posted by Vacation Home Rentals on Apr 3
There is a need for some serious revamping of what we call accessible travel in this country. Anyone facing a disability is going to require a little more effort on behalf of those around them to get from point A to point B. It is painfully clear that the laws on accessible travel require the appropriate access but there really isn’t much to require that the accessibility is maintained to any functional standard.
The biggest problem with the travel industry is that the disability access areas are designed by able bodied people. 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. Something as simple as that could truly help make travel for the disabled more of a reality.
Handicapped accessible cruise ships have been cited for not having the ability to allow wheelchair bound guests to open the doors. In fact, many of the doors are so heavy that those who are assisting the disabled have difficulty getting the wheelchair through the door. Airports require people to wait excessively long periods of time when a wheelchair is required and cab companies will leave those same people waiting for an additional 30, 45, 60 minutes or more while waiting for the one access friendly van to come which has often been dispensed by the parent company.
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.
Something as simple as requiring assistance for refueling at a gas station often becomes a compromised situation. Read the fine print of the assistance sticker and it is made clear that if there is only one person on duty those needing assistance will not be helped. Requiring those with special needs to wait for the simple things is not only insulting, but it can in fact be dangerous.
Access should be easy enough to get to that those with all kinds of disabilities should be able to travel without the need for extra assistance that they would not normally require. 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.