Access Tourism NZ TOURISM FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES, SENIORS, AND AGEING BOOMERS IN NEW ZEALAND AND WORLDWIDE

Airlines on opposite sides of the globe are coming under fire again for their handling of people with disabilities. For starters, Jetstar’s refusal in April to carry wheelchair-using journalists between Auckland and  Wellington has made it into the Innes Worst of the Year Awards list. The list is created by Graeme Innes, Australia’s Disability Discrimination Commissioner . Innes hands out brickbats and bouquets once a year to those who do great work (or otherwise) for, by, and on behalf of the disability sector in that country. Innes calls the refusal of Jetstar – and also Virgin and Tiger airlines – to carry more than two people using wheelchairs on each aircraft “airline apartheid”.  Meanwhile,  Australian Sheila King has taken action against Jetstar in the federal Court over its “two-wheelchair-only” policy.

In the northern hemisphere, Easyjet unleashed a Twitter storm of indignation when it refused to board a woman with her service dog.  Joanna Jones was trying to board a flight at Gatwick for Belfast and had her dog Orla with her.  She had a week before had no issues with boarding with Orla for the flight from Belfast to Gatwick.  Staff at Easyjet admitted that they could see Orla was a guide dog, but said that Jones needed to provide the paperwork to “make her flight more  ‘comfortable’”.  Easyjet booked Jones on another flight after she received paperwork. Easyjet has been criticised in the past for its policies concerning customers with disabilities.

Two new text books on accessible tourism are available through the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT) from Channel View Publications. The first is “Concepts and Issues” (eds: Dimitrios Buhalis and Simon Darcy), which sets out to  explore and document the current theoretical approaches, foundations and issues  in the study of accessible tourism.  Professor Nigel Morgan, The Welsh Centre for Tourism Research states that this volume harnesses “the best conceptual  developments on the topic” and that it will “take accessible tourism and universal design debates into the mainstream of academic enquiryand industry practice“

The second volume is “Best Practice in Accessible Tourism” (eds: Buhalis, Darcy, and Ivor Ambrose).  It focuses on policy and best practice in accessible tourism, reflecting the ”state-of -the-art” as expressed in a selection of international chapters. It brings together global expertise in planning, design and management to inform and stimulate providers of travel, transport, accommodation, leisure and tourism services to serve guests with disabilities, seniors and the wider markets that require good accessibility. Chapter 8, written by Sandra Rhodda of Access Tourism New Zealand, describes the state of accessible tourism in this country.  Overall, the book gives ample evidence that accessible tourism organisations and destinations can expand their target markets as well as improve the quality of their service offering, leading to greater customer satisfaction, loyalty and expansion of business.  Accessible tourism is not only about providing access to people with disabilities but also it addresses the creation of universally designed environments that can support people that may have temporary disabilities, families with young children, the ever increasing ageing population as well as creating a safer environment for employees to work. Noel Scott, of the University of Queensland, Australia says that the volume “provides a ‘state-of-the-art” assessment of both theory and practice. This book establishes a new field of study and provides the benchmark against which other contributions will be judged. It integrates the work of all the key players and should be read by academics, managers and government policy makers.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), in its ongoing effort to ensure equal access to air transportation for all travelers has proposed a regulation that would require airlines to make over the next two years their websites accessible to people with disabilities and ensure that their ticket agents do the same.  DOT also proposed that airlines make automated airport kiosks at U.S. airports accessible to passengers with disabilities. U.S. airports that jointly own, lease or control such kiosks with airlines would also have responsibility for ensuring the accessibility of automated airport kiosks. 
                
“I strongly believe that airline passengers with disabilities should have equal access to the same services as all other travelers,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.  “The Department of Transportation is committed to ensuring that airline passengers are treated fairly, and today’s action is part of that effort.”

Websites would be required to meet the standards for accessibility contained in the widely accepted Website Content Accessibility Guidelines.  The requirement would apply to U.S. and foreign carriers with websites marketing air transportation to U.S. consumers for travel within, to or from the United States.  Small ticket agents would be exempt from the requirement to have accessible websites. 
                
