Everyday Expat

The biggest problem with accessible travel is that it actually isn’t all that accessible. Restaurants and restrooms are simply not set up to allow for the maneuverability of a wheelchair.

The biggest problem with the travel industry is that the disability access areas are designed by able bodied people. There are many special needs bathrooms that are literally too small to allow a wheelchair to be manipulated 360 degrees to allow for full access to the toilet, door, and the sink. Something relatively simple like making sure the doors are light enough to be opened by someone in a wheelchair is overlooked by the able bodied designer.  Otherwise, pleasurable travel for the disabled would become a reality.

Often those who need a little extra assistance while traveling are denied timely access to that assistance. Airports and other forms of public transportation need better education amongst the staff  when providing assistance to the disabled. The location of access ramps, elevators, and assistance buttons are generally inconvenient enough that it can’t really be considered accessible.

What the travel industry really needs is to gather real life experience from those who have tried to navigate an airport or train station while disabled. This should come in two forms. The first is to ask those who face the disabled life on a daily basis how to make things easier for them. You would be surprised at the insight available by just going to the source.

If employees of the airports, train stations, and cab companies were all required to spend just a few days in a wheelchair navigating the area without assistance there might be some valuable insight gained. We need to stop hiding elevators at the far corners of the buildings and start  recognizing that the disabled have regular needs as well.

Traveling by car, plane, bus, or train should be an experience that is safe, courteous, and perhaps even right on the edge of pleasant. Yet due to underdevelopment of staff personnel and the poorly planned design of many of today’s accessible travel facilities there is little hope for independent travel. The gains of independence that have been made are only wiped away by society’s desire not to be asked to go out of their way to make sure that the disabled retain their independence.

Additional training could make it painfully obvious that the elevators are poorly accessible for those in wheelchairs and that the so called accessibility that is mandated by law is just not adequate for those who want to travel despite their disability. Management of travel facilities can play a huge role in creating the safe and user friendly environment that is required not only by law, but by the state of consciousness.