Accessible tourism is a huge market – worldwide

In 2014 this video was produced for the European Commission and these 8 minutes make the best statement about accessible tourism. Although focused on Europe, worldwide accessible tourism is 25% of the market.

It is not only about people in a wheelchair. It is about people who are older and who need extra facilities to have a comfortable stay in hotels, on cruiseships. It is about people who are visually impaired. It is about somebody’s parent, somebody’s child, somebody’s partner or friend. It is about everybody. Everybody wants to travel the world, explore and have fun. Make sure to raise awareness. Tourism is about having fun and enjoy life. So is accessible tourism.

Please do sign up on ATO, the accessible travel platform, to find information on accessible locations all over the world. We update on a weekly basis. If you sign up, you receive our newsletter on a regular basis as well.

Welcome dear travelers! Let’s go somewhere and enjoy the wonders of the earth.

10 little things

Female entrepreneurs in the accessible travel world – how they are successful

I have been doing research in the world of accessible travel for quite some time now, and I found this huge success factor that I need to share. The majority of accessible travel entrepreneurs are women. Some of them have a disability, some of them don’t. Some of them have a degree in tourism and travel, or marketing, some had a career in healthcare.

And they all are successful entrepreneurs in this fast growing travel market. First thing comes to mind is that women are carers, seeing the needs of others, wanting to make sure everybody has a good time on their holiday. And when it comes to people with disabilities, it is natural to them to fullfill that role as a caregiver.

What I found, is not that the stereotyping wins in this century of opportunities; women are totally in sync in this entrepreneurship. Women can also be very good in managing a business. Making decisions based on a healthy balanced thinking process – profits AND great customer services.

I celebrate these women, who stand up for people with disabilities traveling the globe. The extra care or special needs they have an eye for, is the winning tool to run their succesful business in the accessible travel world.

Destination Greece

Efi Daskalopoulou, the project manager of “Accessible paths”  and co-founder of Prosvasis.co  developed with Intermedi@KT team an online mapping platform www.prosvasis.co,  with reviews and recommendations for a wide variety of entertaiment options and accommodation in Greece for people with physical disabilities. This mapping platform is an electronic compass, that includes areas where people with physical disabilities can locate points of interest(abbr. POI), based on crowdsourced reviews.
The name of the Platform “Prosvasis” was deliberately chosen. It comes from the Greek word prosvasi, a modernization of the ancient Greek term prosvasis (πρόσβαση-πρόσβασις) which means access.

Efi aims for the full and equal participation of people with disabilities in an inclusive and sustainable world that embraces humanity in all its diversity. Her philosophy is to enable fellow citizens to assist an entire social group with just a few clicks.
We would like to present to you our team’s work for the improvement of quality of life of our fellow citizens with physical disabilities.

We Carry Kevan

In the summer of 2016, I went backpacking through Europe with some friends. I’m usually in a wheelchair, but I swapped that out for a backpack and these friends carried me around for three weeks. We explored cities and countrysides, hiked ancient islands and walked along timeless riverbanks. It was a world I would have otherwise never known, if it weren’t for the amazing men who went with me; a band of brothers with lightning in their blood and thunder in their bones.

We spent months preparing for the journey, perfecting the backpack and training for teamwork, hiking, and carrying. By the time we landed in Paris, mid-June of 2016, we were ready to take on the world. We got there just in time for Summer Solstice, and oh my we danced! We ate, we walked, we hopped trains and metros on whims, and we took in the view from the steps of Sacre Coeur.

And we went to Samois-sur-Siene.

It was Thursday of that first week when we left Paris and headed downriver to the hometown of Django Reinhardt, a legendary guitarist and great inspiration to me. Samois-sur-Siene hosted an annual festival in his memory, and we found ourselves in the midst of a gypsy camp with a hundred musicians, playing Django’s music. This was Heaven to me, or as close as I’d get in this lifetime. I realized, then, a sort of frustration within myself that slowly turned over into sadness. All I wanted to do here was wander around by myself, take in the scene and let my soul rest in it. But again, I had no wheelchair to do this, and my wheelchair wouldn’t handle this place well anyway. Mud, steps, rocks, gravel, crowds, more steps.

Turns out, I had traded one freedom for another. In my chair, I have control. I decide every move I make, I come and go as I please, though limited by terrain. In this backpack and with these friends, I can go anywhere, though not on my own. One freedom is not better than the other, they’re just different. Both come with pros and cons.

