Maya NorthenInterview with Scott Rains On Disability Travel and Universal DesignMN: Which destinations do you find to be the most accessible for travelers with a physical disability, particularly those who utilize in a wheelchair? Can you elaborate a bit on how these destinations more "friendly" in terms of accessibility? SR: In Texas there are roadsigns that say "Drive Friendly." (http://www.forthoodsentinel.com/images/photos/5512_tn.jpg ) I take that to mean "Go out of your way to make it easy on your neighbor." In my experience there are two ways that destinations do that. Both are value decisions reflecting the culture of the place. One way a destination becomes truly friendly (that is, inclusive) is by design. You know inclusion by design is part of the cultural DNA when you see curb cuts on the corner, automatic door openers at the grocery store, lowered clothes bars in hotel closets, and other people in wheelchairs in the streets. It means that somebody thought of us as real people – residents, citizens, consumers, visitors. It means that, whether they knew the definition of not, those with the power to humanize that community chose Universal Design: Universal Design is a framework for the design of places, things, information, communication and policy to be usable by the widest range of people operating in the widest range of situations without special or separate design. Most simply, Universal Design is human-centered design of everything with everyone in mind. Universal Design is also called Inclusive Design, Design-for-All and Lifespan Design. It is not a design style but an orientation to any design process that starts with a responsibility to the experience of the user. (Source: http://www.adaptenv.org/universal-design) Then there is "person-to-person friendly." That’s the kind of "neighborly" you learn at home that teaches you to see somebody else’s need and respond to it appropriately. In my experience, there is sometimes an inverse proportion between the two depending on how wheelchair-friendly the physical environment appears to non-disabled people. For example, when I cross the border to the south and head anywhere between Tijuana and Tierra del Fuego (brrr!) I expect that the guys hanging out on the street corner are just as likely to volunteer to help me up a curb even before I ask. North into Canada there are stretches that are pretty wheelchair friendly. Even there I find that "Canadian friendly" still lives strong among those I meet one-on-one. Japan is different. Asian traditions honor a certain reserve. Combine that with some pretty well-designed accessibility solutions throughout the country and sometimes you can feel ignored as you are left to your own devices. Not to generalize about Asia however I still laugh when I recall doing an accessibility assessment of a local beach with a Thai friend. We got to a surprise in the sidewalk paralleling the beach – three steps. I saw two big-shouldered guys sitting at the bottom of the stairs talking. I asked the one with his back to me if he would help us down. He turned, completely serious, and offered. Then I realized he had no arms! We laughed. He didn’t hesitate but, in the end, we had him supervise while his friend did the heavy lifting. Now, "friendly" is something French culture seems to save only for special occasions and the architecture of Paris reflects that – even the accessibility modification afterthoughts. To be fair to Paris l ike all of Europe it has old heritage buildings that are a headache to adapt. At the same time to be fair to wheelchair users thinking of visiting Paris the wheelchair ramp across the street from the Louvre dumps you right into a sewer cover. (forwarded) To finally get round to answering your question: I travel expecting to find friends not accessibility. Sometimes I find it concretely in architecture sometimes I find it in flesh and bone as service with a smile. MN: You touched a bit on this, but in your experience, what do you feel most encourages certain cultures/countries to be more helpful or understanding of (physical) disabilities than others? Is it just an overall friendliness of people who will work extra hard to accommodate (Thai people are said to be some of the friendliest in the world, for instance)? Or do you think it's something that's more encouraged by the country as a whole via standards and requirements? For example, you mentioned that in much of Europe, it would be a headache to adapt buildings to accommodate wheelchairs (and I'm guessing that because of this, they aren't required to do so), so even if people in Paris wanted to help, it seems like it seems it would be difficult for them to accommodate in certain situations. SR: Passing friendliness may not be the only value at work here. What I find when I scratch the surface of a place is a sense of community – interdependence. I think that needs to be present and tapped into before the hunger for inclusion is crafted into adequate regulations. Where I have experienced extraordinary welcome I find a certain message of we-are caretakers-of-this-place mentality common to those places, like Thailand, or India, or Navajoland. There is a similar strand in the cultural DNA of both Berbers and sailors – nomads of desert and ocean – because