s ideas to life. 

Headshot of Kitty Sharman with long dark hair, wearing a green top.

Kitty Sharman

Accessibility Programs Coordinator

Focused on execution and day-to-day operations, Kitty helps keep TravelAbility’s projects, resources, and relationships moving forward. She works across initiatives like the Creator Community, the Accessibility Playbook, and the annual Summit. Whether connecting creators with the TravelAbility team, building out new resources, or improving how information is managed internally, Kitty helps get things done. 

Portrait of Danah Heye with gray-blonde hair and sunglasses on her head, in front of a sparkling mirrored backdrop.

Danah Heye

Director of Destination A11Y Development 

Danah works directly with DMOs to help them develop and advance their accessibility strategies, while also supporting TravelAbility’s business development and destination partnerships. With decades of experience in destination marketing, sales, and business development, including more than 15 years with Madden Media, she brings a strong understanding of the destination industry to her work at TravelAbility. 

Headshot of Jennifer Allen with dark curly hair, smiling, wearing a black top and red earrings.

Jennifer Allen

Editor-in-Chief

The storyteller behind the newsletter, Jennifer brings her perspective as a disability mom, advocate, and travel writer to every piece as she finds the stories worth telling and turns complex conversations about accessibility and inclusion into compelling content that informs, challenges, and inspires. 

Portrait of Eliana Satkin with long brown hair, smiling outdoors in a white top.

Eliana Satkin

Newsletter Coordinator 

The hands behind the newsletter each month, Eliana updates the TravelAbility Insider with new content, promotional graphics, and crafts the social posts and email that bring readers back to it, making sure the latest stories on accessible travel get seen by the community that needs them.

Headshot of Jay Burress, smiling, wearing round glasses, a tan textured blazer, and a light blue collared shirt.

Jay Burress

Jay is helping build out TravelAbility’s Accessibility Convention Program, currently in its pilot phase with destinations and convention venues. Jay brings decades of destination leadership experience to this work, including serving as President and CEO of Visit Anaheim and Experience Arlington. 

Portrait of Alison Granger with dark wavy hair, standing in a lit tunnel-like space.

Alison Granger

Vision 2030 Consultant

Alison brings technical and marketing expertise to Vision 2030: The Accessibility Moonshot, focused on the needs and opportunities of the aging traveler. She contributes to the initiative’s work at the intersection of technology, marketing, and accessible travel. Her background includes more than a decade in event production and managing more than 300 events for organizations including NVIDIA and Google. 

Kristy Durso smiling by the ocean, leaning on a wooden post.

Kristy Durso

TravelAbility Ambassador

Kristy is a wheelchair user, accessibility advocate, public speaker, entrepreneur, and Army veteran. As a TravelAbility Ambassador, she represents TravelAbility at conferences and events, speaking about accessibility and connecting with others across the travel industry. She also owns Incredible Memories Travel, a full-service travel agency serving travelers with and without accessibility needs. Her experiences as a mother of children with different disabilities and support needs further inform her perspective on accessible travel. 

Headshot of Rob Schultz with glasses and a short beard, wearing a blue hoodie.

Rob Schultz

Design Director

The creative force behind TravelAbility’s visual world, Rob brings ideas to life through graphic design, branding, and visual storytelling. He creates the logos and creative materials across TravelAbility’s initiatives and designs the Accessibility Playbook, including each new edition, turning the team’s content into a polished, engaging resource. 

Headshot of Jaime Hood with shoulder-length light brown hair, smiling.

Jaime Hood

Website Director

The person to call when TravelAbility’s website needs a little extra expertise, Jaime built the site’s original design and structure and brings extensive web development experience to the team. She serves as a resource for bigger website needs, technical questions, and keeping the site on solid footing as TravelAbility continues to grow. 

Mark Nicolas smiling slightly in a bright hall with exposed wood beams, wearing glasses and a black zip-up jacket, with red diamond panels on the wall behind him.

Mark Nicolas

IT Consultant

The person keeping TravelAbility’s digital infrastructure running, Mark provides IT support across the organization, managing everything from domains and email to technical issues that keep the team connected and working. When something technical needs figuring out, Mark is the person the team turns to. 

