Accessible travel and transport are increasingly crucial in tourism and daily life. Even so, there are many valuable tips we need to know before our journey, which will help us thoroughly enjoy our trips.
Understand our rights for accessible travel and transport
The first thing we need to know before the trip is to understand our rights fully. People with disabilities have a right to have access to places used by the public. Understanding our rights can help us immerse in our journey and have the confidence to endorse for ourselves whenever something goes wrong during our trips.
Plan our accessible travel in detail
Before the trip, we can research the destination, transportation choices, travel routes and accommodations. The best information on wheelchair accessibility generally comes from the people who have done it before us. We can ask them about their experiences.
Moreover, there is a lot of helpful information on travel blogs and websites. We can create a detailed and personalised travel plan with what we have gotten from others and online resources.
A detailed travel checklist can help us keep all things organised. It can include medications, mobility & medical equipment, personal care, contact information, and more records we need to keep in mind during the trip.
Ask about hotel accessibility.
Although many hotels and accommodations are accessible, not all of them meet everyone’s requirements very well. We can directly contact the hotel, asking for some specific questions. For example, how wide the doors are in the accommodation, if the shower controls are reachable, and so on. By the way, we recently released our latest Inclusion Training service that can help accommodation providers improve their accommodation accessibility.
If you use Airbnb to book your accommodation, the application will display the properties with accessibility features, and we can also contact the host for more questions.
Research the accessibility of the public transportation
It’s almost impossible to rent a modified car in an unfamiliar place, especially in an oversea city. So before the trip, it’s indispensable to know if the public transportation in the destination city is accessible to bring you to the city’s main attractions. We can search online if there is a guide that can help us access various services and facilities for people with disabilities.
Keep flexible and positive.
We can try our best to cover everything necessary in a travel plan, but sometimes, unexpected things happen. When something goes wrong, our anger or frustration cannot solve problems except ruining our journey. Staying positive and clear-headed is always good to help us discover solutions and deal with the unexpected. For example, asking for someone’s help, calling the police, and more.
It’s hard to list all accessible travel and transport tips in one post. So we built up a factsheet containing almost all the resources you need for accessible travel and transport. Please read the factsheet if interested.
Additionally, please access our Peer Support team if you have more questions. We will be glad to help you with our experiences of physical disability.