In addition, airlines and airports that use automated kiosks for services such as printing boarding passes and baggage tags would have to ensure that any kiosk ordered 60 days after the rule takes effect is accessible.  Standards for accessibility would be based on standards for automated transaction machines set by the Department of Justice in its 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act rule.  This requirement would apply to U.S. and foreign carriers and U.S. airports that own, lease or control automated airport kiosks at U.S. airports with 10,000 or more annual boardings.     

This proposal is the latest in a series of DOT rulemakings to implement the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA).  In the ACAA rule issued in May 2008, DOT required carriers, among other things, to make discounts available to passengers with disabilities who cannot use inaccessible web sites and therefore must make telephone or in-person reservations. Also, if passengers with disabilities are unable to use the kiosk because it is not accessible, carriers are required to provide equivalent service, such as having an airline employee assist in operating the kiosk.  However, these provisions do not give passengers with disabilities, especially those with visual and mobility impairments, independent access to the websites and kiosks, and in this final rule the Department committed to exploring how to make websites and kiosks accessible. 

 The proposal is available on the Internet at www.regulations.gov, docket DOT-OST-2011-0177.

Tokyo’s Haneda Airport (Tokyo Internatinal Airport) has a new runway and new international terminal that “makes life easy for international travellers”.   So writes Harriet Baskas  in USA Today.   “And in a country well-known for its high-tech toilets, the airport restrooms are a delight. “Ordinary toilets” have wider-than-normal doorways to accommodate both manual wheelchair users and travelers with suitcases. Folding doors on the cubicles include a sign indicating whether or not there’s a baby seat and a fold-down changing table inside. And inside each women’s restroom area there’s a urinal for use by small boys.

“Multipurpose toilets” are exactly that. To accommodate wheelchair users, passengers traveling with babies or toddlers, elderly people and anyone with a special need, there are restrooms equipped with just about every facility imaginable. In addition to diaper changing tables, beds and changing platforms, these restrooms have ostomate showers and sinks, layouts that allow for right or left hand transfers to the toilet seat from a wheelchair and an emergency button linked directly to the airport’s Disaster Control Center.

And, in what is certainly an airport first, there’s even a restroom designed specifically for use by service dogs.”

Amongst the improvements making this airport highly accessible to all, including people with disabilities, is excellent information on the airport website about access.

The European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT) will give a presentation at the 2011 World Travel Market Conference in London 7-10 November.  The presentation will include a round-up of the key issues in making tourism offers accessible and  inclusive for all visitors. Highlighting will be the latest market data and research findings which show how businesses and destinations are winning market share by offering accessible infrastructure and services.  Also discussed will be how England is making ready for all visitors to enjoy the London Olympic and paralympic Games 2012.  Tourist Boards, DMOs, attractions, hotels, airlines and booking agents can all play a part in catering for the growing market of seniors, families with young children and people with disabilities, and information will be provided on how it’s done and where to begin.   ENAT is a non-profit association of organisations and individuals from the private, public and NGO sectors. Their mission is to make European tourism destinations, products and services accessible to all visitors and to help promote Accessible Tourism around the world.

Manchester Airport has launched a pioneering new access guide designed to provide disabled customers with all the information required to plan their journey through one of the UK’s busiest airports with confidence.  The guide has been developed in partnership with respected disability organisation DisabledGo.  The airport points out that this is the first time an airport has been given its own guide. The new guide talks visitors to the airport through their journey; from the car park to their departure lounge if they are flying from Manchester, or alternatively from arrivals through to the car park if Manchester is their final destination. Every piece of information on the airport guide has been collected in person by a trained DisabledGo access surveyor. The information includes everything from details of the fixtures and fittings in accessible toilets, to hearing assistance systems, lighting levels and the dimensions of parking bays.

Speaking about the development of the guide Dr Gregory Burke, Chief Executive of DisabledGo said: “We are delighted to have worked in partnership on this pioneering project. It has been clear throughout the whole process that Manchester Airport is committed to providing the best possible service to disabled travellers and recognises that disabled people are a much ignored market. As a wheelchair user and a frequent flyer I know how incredibly stressful air travel can often be. This guide will be a step-change in making every journey better for disabled people and anyone else. All credit to Manchester Airport.”