From TravelAbility Summit 7.0: The Future of Accessible Destination Marketing

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One off accessibility campaigns aren’t cutting it. So what do destinations need to do to create welcome, get the word out, and boost ROI? In this session from last year’s TravelAbility Summit, Jennifer Casey, Director of Strategic Partnerships for Gray Destination Marketing outlines how destination marketers can move beyond one-off accessibility spotlights to fully integrating accessibility across their entire media and measurement ecosystem. 

The focus shifts from awareness via creators to discoverability, structured data, and mid-funnel orchestration—so accessible stories are machine-readable, findable, and attributable to visitation and spend. 

Key Insights 

● Integration beats isolation: Accessibility performs best when it’s woven into core storytelling (TV, streaming, YouTube, blogs, paid social) rather than siloed as special content. 

● Make it discoverable: AI, voice, and search can’t rank what they can’t read—destinations need structured accessibility data, proper tagging, and on-site filters (e.g., “roll-in shower,” “service dog welcome”). 

● Mid-funnel matters: Repurpose influencer content into mid-funnel formats (CTV, programmatic video, social ads) to nurture from inspiration to planning. 

● Measure what matters: Use location-based visitation and spending data to connect inclusive storytelling to real-world outcomes (visits, distance traveled, trip spend).

● Contextual inclusion works: Featuring accessible experiences alongside food, music, and culture normalizes inclusion and improves campaign performance (example: Visit Florida approach). 

● Always-on exposure loop: Travelers loop through exploration/evaluation; staying present with layered media keeps accessibility top-of-mind until purchase. 

Integration beats isolation: Accessibility performs best when it’s woven into core storytelling (TV, streaming, YouTube, blogs, paid social) rather than siloed as special content.

Actionable Takeaways 

● Audit SEO & IA: Ensure accessibility pages and listings use machine-readable fields and schema; add on-site filters for specific features (not just “accessible”). 

● Build a content supply chain: Systematically repurpose creator assets into reels, :15/:30 CTV spots, pre-roll, stories, blog posts, and email. 

● Tag everything: Standardize metadata/UTM conventions for accessibility content to enable mid-funnel and ROI analysis. 

● Adopt programmatic layering: Pair contextual and audience targeting to surround likely travelers through the full journey. 

● Report impact: Incorporate visitation and spend lift into dashboards to prove inclusive marketing’s economic value. 

● Positioning shift: Treat accessibility as a through-line in brand storytelling—not a campaign add-on.

Notable Quotes 

● “Google and AI travel tools can’t rank what they can’t read.” 

● “Don’t make accessibility an add-on; make it a through line.” 

● “The destinations that win are the ones that make every traveler feel welcomed before they arrive.”

Accessible Hunting? South Dakota Just Put It on the Map.

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Hunter in blaze orange using a wheelchair in an autumn forest, holding a shotgun.

We’ve learned where to look for accessible hotels: match your needs through Wheel the World’s booking platform.

We can find short term rentals using things like BecomingrentABLE or filters through Airbnb.

We can even build loose travel itineraries based on the experiences of other disabled travelers.

But what if we’re looking for something a little more niche? What if we wanted to continue our annual hunting trip with our buddies, after a major spinal cord injury?

Accessible travel information doesn’t have to start with your biggest attractions. It can start with the things people already come to your destination to do.

That’s where we tend to hit a roadblock.

Not in South Dakota.

South Dakota’s Game, Fish & Parks website has a page dedicated to Accessible Hunting Areas, opening the gate to opportunities that feel impossible to find.

The state has identified specific Game Production Areas where hunters with a disabled hunter permit can use all-terrain vehicles or other vehicles on designated roads and trails. Some locations have accessible hunting blinds. Others have designated trails that provide vehicle access to areas where hunters can pursue deer, pheasant, turkey, waterfowl and other game.

DMO’s should pay attention. Not only is this website easy information on accessible outdoor adventures for visitors, it’s also an example of what an accessibility landing page could look like, detailing locations and what to expect. There are caveats, and South Dakota is upfront about them. The areas are unattended, terrain varies, not every portion of a Game Production Area will be accessible, and hunters are responsible for determining whether conditions are safe for them. That transparency is what makes this page so useful.

Accessible travel information doesn’t have to start with your biggest attractions. It can start with the things people already come to your destination to do.

Hunt. Fish. Camp. Golf. Birdwatch. Paddle. Attend a rodeo. Visit a shooting range. Go stargazing. Cheer for a local sports team.

