The Necessity To Create Accessible Travel For The Disabled
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.
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. 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.
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. Just because one has been struck with an illness or accident doesn’t mean that the world should be set up to work against them.