both know the need for human solidarity in the face of the forces of nature. Hawai’i’s famous Aloha Spirit of hospitality, writes Ken Molina, "means mutual regard and affection and extends warmth in caring with no obligation in return." The stories of the early Hebrew people in the Bible also give hospitality an almost divine power. The 18th chapter of the Book of Genesis has Abraham and Sarah at the oaks of Mamre hosting an angel. In both cases the focus is on awareness of real human need in the present moment. Much of what remains what you might call "inaccessible-with-an-attitude-about-it" are historic sites. Compassion in the present is stifled by a fundamentalist worship of the past. Eventually the pragmatism of assuring the public safety of the world’s rapidly aging, and thus disabling, population will make audible crosswalk signals, self-driving cars, and curb-cuts at corners a no-brainer solution worldwide. Yet one of the most frustrating backlashes to inclusion for the traveler comes from those who vigorously oppose any accessibility modification to historic places on the grounds of historical accuracy. Slavery, infanticide, public lynchings, and the non-citizenship of women are all historic realities. None are still tolerated. However, architecture that historically excluded those who have mobility impairments continues to wreak its havoc on lives just as effectively today. It carries forward to the present day the injustice of a former era that is exclusion from participation in cultural life. It is not surprising that my South Africa friend and disability activist Ari Seirlis says, "Disability discrimination is the apartheid that still has not been eliminated." To some extent I would say that mindfulness is the key ingredient to what gives a culture the imagination and political will to be accessible and inclusive. Travel, like almost nothing else, is living on the edge in the present moment. That unlocking of simple awareness of the passingness of place, self and others is inescapable as travel constantly turns you over to the unknown moment by moment. There are those cultures that seem to preserve and cultivate the compassion of mindfulness. I would say that there are few, perhaps none, who have systematically applied the discipline of mindfulness to the concrete realm of the design of places and products with the normal diversity of human bodies that we call "disability" in mind. MN: Very interesting point about the limitations, and particularly the limitations due to attitude and acceptance surrounding historical sites. You mention audible crosswalk signs, self-driving cars, and the like becoming no-brainers for accessibility, and I myself have seen these in cities and towns. When it comes to historical sites, in addition to the more obvious solutions like ramps for wheelchairs and audio guides for the sight-impaired, what types of solutions do you feel that historical sights could adapt to make them more friendly for disabled travelers? Are there things that may be highly important but that travelers (and travel planners for that matter) without a disability might not think about? I think it's interesting to explore those things that travelers tend to take for granted when that really make a big difference for the disabled traveler. SR: Something that we take for granted as travelers with disabilities is that we will never find the information that we need before we travel somewhere. What we do find will be largely irrelevant and certainly incomplete. Phoning ahead can help – if you speak the language – but often even the most experienced staff have not been taught what to look for and cannot answer our questions. Providing relevant accurate information would make a big difference. So here are some tips for those who manage historical sites (or pretty much any tourist destination): Do some research to find out how people with disabilities actually used the site when it was in its heyday. Take your staff through your site together in small groups asking them to so a Sensory Tour: Blindfolded experience the smells, then the sounds, then the tactile features of each space. Venues often find this way that they have some uniquely appealing aspects they have not adequately marketed. Hire a qualified disabled person to do an accessibility audit of the current site. Then hire them to train your staff on how to communicate honestly and clearly about what a person with a disability will experience at your site. On your web site show pictures, give measurements, describe workarounds or parts where safe accessibility is simply not available and add testimonials of real visitors with disabilities who have been there. And some tips for travelers with disabilities: Check with friends to see if they have been to the destination or knows someone who can check it out personally. Use a travel agent who has experience arranging trips for PWD. They often have longstanding relationships with suppliers and can get you solutions that you can't get on your own. MN: As a kind of "part B" based on your last response, you mentioned historical sites utilizing their websites to show pictures, describe walkarounds, provide measurements, and describe areas that simply aren't safe accessibility wise. Can you provide any examples of sites – historical or otherwise – that have done this? Also, since you mentioned suppliers that can provide solutions that travelers may not be able to get on their own, do you have any that you've had personal experience with that you'd recommend (if you'd prefer not to give names I understand, but I thought it couldn't hurt to ask – the more resources we're knowledgeable of, the better). SR: Sydney for All is a purpose built website showing best practices in how to design a destination web site for people with disabilities:
