Your disabled access holiday requirements

Accessible tourism is about tourism for all. No matter what your needs. Your special need might be that you are a breastfeeding mother, a diabetic, you may have a child on the autistic spectrum, or you may be a mature traveller who is less sure on your feet. It is not all about being wheelchair friendly. Tourism should be about being friendly to everyone. Here are some tips on how best to teach tourism operators about your disabled access holiday requirements, as well as many other requirements that you might have.

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Your disabled access holiday requirements

When you ask if a place is accessible and the owners or managers say yes, this often means that they are wheelchair friendly. Which is a patronising term in itself, when you think about it, like there is an option to be unfriendly. Travel organisations, and we include ourselves in this, have been slow to invite everyone to the party. So we are encouraging you to tell businesses what your disabled access holiday requirements are, and what you need in order to make your travels not only more inclusive, but more fun, more relaxing, more adventurous and, ultimately, more responsible.

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The fear factor

It’s weird, but it’s true. People working in tourism, in general, have been wary of tackling the subject of accessibility because they are afraid of getting it wrong. However, when you think of the millions of people in the world working in tourism, that’s a ridiculously large number of people who are scared to say ‘May I help you?’ It will help businesses learn and grow if you can assuage their fear, and calmly point out what your needs are in advance of your travel, and at the same time show them gentle steps that they can take to make it easier for other guests. Sometimes they need a big loud reminder that yes, they really can help you. And that no, you aren’t scary.

Julià Montero Ortega, founder of our supplier, Barcelona Zero Limits:
“You don’t have to spend a lot of money to have an accessible product. That is not usually the problem. The problem is that there is a lot of fear about the subject of disability within the businesses. Because they aren’t familiar with these types of customers, and so get scared because they don’t know what to do with a person in a wheelchair or a blind person arrives at their hotel. In fact, they don’t need to do anything different than with another client. It is a normal client! So, don’t fear these people. Tourism businesses need to be brave, creative and offer their best products to people, whatever their needs. Don’t always offer a special product. Now is the right time to change the mentality within the tourism industry.”

Liz from our supplier Space Between on accessibility in France’s Mercantour National Park:
“We recently welcomed a guest affected by fibromyalgia, and also struggling with fatigue. Because we knew in advance of her needs, we were able to create an easy programme of walking and cultural content, respecting her space, and planning her public transport to ensure she could get around easily. We do our best to enable the best holiday experience for all our guests - so it is important to understand from the outset what any accessibility issues might be - and for instance with trike expeditions into the park allows some time for us to organise.”

Turn frustration to creation

Discovering that the accessible toilet is little more than a store cupboard is not only common but also an unfortunate metaphor for just how insensitive people can be. People aren’t to be hidden away in a store cupboard, forgotten, or just ignored because no one knows where else to put them. And the irony is that this is a hospitality industry. You have a right to be angry, and you also have a right to inclusion. However, peaceful protests and articulate arguments are the ones that create change, not ranting and raging reckless ones. We can wait for the governments to make it obligatory or for businesses to wake up to the fact that, on so many levels, it makes sense to include everyone. But as Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world”. Don’t wait for others to get their acts together, but educate the people who need to understand better what your disabled access holiday requirements are– and do so creatively and with inspiration. We have all ears open at Responsible Travel too and are happy to hear all suggestions, as we know that we are only at the beginning of our learning curve.

Travel Team

If you'd like to chat about Accessible travel or need help finding a holiday to suit you we're very happy to help.

01273 823 700

Calling us from outside the UK?

rosy@responsibletravel.com

01273 823 700

Calling us from outside the UK?

rosy@responsibletravel.com

Our travel team is always happy to discuss your particular requirements when it comes to accessibility. If we know early in the process exactly what you need then through communication with suppliers we can make appropriate holiday recommendations, and ensure that every aspect of your trip will meet your needs, from accommodation to meals and support.

Fiona Smart co-founder of our supplier Mas Pelegri, a superb sports hotel in Girona Spain:
“I have just been training this amazing woman who is turning 60 this year and has just recovered from breast cancer. She has decided she wanted to do a 100 mile bike event and do a spring triathlon. So this week was the first time on a road bike and she has already biked 50 miles yesterday. She was a little afraid of the open water swimming, but with a wetsuit for buoyancy and our support, it helped her lose the stress a little. Real inspiration.”