Somewhere in your destination, there may already be accessible infrastructure, adaptive programs, special permits or designated access that travelers simply don’t know exists.

This is an opportunity where you don’t have to create something new. Find what already exists, document it clearly, and make sure the people who need it can find it.

↪Check out the website.

Practical Hacks from the Accessibility Playbook: Marketing to and Through Influencers and Content Creators

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Six branded Accessibility Playbook covers from TravelAbility, covering destinations, restaurants, meetings, accommodations, airports, and attractions.

The Accessibility Playbook is a practical guide providing strategies and tools destinations need to align partners, inspire action, and create more seamless, welcoming experiences for all. One of the features new to the 2026 Playbook is access to the Content Creator Community.

MARKETING TO AND THROUGH INFLUENCERS AND CONTENT CREATORS

Research continues to demonstrate the value of working with creators with disabilities. According to Nielsen InfluenceScope, content creators with disabilities generate 21.4% higher average media value and 20.5% more interactions than creators without disabilities. For travelers with disabilities, these creators offer authentic, relatable perspectives that help build trust and confidence. For travel brands, partnering with creators with disabilities is an effective way to build trust, expand reach, showcase authentic experiences, and increase engagement across multiple market segments.

TravelAbility has been growing their Content Creator Community. In just over a year, TravelAbility has built a one-of-a-kind directory of 608 disability content creators, representing a combined audience of more than 206 million followers. 

CreatorsInstagramFacebookYoutubeLinkedInTikTokTotal Followers
60854M26M42M1M83M206M

This growing network gives destinations and travel brands access to authentic voices that can help reach travelers with disabilities and their companions. These trusted creators represent a wide range of lived experiences, helping destinations build authentic campaigns that resonate with travelers with disabilities and their companions. Here’s an example of potential creators for partnerships.

The Valentine Brothers smiling outdoors, with one brother giving the other a piggyback ride on a grassy hill.

The Valentine Brothers

Instagram: valentinebrothers

Disability: ND

Followers: 11M

Shane Burcaw smiling cheek to cheek with his wife, Hannah, in a close-up selfie.

Shane Burcaw

Instagram: shaneburcaw

Disability: MOB

Followers: 5M

Anthony Ferraro, wearing a cap and a tie-dye shirt, sits on a driftwood log on a beach with his arms stretched wide and the ocean behind him.

Anthony Ferraro

Instagram: asfvision

Disability: B/LV

Followers: 3.8M

Amy Tarpein, with long brown hair and a blue blazer, sits indoors in front of abstract wall art.

Amy Tarpein 

Instagram: elijahsbabybucketlist

Disability: CD

Followers: 500K + 2.8M Blog Following

You can find many more in the 2026 Accessibility Playbook, the most comprehensive yet, featuring six all-new, in-depth sector guides for industry-specific stakeholders. 

Earn Your Accessibility Leader Certification at TravelAbility Summit Tampa

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Last year, we introduced the Cultivating Accessibility Leaders Masterclass at the TravelAbility Summit for the first time. Led by VisitAble and Canucks Autism Network, the two-hour session focused on four of the most common disabilities, with attendees leaving with an Accessible Leader Masterclass certificate.

“In just 2½ days, you’ll walk away with everything we’ve learned about accessible travel over the past eight years.”

– Jake Steinman, TravelAbility Founder and CEO

This year, we’re expanding the Accessible Leader certificate to officially recognize what we see every year: people who come to the Summit go back to their communities and begin leading accessibility initiatives within their own organizations. Now, every Summit attendee will receive a certificate at the end of the Summit recognizing their readiness to build accessibility into the work their organization is already doing. 

USAE News recently featured the expansion of the Accessible Leader certificate and what it means for this year’s Summit.

↪Read the full release here

“In just 2½ days, you’ll walk away with everything we’ve learned about accessible travel over the past eight years.” – Jake Steinman, TravelAbility Founder and CEO

TravelAbility Tampa 2026 Summit graphic featuring friends, one a wheelchair user, gathered around a waterfront table, with event dates November 9 to 11 in Tampa, Florida.

Join us November 9–11 in Tampa for the 2026 TravelAbility Summit and leave with the tools, knowledge, and connections to lead accessibility within your organization. 

 ↪Register for the summit 

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