Others that I know of are in other languages and or I haven't checked in quite a while. Some travel agents and destinations include:
MN: It's great to see some concrete examples of what sites and companies are doing right. Thank you, Scott. I'd like to shift gears slightly to touch on air travel, as this is a major component of a lot of trips. With all of the layers of rules and regulations from the FAA, airlines themselves, and other bodies, I imagine it can get frustrating in terms of accessibility. Of course there are more obvious concerns – the tight confines of the plane which are not very accommodating for those in a wheelchair, the hassles of going through security with any additional equipment needed, and the like. But I was wondering if you could touch on some of the difficulties in air travel that people with disabilities face that the non-disabled traveler (or planner) may not be as aware of. SR: My friend Roberto at Reduced Mobility Rights got back to me with real stories on this question. Mis-coding is the mother of most mishaps. I have a perfect example. Current And Future Challenges – Case Study This is an issue across the board. By example, a double amputee gets coded WCHR instead of the correct WCHC. This will be cause for embarrassment, delays, and could even lead to personal injury if assistance agents decide to improvise like in the case mentioned: here. MN: Thank you very much for this information – and to your friend Roberto as well. It is especially interesting for myself as a travel planner to hear about the coding issues, as this is certainly something a planner would need to make sure that the airline is doing correctly when booking a flight. While the airline may be doing the coding in their system, it's important for us to double check that they are being accurate, and correctly addressing the needs of the traveler. While we're on the topic of air travel, do you have any examples of airports or airlines that are doing things right " ie any that have programs or have addressed accessibility needs in a way that particularly impress you, or stand out for something unique that is worth noting. SR: There is nowhere that has systematically though through accessibility but Berlin has some exemplary new accessible bathrooms Palmas, Brazil just inaugurated a new style wheelchair lift integrated into their tarmac-level loading gates De Gaul airport has Coco Raynes' Raynes-Rails where the Braille messaging is inscribed on the back side of handrails MN:You were recently featured on the blog SPINALpedia, which provided some information on your personal history and how you transformed your career to combine your passions of travel and the disability community. It seems that your perseverance and commitment to not letting a disability stop you has been the backbone of much of your life and current career. It mentions that you have a blog where people can follow your travels and your work. Can you tell us a bit more about that blog, and where readers can find it?
As we wind up this interview, any final "words of wisdom" from your years of experience, either for travelers with disabilities or for the travel planning community who may work with disabled travelers? SR:Keep in mind that the SPINALpedia piece has a few errors in its enthusiasm. Josie Byzek's piece in New Mobility is more accurate here in fact and tone. My main blog, RollingRains.com has several subsections: leaders, case studies, travelogues, and readings The most active section started with a post on January 1, 2004 and continued with almost daily posts for 10 years. The other blog that I keep is bilingual and focuses on Brasil in the lead up to the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games . MN:As we wind up this interview, any final "words of wisdom" from your years of experience, either for travelers with disabilities or for the travel planning community who may work with disabled travelers?
SR: For final "words of wisdom" I'd say that we are well beyond the historical period when accessibility in modes of transportation, lodging, and tourist sites is our central focus. In the past four decades multiple technical solutions have been perfected to many of the major space and product design needs of travelers with disabilities. After forty years of sustained advocacy the legal arguments have been made and codified all the way up to the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. What remains is for travel destinations to apply them. So my advice to our community is, when you find a destination that has done it right tell them so. Then tell your friends. And never settle for less than what you know to be excellent service.
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