Andrew Harrison, Manchester Airport’s Managing Director, said: “I am delighted that we are the first airport to have helped create a DisabledGo guide. We want to make every customer’s journey stress free so this World-first guide is just another way of us helping take away the worry for passengers with reduced mobility. By launching this guide in the Summer season, I am confident that passengers will find it useful in navigating their way around the airport.”  The information is easily searchable by using a range of icons and is complemented by interactive 3D maps of the Airport site. In addition to the guide DisabledGo will supply Manchester Airport staff with disability equality training and advice on how access can be improved in the future.

The 13th International Conference on Mobility and Transport for Elderly and Disabled Persons (TRANSED 2012) scheduled to be held in New Delhi, India September 17-21, 2012 will have as one of its themes “Accessible Tourism: Conservation, Access to the Historic and Natural Heritage”. Hosted by Svayam in partnership with the Ministry of Transport, Government of Delhi and Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, the conference is co-sponsored by Transportation Research Board (USA). Held every three years, TRANSED conferences are milestone events in the field of accessible transportation, attracting researchers, policy-makers, transport operators, consumers and other specialists from around the world to share innovations and best practices in order to make transportation and mobility accessible to everyone.  The theme of the Conference is “Seamless Access for All: Universal design for transport systems and infrastructure as a key element in the creation of liveable cities”. Other sub-themes are:

• Role of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) •  Best practices and innovations • Environmental impact, sustainability, and accessibility of integrated multimodal systems • Accessible Public Transport (Bus Rapid Transit, Metro, Para-transit systems etc.) • Highway design and safety • G. Pedestrian mobility & safety for livable communities • Rural access and mobility • Implementation, monitoring and enforcement • Potential of Technology in Accessibility for all (Information Technology, Accessibility aids, etc.)

Deadline for abstracts is July 31, 2011. For more information, visit the conference website or contact secretariat@transed2012.in

The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) has a free Accessible Travel Made Easy online training course aimed at travel agents, tour operators and other front-line travel industry staff. The course is run in conjunction with the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).  This interactive course provides an overview
of the importance of accessible travel and why it makes good business sense
to meet the diverse needs of customers. The first module was launched at ABTA’s first Travel Matters conference, attended by high level stakeholders from Government, media and the travel industry.

The second advanced module ‘Inclusive travel – making business sense’
was launched recently, and aims to help those working in the travel industry to understand good business practice in relation to accessibility. It shows them how to:

• communicate this effectively with colleagues and customers
• understand customers’ expectations and needs
• tackle barriers that restrict choice and autonomy for disabled people and for those whose mobility is temporarily impaired
• improve and change business practice as appropriate, so that the best service is offered to all.

This project links in with the Commission’s work on Air Travel Accessibility. Under European law (EC1107), disabled passengers and those with limited mobility, have a right to assistance when they fly to, from and within Europe.

A National Dialogue of key stakeholders in inclusive and accessible tourism was opened in Australia on Monday by Senator the Hon Jan McLucas, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers at Parliament House, Canberra. In her opening address, McLucas said that the Australian government wants to see improved access to airlines, resorts, hotels, tour operations, restaurants and cafes.  People with disability should be able to enjoy their holidays without barriers. The National Dialogue brings together peak providers of tourism focused information and referral services for people with disabilities to share evidence and research on tourism and disability and to identify ways to raise awareness of the value and need among the industry as well as government and the general community of improved accessibility for people with disability (McLucas).

The Dialogue, hosted by NICAN and chaired by Annette Ellis, National Patron and former Shadow Minister for Disability and Carers, has agreed on a call to action for the tourism industry, government and the Australian community.  A joint communiqué notes amongst other things that:

• Accessible tourism for people who have a disability or who are ageing is seen as an opportunity for Australian Tourism to seize the competitive advantage in a tight market.  The time is right for action as Australia’s baby boomers retire.
• Key stakeholders including researchers, tourism operators and referral providers have joined forces, with the support of the Australian Government, to build awareness about the opportunities and to address barriers to tourism by these groups.  
• There is growing understanding of the potential of accessible tourism to boost visitor numbers and strengthening Australia as a top draw international tourism destination
• Access to leisure and recreation, including holidaying, is an important part of living an ordinary life and helps realise the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with a Disability and the Australian National Disability Strategy.
• Accessible tourism will help build a more welcoming and inclusive society, where individuals and families with a disability have choices and no longer feel shut out
• Accessible tourism makes good business sense and is also consistent with rights, access and corporate social responsibility.

