Trip Planning for Travelers With Disabilities

For travelers with disabilities or special needs, trip planning can involve more research than typical travel. See below for a general framework on how to plan trips with different kinds of disabilities for different destinations. Many destinations are more accessible than expected.

Research the destination’s accessibility infrastructure

In some countries you find very good infrastructure to access places for people with mobility issues, vision or hearing loss. Countries like Japan, Singapore, most countries in Northern Europe and Australia offer a very good and well-developed structure of hotels, public transportation, restaurants and attractions for travelers with disabilities. In Southern Europe and Latin America, on the other hand, many historic centers do not have sufficient accessibility. In some countries, like Germany, Netherlands and the UK, a lot of investments have been made to improve accessibility and in these cases they are a lot better than people think. Most travel guides do not tell you enough about these aspects, which is a shame.

Hotels and accessibility

Hotels can range from fantastic accessibility to absolutely no accessibility at all. Typically large modern chain hotels (Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt) have accessible rooms in prime locations of big cities and they are generally very good (to their ADA standards at least). Smaller independent hotels (often referred to as boutique hotels) and B & B’s vary and it is extremely important to actually check out details of rooms (door width, layout of bathroom, accessibility of elevator if applicable). Of great concern to me is that many descriptions of Airbnb properties have often very inaccurate descriptions of accessibility and again you must confirm with host before booking (ideally with video tour of property).

Transit and accessibility

Public transit also varies in terms of the degree to which it is wheelchair accessible. In general, countries such as the U.K., Singapore, Japan and many of the major cities in the U.S. have wheelchair accessible buses and trains for the majority of their routes. Cities such as Paris, Rome and many of the Eastern European cities have old metros with few elevators. In general, the buses are more wheelchair accessible than the metro. Again, the degree to which a taxi company has wheelchair accessible vehicles can vary, but generally it is possible to book in advance through services such as Wheelchair Travel or local equivalents.

In my last trip that I detailed here, the advice worked really well.

Documentation that helps

Doctor’s letters, and other documentation, that outline a traveler’s medical needs and equipment that they use can be very helpful when interacting with airlines and when going through security checks for equipment. Other important documentation for traveling with medication include: written documentation that outlines a traveler’s specific needs, medications and their corresponding prescriptions in original packaging with labels still attached, and any other documentation that relates to specific equipment and its corresponding certifications (e.g. battery type for wheelchairs, manufacturer documentation for other medical equipment, etc.). I have found that having these documents in order and readily available before a trip has alleviated a lot of stress and has allowed for smoother travel.

When to use a specialty travel agent

For travelers with very serious needs (e.g. catheterization, oxygen, etc.) it can be very worthwhile to engage the services of a Specialty Travel Agent (STA) who can plan an entire itinerary for you. You can expect to pay anywhere from $100-$300 for the planning of a single trip, but they have developed relationships with Accessible Hotels, tour operators and ground transportation in almost every destination in the world. Travelers with relatively straightforward needs and plenty of time to research can probably plan their own trips. But travelers with multiple needs, that intersect in complex ways, will likely benefit from the services of an STA.

Applying the Insights To Plan Your Next Trip

One other thing to keep in mind is that it is best to create a map with a paper map before you book your flights, hotel and anything else. Drawing out the route of the planned trip before booking things online can help avoid a series of expensive mistakes in planning the trip. Furthermore, it is best to revisit your plan (or at least reconsider your daily itinerary) when you have been in your destination country for a few weeks – often your pre-trip plan from your home country will not work out as planned on the road. A good starting point for planning is a hard date (i.e. the date on which you will arrive at your destination) and a budget for your planned trip – from these two pieces of information you can work within the confines of your constraints to come up with the best possible itinerary for your trip.

Closing perspective from years on the road

These are the patterns of practice that I’ve established in the years of traveling as the foundation for my own practice. The articles on this site and other sites by fellow travelers are to inspire practice, not to be the practice itself. Each traveler must create his/her own practice based upon their reading, conversations with fellow travelers, and then putting the two together to implement the practices on the road to have the best possible experience.

reviewed by Tara Singh. cross checked against my own experiences traveling.