TRAVEL MAKEOVER?

Travelling to and visiting a destination can have inconveniences for anyone. For people with disabilities they can sometimes be inaccessible as well, and yet a few simple changes could make all the difference. Experts in both the disability and travel industries have come up with various ideas to improve accessibility both for now and in the future.

Firstly, if you work in the travel industry, you can be a resource. Find out how other hotels are recreating their public spaces or how other destinations are training staff in the basics of helping families with an autistic child, for example. If you think about basic suggestions for helping people with both apparent and invisible disabilities, opportunities to be more accessible will become more obvious.

Always educate staff and train them in how to use available technology such as screens for captions that are wired with a hearing loop. This helps people who use hearing aids to listen to information or performances with greater clarity – but until staff are trained in technology, they can’t use it.

Test the usability of a solution by people with lived experience to distinguish between an authentic or non-authentic solution. Real experience is a helpful resource – far better than simply implementing an untested idea of what could help.

Likewise, go beyond basic compliance as simply ticking boxes is not genuine motivation. It’s not always about the money but it is always about the people, and small things can make a big difference.

Understand that making your business accessible will never be a finished process as such. New solutions will present themselves and existing ones can be refined and improved. Where technology is concerned, it will always be changing so stay up to date.

Finally, baggage handlers and porters should take care with mobility scooters and wheelchairs. Neither the cost of repair nor the inconvenience of being without an essential method of transport is easy for a traveller.

The more we slow down and look for an alternative solution, the more that accessibility tweaks will make themselves apparent.

With over 20 years experience producing and selling wheelchair accessible vehicles in the UK, you can be sure that we can offer excellent customer service with a level of knowledge that is completely unrivalled.