And this what I had to wrestle through and learn for myself — that life is full of such compromises. I wanted to explore lands otherwise inaccessible to me, so I had to get over myself and accept the changes required to make that a reality. I wasn’t going to be in control, per se, and it was probably going to be uncomfortable in some ways. And someone else would have to carry me, which meant it wasn’t just my adventure, but an equally shared experience between myself and my carrier. I had to consider their needs and desires over my own, and trust they were doing likewise for me, so that we both were covered in the end.

One of the guys on the trip, Ben, was my roommate back home. We’re around each other so much, it feels more natural than others. So, he came alongside me at Samois-sur-Siene, took me onto his back, and we wandered around by ourselves, taking in the scene and letting our souls rest in it. Because when you have people who love you, you don’t need to be in control.

Find out more about this extraordinary group of friends via WeCarryKevan.

Ozion – the airport software we need

Airport Special Assistance, from awful to Awesome!

How did Ozion, an up and coming airport software company, change the passenger assistance rulebook in favor of passengers and the agents who take care of them? Ozion achieved this by a strategy that puts each individual assisted passenger at the heart of the airport’s PRM operations.  Focusing on securing their journey inside the airport from the moment the passenger arrives and meets the agent to the moment they are securely in the aircraft or in their family’s car on the way back from the airport. Every step of each passenger journey is planned, confirmed followed and immediate actions taken when anything might affect it’s timely conclusion. Also, agents who are in control of their assistance service are less under pressure and can focus on extending a fine service for which they will be complemented.

Watch the video to see how agents at Samsic, one of Paris Charles de Gaulle’s three PRM providers, uses Ozion’s software to take fine care of PRM passengers going through CDG.

Sit skiing in New Zealand – Aurelie going global

I tried sit ski and I liked it!
For a very long time I though that I would never be able to ski. Sometimes my friends left for winter break and I even didn’t question myself about going with them or not. I was so wrong! We can have a disability and ski!

I tried it for the first time in New Zealand on a volcano! Indeed Whakapapa ski resort in Mount Ruapehu offers adaptive lessons for disabled people, including people with a visual impairment. First I have to set up myself in the sit ski. The sit ski is a seat which rests on suspensions. Under those, there is one or two skis. When I am sitting on it I need someone to make it stable, to hold it. The shell is very tight around the thighs and waist. My body is really well maintained. After that, I get these kind of little skis to hold. They are some kind of sticks with little skis at the bottom. First I have to attach them around my arms, the same way as we do with crutches. Then I need to adjust the backrest in order to form a 90° angle with my legs and body. This is much more confortable and it is easier to ski because the arms and the little skis must go forward if I want to be able to guide myself in every direction.
Now I’m ready to learn. First step: I have to find my balance without moving, to succeed to lean without falling and to learn to move forward and go backwards on a flat area. To do that I use the « little skis » which end with a piece of sheet metal and I stick them in the snow. The first time I almost didn’t move! I felt like I was stuck. The sit ski seemed so heavy. Fortunately after 5 minutes I succeeded to do it.

The next step is to learn how to go down the slope. My instructor is attached to my sit ski with a strap
and an assistance bar. She guides me during the first descent and I do nothing.
The point is to make me feel the sledging. During the next descents I learn how to turn left and right. To do that I need to lean in the direction I want to go. I also have to use the « little skis » and to lean them on their sides to steer the sit ski. After a two hours lesson I still doubt that I will be able to ski by myself one day but I decide to book four more hours lessons. After two hours I am doing it better but it is not very smooth yet.

After a sunny lunch I start a new session. As soon as I go through the first descent this is the revelation.
I don’t know what happened but I suddenly get it. I do a series of bends on each side very easily.
Now I just need to learn how to brake. To do this I use the pieces of sheet metal at the end of my « little skis ». The difficulty is that a sit ski move really fast so using these to brake it not always the best solution. When I go really fast the best way to slow the sit ski down is to slow down step by step doing bends one after another. I easily get it because, without knowing it, I have already done it during the previous descents.

Now I can ski alone!

My instructor stays behind me but she doesn’t guide or hold me anymore. The last thing I need to learn is to get on a ski lift by myself and to practise on harder slopes.

This is me in Tokyo, Japan on a gorgeous day in Spring:
Please visit my travelblog. Hopefully you like my stories, and you will go exploring this beautiful planet too.

Watch this great video on the skiing adventure of Aurelie, become amazed and inspired!