The Dialogue welcomed the Government’s commitment in the area of travel and tourism through the National Disability Strategy as well as work on Access to Premises and Transport Standards, access to airlines and cinema access.   It pointed out that more could be done including an inclusive/accessible tourism category within a mainstream tourism award; a marketing strategy; a practical information guide; a national forum with tourism operators and further work to refresh and promote the business case for inclusive and accessible tourism, especially with industry.  The communiqué was issued by Australia For All Alliance Inc, Greatvenue,  Disabled Motorists Association, Disability Information and Resource Centre, NICAN, IDEAS, Travability, and Leadership Plus.

This North American spring (2011), a company called Up & Away Ballooning will become the first hot air balloon operator in the United States to offer wheelchair using  adventurers the opportunity to soar above the California’s Sonoma County.  Up & Away Ballooning ordered specially-designed easy-access basket from London, designed to include everyone. The basket measures approximately 4 feet by 7 feet and can carry a wheelchair rider and up to three others.  Mike and Patti Kijak, owners of Up & Away Ballooning made the decision to purchase the wheelchair accessible basket in response to numerous inquiries from private individuals and travel agents with clients seeking to experience Northern California’s picturesque Wine Country from a balloon.   “It’s a dream three years in the making,” says Mike.  You can watch a YouTube presentation about ballooning  over Sonoma Valley in a wheelchair here, and listen to a Big Blend radio interview about the project here.  

 Contact: Mike Kijak, Email: flightinfor@up-away.com, Phone: 707-836-0171, Toll Free within the states: 1800-711-2998

The Annals of Leisure Research is seeking papers for a special issue that examines the inclusion and citizenship of people with disability in “cultural life” (recreation, leisure, the arts, sport, or tourism).  The purpose is to:

a)      clarify what the terms inclusion and citizenship mean in different cultures;

b)      to place inclusion and citizenship to ‘cultural life ‘(recreation, leisure, the arts, sport or tourism) across discourses relating to economic, social and environmental contexts that affect people with disabilities participation; and

c)       to discuss the terms inclusion and citizenship from the ideological frameworks of government, researchers, providers of service or disability advocacy groups.

Submissions are sought from the consumer (demand), providers (supply) and coordination/regulation (government) sector perspectives. The guest editors invite interested researchers to contribute theoretical, methodological or empirical papers related to the theme of this Special Issue. The topics of potential papers include but are not limited to:

• The role of inclusion and citizenship in the construction of ‘cultural life’(recreation, leisure, the arts, sport or tourism) environments and experiences;
• What is the impact of inclusion/exclusion on the person and their experiences?;
• The social and/or cultural construction of inclusion in ‘cultural life’(recreation, leisure, the arts, sport or tourism) activities and experiences;
• The role of inclusion in the construction of cultural, sub cultural and personal identities of different societies;
• The role of inclusion in the construction and/or deconstruction of the intersection with gendered, ethnic and sexual identities within the experience of ‘cultural life’(recreation, leisure, the arts, sport or tourism);
• How experiences of inclusion compare and contrast between different dimensions of disability (e.g. mobility, vision, hearing, cognitive, sensitivities etc.);
• The impact of inclusion and citizenship within space and place making

Important Dates:

• Abstract deadline: 30 June 2011 to Jerome(at)dal.ca
• Notification of acceptance of abstracts deadline: 1 August 2011
• Submission for double-blind reviewing process: 30 November2011
• Review Process Notification: 30 January  2012
• Special issue publication: June or December 2012

For submission guidelines and more, continue reading……………..

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Guest article by Michael Janger.  Michael is passionate about all technologies that enable equal access to work and lifespaces for people with disabilities.  He has an impressive work history and is a regular contributor to BusinessWeek.com and Abledbody.com.  He lives in New York.

