Associate Dean, Academic Affairs, UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management
“The experience enables our students to really come to grips with the opportunities and challenges of accessible travel in their workplace.”
Q1. What motivated you to become involved in accessibility and do you have a personal connection to disability?
My first engagement with accessibility in travel was through work with colleagues in the U.K. exploring ways in which destinations could/should become more dementia-friendly. This experience inspired me ask many questions here in the U.S. about what is being done and with what level of success. In many ways, I was pleasantly surprised at the energy driving the accessibility agenda in travel, with most people driven by a personal connection to disability–including me. My teenage years were heavily shaped by severe scoliosis and the need to wear a “Boston Brace” 23 hours a day. Although not classified as disabled, my restricted movement caused by the brace opened my eyes to what other people less fortunate than me were experiencing. That generated in me a deep empathy for people with disabilities and the need to create an environment as supportive as possible so that they could lead meaningful and productive lives.
Q2. What is the goal of your organization?
As a college, our goal is to “educate and develop future generations of global hospitality leaders through innovative programs, knowledge creation through research, and dynamic worldwide industry and community partnerships”. Through our extensive internship program, every student on campus is obliged to complete a module on travel accessibility. This module builds on their classroom knowledge and introduces them to the core lessons of the TravelAbility Playbook in their in-person, industry internship environment! Rather than being a textbook exercise, the experience enables our students to really come to grips with the opportunities and challenges of accessible travel in their workplace. Our students have also started to complete accessibility assessments with Wheel The World. They are getting an inside look at the work that underpins their success of one of the most comprehensive providers of accessible travel experiences in the world.
Q3: Aside from budget, what are the most difficult obstacles or barriers you face around accessibility and what actions/initiatives are you taking to address them?
The biggest obstacle is the size of the travel industry itself and the sheer number of stakeholders to engage and educate! TravelAbility is doing an amazing job in spreading the word with the Federal Government pushing the need for the industry to address the three pillars of accessible travel, namely: accessible facilities; accessible customer service; accessibility information. From a place perspective, Destinations International are leading the charge with accessibility as a key component of their social impact agenda while Visit Florida have set a laudable goal for Florida to be the most accessible state by 2030!
Q4. What accomplishments are you most proud of?
Although we remain at the beginning of our journey of introducing our students to accessible travel, to date more than 1,000 have completed their accessible travel module and so have the necessary foundational knowledge to be accessible changemakers of the future.
Q5: Who do you follow? Name an organization/company/individual you look to for ideas or inspiration.
For 100% inspiration I follow Cory Lee, “curbfreecorylee”. His incredible journeys around the world just prove what can be achieved with single-minded determination to enjoy life to the full, no matter what the challenge or impairment. This also holds true for Alvaro Silberstein who out of personal adversity formed Wheel The World, which is changing lives in the space of accessible travel!
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