A Disability Advocate Offers Advice to Travel Agents

Image: Travel agent working with a client with disabilities. (photo via iStock / Getty Images Plus/ Halfpoint)

by Alex Temblador
Last updated: 11:35 AM ET, Tue April 2, 2019

The CDC found that one in four American adults have a physical and/or mental disability. That's 61 million Americans.

The chances of working with clients that have a disability are high, and the question is, are you prepared to handle their travel needs?

Unless you grew up with a disability yourself or had a close family member with a disability, it may feel like a difficult task to understand all of the challenges that travelers with disabilities face and what they need from you as a travel agent to make their vacation enjoyable.

We spoke with Craig Kennedy who works as a disability consultant and trainer with the Open Doors Organization, which has conducted studies on travelers with disabilities (most recently in 2015).

He boasts more than 20 years of experience in the disability travel and tourism sector, and as the co-founder of Access Anything, we couldn't have found a better person to discuss how travel agents can better help travelers with disabilities.

TravelPulse: What are the biggest obstacles that travelers with disabilities (physical and/or mental) may face?

Kennedy: The biggest obstacles that travelers with disabilities face are typically related to physical access, lack of accurate accessibility information and problems with air travel. Even though the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is almost 30 years old, travelers with disabilities often run into physical barriers in transportation, lodging and tourist attractions.

For instance, hotel shuttles from airports are rarely accessible and in many places, it is very difficult to find a service who can transport a power wheelchair. If you stick to the big hotel chains, lodging is usually a good experience, but finding a well-designed roll-in shower, even in the major hotel chains, can be a challenge.

And, while air travel is still the preferred method of travel for the general public, people with disabilities often prefer to take their own vehicle as many have had a bad experience while traveling by air. Most of these issues are centered around broken or damaged mobility equipment.

TravelPulse: What are some ways in which tourism boards, tour companies, airlines, hotels are working toward being inclusive of travelers with differing abilities?

Kennedy: Traveling with a disability has definitely improved over the past decade. More and more hotel chains are focusing on the needs of their guests with disabilities with amenities such as pool lifts, open frame beds and better-designed rooms that feature lowered closets and roll-in showers.

Airlines are slowly getting better at accommodating travelers with disabilities as well. Most major airlines now have some sort of disability advisory board made up of people with different types of disabilities who work directly with the airline to improve policies and procedures.

In addition, Open Doors Organization (ODO) has been doing disability training and consulting with domestic and foreign carriers for almost 20 years to make sure that goods and services are accessible.

The next big step is to get more buy-in from the state tourism boards in order to start advertising to the disability market which represents almost one-fifth of our population and is the largest untapped tourism market in the world.

We've been working with I LOVE NY, New York State's Division of Tourism, on an accessible tourism initiative, and we at ODO hope that this will be the impetus for other states to follow suit.

TravelPulse: Do you have any advice for travel agents on how they might best discuss a traveler's abilities and how it may relate to their trip?

Kennedy: The best advice I can give to travel agents is to make sure they get as much information from potential customers about their specific needs as they can.

If clients are hesitant to share certain information, make sure to assure them that the more information they have the better they can assist them. Just don't ever assume that you know what is best for them. Always ask lots of questions because the person with the disability is the expert on what they need!

TravelPulse: Any tips for travel agents to consider when booking a traveler who has disabilities trip?

Kennedy: The best thing to do is to call ahead and ask specific questions related to access. The main things to pay attention to are 1. Accessible parking and path of travel to get to and through the main entrance. 2. Accessible restroom availability. 3. General access to goods and services.

And if the person you are talking to on the phone is "not sure" about access, I always ask them to go and measure the width of doorways and other basic things. And second, they need to look into what each attraction offers in the way of discounts. Many places offer discounts! Also look into what state or local government offers as far as free access to state and national parks, camping, fishing, transportation (paratransit), etc...

Public transportation is also better in some places than others so make sure to look into access to public transportation as many people with disabilities use this in their hometowns.

TravelPulse: What's the most important thing a travel agent should consider when working with a client who has disabilities?

Kennedy: Two things come to mind. The first is that it is vitally important to provide accurate information to the client. If you don't know that answer to something, don't guess! Get the right information in place. And if you are not 100 percent sure of access somewhere, don't say it is accessible.

The easiest way to ruin someone's vacation is to give them inaccurate information. And if you feel like you are in over your head, then I would recommend sending the client to a disability-specific travel agent. There are lots of them out there!

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