Before the late 1990s, air travel was often booked through airlines and travel agents, either in person or over the phone. After the Internet was widely adopted in the mid-1990s, online travel booking websites like Expedia and Orbitz took on the lion’s share of the work done by travel agents, leveling the playing field for deaf and hard-of-hearing travelers who otherwise needed help booking over the phone, or drove to the nearest travel agent office to make their arrangements. Yet, what has been an immeasurable benefit for deaf travelers has come at the expense of blind travelers, who find these online travel websites difficult to access, and continue to arrange their itineraries by phone or in person, or rely on sighted people to make the online arrangements for them.  The explosion of online travel booking websites has made it significantly easier for most travelers to make their own travel arrangements — it takes just a few minutes to purchase airfare and book a hotel, compared to the one hour it usually takes over the phone (mostly waiting time). Yet, in today’s transformed travel landscape, where travel agents have less clout, and mom-and-pop travel agencies are closing up shop, it is increasingly more difficult for blind travelers to navigate the travel booking business. Which is unfortunate because the best airline deals are usually found online.

This may be about to change. Recently, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) announced an agreement with Travelocity, one of the leading online travel agencies, to make Travelocity’s web site more accessible to people with blindness. As part of the agreement, by July 2011, Travelocity will make its home page and search pages accessible, and its entire web site will be fully accessible to the blind by the end of March 2012.  With this announcement, Travelocity becomes the first major online travel agency to commit to ensuring its website is accessible to travelers with blindness. Other major online travel websites such as Expedia and Orbitz still contain significant accessibility barriers for travelers. And in today’s Web 2.0 environment, when travelers increasingly go to meta-search engines like Kayak and Hipmunk to find the best travel deals, these meta-search engines are not easily accessible for the blind, either.

Reproduced with permission from Michael Janger Consulting.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) assessed a civil penalty of $2 million against Delta Air Lines for violating rules protecting air travellers with disabilities. The DOT said this civil penalty is the largest penalty ever assessed against an airline in a non-safety-related case. “Ensuring that passengers with disabilities receive fair treatment when they fly is a priority for the Department of Transportation,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “We take our aviation disability rules seriously and will continue to enforce them vigorously.”   The DOT requires airlines to provide assistance to passengers with disabilities while boarding and deplaning aircraft, including the use of wheelchairs, ramps, mechanical lifts and service personnel where needed. Carriers also must respond within 30 days to written complaints about their treatment of disabled passengers, and specifically address the issues raised in the complaints. In addition, airlines must properly code and record their disability-related complaints in connection with required reporting to the DOT.

Of the of $2 million penalty, $750,000 must be paid by the carrier and up to $1,250,000 may be used to improve its service to passengers with disabilities beyond what is required by law. Delta may target up to $834,000 of the civil penalty amount toward the development and implementation of an automated wheelchair tracking system at the carrier’s major hub airports. Up to $236,000 may be used toward developing and distributing customer service surveys for passengers with disabilities to rate Delta’s accommodation services and provide specific feedback to the carrier on how it can improve.  In addition, up to $150,000 may be used to expand audits of the carrier’s compliance with Air Carrier Access Act rules and for consultation to help improve the quality of Delta’s services to passengers with disabilities at airports and up to $30,000 to enhance its website to improve air travel accessibility.

Amadeus (a leading transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry) and  Oxford Economics (a leading global forecasting and research consultancy) have produced a research report looking at trends shaping the future of travel.  The Travel Gold Rush 2020 includes findings from interviews with 30 travel industry thought leaders and, combined with macroeconomic forecasts, provides insights into how the industry will develop in the coming decade.  Focused specifically on the challenges and opportunities facing airlines and agents, the report not only looks at potential new revenue opportunities and drivers of profitability but also at how traveller tastes and preferences are changing, and new models driving future growth.  One of the nine trends they identify as altering Western travel is demographic change.  The report makes the following points:

• Airlines and agents should pay attention to meeting the potential offered by ageing in Western countries
• Older consumers tend to have substantial disposable income and more time to travel; because of this they will travel further afield
• They are looking for inspiration and experience-based travel, not destination-based travel

There are many excellent examples of attention being paid to older travellers in other parts of the world.  For example, Oz-Bus is reaching out to this demographic by offering products to suit their mature years – twin-share instead of dorms, small hostels, and no multi-share hostels.  Why? Because Oz-Bus noticed that 60% of its bookings were by over-30s, and 25% by over 60s.  Peter Beattie writes in the Australian that Baby Boomers, third age or senior tourists represent the richest ageing group in history and a class of older travellers: wealthier, healthier, more active and with higher expectations than their predecessors is emerging

In Israel, the Jerusalem Post highlights how that countries growing aged population has resulted in the development of a travel industry for seniors.  According to the article, “there are currently roughly 700,000 seniors and pensioners residing in Israel and a growing number of them enjoy good health and sufficient financial resources to enjoy their retirement years”.  The article interviews the Director of Beshvil Hazahav, a travel company specialized in tours for seniors, who points to the fact that “many retirees enjoy good health and longevity” and that “they are also at an age when they no longer have mortgages to pay and children to support”, as the reason many of them choose to travel.