Social media

Social media is a wonderful tool to create awareness and change. Get switched on to the social media network, and praise companies who are getting things right. Or tourist boards that are getting it wrong. Most accommodation websites offer information to families, walkers, cyclists, honeymooners and so on. If, however, you are blind, autistic, deaf, have arthritis or are a wheelchair user, then you’ll sometimes be surfing from dawn ‘til dusk to find a cottage in the country to cater for your needs. By becoming part of the social media world, one that features highly on all travel organisations’ agendas these days, you are not only giving shout outs to the people getting it right, but also showing that you are willing and able to travel. If the industry would just be more willing and able to host you.

Get good at lists

The default line with many tourism organisations is ‘yes we are wheelchair friendly’ or ‘yes, we are accessible’. However as we know, accessibility is a term that means so little, as everyone’s needs are different. So get good at making lists of all your needs, save a document that you can copy and paste with ease, and put a few tick boxes alongside it, so that the tourism business can fill it in easily. So, ironically, you are making the process easier for them, not the other way round. We know that sounds silly, but we think that this is the best way, at the moment, to start teaching businesses about the nitty gritty needs of travellers around the world.

Key questions to ask tour operators and tourism businesses from Brian Seaman, accessible tourism expert, who worked at leading charity, Tourism for All UK for 19 years.

Does your holiday insurance cover pre-existing medical conditions? Does your holiday insurance cover wheelchair or equipment repair or replacement? Can the agent make accessible accommodation a ‘requirement’ rather than a ‘request’? Can the agent guarantee this room will be available? Are the other facilities and beach accessible? If oxygen is required on the flight – is this free-of-charge? Is there assistance available at the departure and destination airport? If the transfer bus at the destination is not accessible is there an alternative accessible taxi service? Who is liable for the cost of a transfer taxi?

More about Accessible travel

Accessible holidays guide

This accessible holiday guide aims to show you the world can still be your oyster, no matter what your special need - it's also a call to action to the travel industry to cater better for those with various disabilities and needs.

Top disabled access holiday destinations

The world is gradually switching on to the fact that there is a rapidly growing number of people with disabilities wanting to travel more, but who just can’t face it because the place makes it too difficult for them.

Wheelchair accessible holidays

Wheelchair accessible holidays have seen huge advances in recent years, and while the tourism industry as a whole is still a long way from perfection on this, we’re thrilled to see more and more exciting destinations and experiences opening up for wheelchair travellers.

Holidays for people with limited mobility

Our fantastic and diverse range of limited mobility holidays will encourage you to get out and see the world one step at a time, because not everyone is content to just stay close to their accommodation the whole time

Holidays for deaf & hard of hearing travellers

Many of the accessible holidays that you’ll see on our site can be adapted for travellers that are deaf or hard of hearing, with operators always happy to go the extra mile - your hearing may be impaired, your enjoyment of the holiday won’t be.

Holidays for blind & partially sighted travellers

What do hiking in the Spanish Pyrenees, fascinating cultural tours of Japan and ski trips in the mountains of India have in common? They’re all available in our amazing range of blind and partially sighted holidays.

Holidays for people with cognitive issues

Travelling with cognitive issues needn’t limit your options if the trip is well organised before departure - our cognitive issues holidays are able to accommodate a wide variety of conditions, blending practicality with inspirational activities.

Accessible holiday activities

Accessible holiday activities are definitely on the up, and not just holidays purposefully created for people with special needs - mean really full-on stuff, like watersports, gorilla trekking, horse riding and more.

Disabled access holiday advice

Our disabled access holiday advice comes from some of our most celebrated travellers with various special needs - the overall advice is get out there and have fun, not just opt for the boring option because they are catering for your needs.

Responsible accessible tourism holidays

Responsible accessible tourism holidays are a weird concept, because in many ways, every responsible tourism holiday should address equal access - this section of our guide is a call to action to tourism organisations of all stripes.