In the UK,Shearings Holidays, which is the UK’s leading specialist tour operator for the mature traveller, offers holidays throughout the UK, Europe and beyond by coach, air and rail, as well as sea and river cruises. The company is part of Shearings Group, which employs over 3,000 staff and comprises as well National Holidays, Caledonian Travel, a chain of 50 holiday hotels under the Bay and Coast & Country brands, and eight Wallace Arnold Travel shops.   Travelmole reports that the company is to appoint two new sales managers in a bid to work with travel agents to drive sales in the over 50s market.  The new staff will work on pumping up activity in the south east which the operator sees as a key development region.  Commercial director Caroline Brown said: “As well as widening our product portfolio to help agents increase their sales from the over 50s, we’ll also be growing our agent support team. Agents who choose to work with us can benefit from the loyalty and high holiday spending of the over-50s market. Some of our agents have customers that book over 20 holidays each year with Shearings and 20% book more than one holiday a year.”

In addition, The International Longevity Centre UK has just produced a new report called The Golden Economy, which points out the following:

• In the UK, those aged 50 or over spent £276 billion in 2008‚ making up around 44 per cent of the total family spending in the UK.  Yet, despite the size of the market, for many, the private sector does not meet their needs.
• The older consumer market is expected to grow by 81 per cent from 2005 to 2030 while the 18-59 year old market will only increase 7 per cent.

 In the USA, Baby Boomer spending is growing at a pace that’s leaving younger generations far behind. Spending by the 116 million U.S. consumers age 50 and older was $2.9 trillion last year — up 45% in the past 10 years. USA Bureau of Labour Statistics data show that meanwhile, the 182 million people younger than 50 spent $3.3 trillion last year — up just 6% during the same decade (USA TODAY).  Marketers who ignore Boomers do so at their peril. For one thing, Boomers are about to get a lot richer. People 50 and older will inherit an estimated $14 trillion to $20 trillion during the next 20 years.

 Meanwhile, NZ ignores this market.

In a first for New Zealand, The New Zealand Tourism Research Institute at Auckland University of Technology has created a Research Programme Area in Access Tourism headed by Sandra Rhodda. 

 NZTRI’s Access Tourism programme aims to research and develop Access Tourism in NZ.  Access Tourism is tourism, travel, and hospitality for people with permanent or temporary disabilities, seniors, parents with strollers, and any person with a need for improved access.  This is an interdisciplinary research area that addresses the challenges and opportunities presented by Access Tourism.

The Access Tourist already represents a sizeable proportion of our tourism markets.  Between 17 and 20% of the population in our main markets already report a disability, and this percentage is bound to grow because the large Baby Boomer cohort is ageing and disability increases with age.  Those aged 45 or older already comprise almost half of our domestic and international visitors (and over 70% of our cruise ship visitors).

Areas of interest include:

• Research and policy development
• Understanding the Access Tourism market
• Awareness promotion and education of government and industry to the potential of Access Tourism
• Access Tourism product development and marketing in NZ
• Promotion of cooperation in a developing Access Tourism sector, including in the public and private sector
• Access Tourist satisfaction and motivation
• Economic and social benefits of Access Tourism
• Access Tourism as an important factor in tourism sustainability
• Relationship of Access tourism to Health, Wellness, and Medical Tourism
• Opportunities for Access Tourism legacy development around major events such as RWC2011

Andy Kennedy writes in  Access Anything’s The Traveler about several changes in regulations in the USA concerning recreation.  In July,  Attorney General Eric Holder signed final regulations revising the Department’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations , including its ADA Standards for Accessible Design. The Department has prepared fact sheets identifying the major changes in the rules which include those at recreational facilities, including swimming pools, playgrounds, golf courses, amusement rides, recreational boating facilities, exercise machines and equipment, miniature golf courses and fishing piers; as well as for such public facilities as courthouses, jails and prisons.   In October, the Twenty-First Century Communications & Video Accessibility Act came into effect.   This new law ensures that Americans with disabilities can more fully participate in society and enjoy all that new technologies have to offer–especially Internet-based and mobile services.

The law will make it easier for people who are deaf, blind or have low vision to access the Internet, smart phones, television programming and other communications and video technologies. It will also make sure that emergency information is accessible to individuals who are blind or have low vision. In addition, $10 mil­lion per year will be allocated from the Interstate Telecommunications Relay Services Fund for equipment used by individuals who are deaf-blind.   The law also applies to on-board entertainment in airline travel, which hasn’t been captioned for deaf travellers as of yet, despite the fact that all movies and TV shows must be captioned (the airlines actually remove them). “Finally, 30 million Americans with hearing loss will be equal to the rest”, writes Kennedy.  Meanwhile a new website called “Fix the Web” has launched in the U.K. which allows people to report inaccessible web sites after which volunteers will report complaints back to site owners.

Common issues that arise when disabled users surf the web include:

• sites which are incompatible with screen readers
• text that is difficult to read
• websites that prohibit access for non-mouse users
• over-fussy and distracting layouts.

From Scott Rains, Rolling Rains Report

Svayam, an initiative of S.J.Charitable Trust, India is proud to announce that TRANSED 2012, the 13th International Conference on Mobility and Transport for Elderly and Disabled Persons will take place in India from September 17-21, 2012 on the theme “Seamless Access for All: Universal design for transport systems and infrastructure as a key element in the creation of livable cities“.  The TRANSED series of conferences have, since 1978, provided the premier international forum to exchange ideas on what works and why, and to share innovations, good practices,  and research on accessible transportation, mobility, and travel.   TRANSED 2012 will showcase international innovation and technological solutions for accessible transportation and travel through papers and posters as well as through live exhibitions of products, services, and best practices. It will have an exhibition running for all the days of conference, Opening Reception, Conference Opening, Plenary session, Parallel Technical Sessions, Conference Dinner and a grand closing ceremony.  Visit http://www.transed2012.in/conference_schedule.html for details regarding conference programme.

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NZTRI staff at the conference

Podcasts of the presentations made at the inaugural Access Tourism New Zealand conference held in Auckland yesterday are now availabe on the NZ Tourism Research Institute website.  Presentations include those made by Sandra Rhodda, Director of Access Toruism NZ (talking about Access Tourism and New Zealand), Minnie Baragwanath(Access Tourism in Auckland), Diana Palmer (World Access Tourism), Bill Forrester (Inbound Tourism and Access Tourism), Mary Schnackenberg (The tourist with vision disabilites), Chris Peters (Tourism and the deaf or hard of hearing), Alexia Pickering (A wheelchair users experiences), Kathy Olsen (Accessible websites and information), Chris Ross (Transport and the disabled), and Auckland Disability Law (Legal aspects of Access Tourism).

Next month the Open Doors Organization (ODO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) will host a conference about universal access in airports. ODO was established in 2000 with a mission of making all consumer goods and services accessible for people with disabilities. ODO conducts corporate educational programs in travel, hospitality and entertainment industries, with the goal of creating awareness and, more importantly, facilitating change.   IATA is an international trade body, created over 60 years ago by a group of airlines. Today, IATA represents some 230 airlines comprising 93% of scheduled international air traffic. The organization also represents, leads and serves the airline industry in general.   The conference agenda will include a discussion of tools, technology, and training to help both airports and airlines do a better job of serving travellers with disabilities.   The disabilities market is an important and growing one.  In the USA alone, about 55 million people have some sort of disability. This community spends upwards of $14 billion a year on travel; more than $3 billion a year on airplane tickets alone.

Also available on the IATA website is an on-demand webinar on accommodating passengers with disabilities. The webinar includes such topics as: how to locate information about regulations, how to implement the proper training, analysis of market statistics, facts about people with disabilities, previews of upcoming training on US Air Carrier Access Act – CRO certification training , and design features in airports (visual paging, animal relief areas, family/unisex restroom design, advanced wayfinding technologies for blind and low vision).