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

It is estimated that by the end of 2010, more than 400,000 Americans will use treatment abroad for a variety of health needs (Travel Impact Newswire).   Recently, a health traveller blog was launched which includes forums where consumers of Medical Tourism can have their say.  The Health Traveller website hopes to help consumers make informed choices when they are contemplating medical or health treatment abroad.  It points out that – while not yet mainstream – travelling overseas for medical treatment is not new. In ancient Roman times documented cases of people travelling comparatively vast distances to locations of health were not uncommon. What is new is that the major reason Americans are travelling overseas is that the high cost of elective, non-acute medical procedures is making such procedures inaccessible at home in the US. 

The list of medical travel destinations is growing rapidly. In terms of overseas visitor numbers it is difficult to get a good estimate for each country.  While there are currently more than 130 countries that want to offer options for treatment abroad, the locations currently most sought out by U.S. health travellers include such locales as India, Thailand, Mexico, Costa Rica and Singapore.  Certainly, medical tourism is not as well developed in New Zealand as it could be and we are – to our detriment – trailing our tourism rivals in developing this industry (Access Tourism NZ, 16 August 2010). In its broadest sense, many patients often view treatment abroad as an opportunity to address health conditions while seeing the world (The Health Traveller).  For this reason, it is imperative that Access Tourism be developed alongside medical tourism, as has pointed out on this website many times before.

Passengers will enjoy easier access to information about their rights when travelling by rail or air thanks to a Europe-wide publicity campaign in 23 languages launched by the European Commission this month. Although the Commission has in recent years introduced legislation to ensure air and rail passengers benefit from the same standards of treatment throughout the European Union, not all passengers are yet aware of what they are entitled to. To remedy this, posters reminding people of their rights will be displayed in airports and train stations in all Member States and travellers will also be able to consult free leaflets and a specially designed website in all of the European Union’s official languages.  Passenger rights include a guarantee of equal treatment for people with a disability or reduced mobility.  In Europe, more than one in five people find travelling difficult due to old age, disability or other mobility issues, and the information includes information about the right of train transport for passengers with reduced mobility, information on accessibility for passengers with reduced mobility, assistance for persons with reduced mobility, and air travel for the disabled.

Are you a person with a disability?  Have you had dealings with JetStar airlines in the last twelve months?  Sheila King is asking people to contact her if they feel they have been discriminated against by JetStar.  Sheila is making a claim against JetStar after she was refused access on a flight because the flight already had two passengers who required wheelchair assistance.  Sheila’s email is sheilaking@bigpond.com

   New regulations in the USA mean that airlines – even foreign airlines originating from or landing in that country, or ticketed through American carriers – are required to provide for people who travel with respiratory assistance, service animals, or who have any kind of physical disability.  Airlines must also provide check-in assistance. Open Doors, a nonprofit  in Chicago, estimates that people with disabilities spend about US$15 billion annually on travel.   The New York Times reports Jani Nayar of the Society of Accessible Travel and Hospitality as saying that such improvements in airline accessibility are good for business.  “It is not a charity any more”.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports a claim today is to go to mediation in the Federal Court against Jetstar.  The claim will be lodged by Sheila King, director of Australia For All.  Sheila uses a wheelchair and was refused access to a Jetstar flight because the flight she booked was already carrying two passengers who required wheelchair assistance. King, on an interview on Ten TV (video here), asked why Jetstar only allows two wheelchairs per flight and points out that it probably does not restrict carriage of surf boards to just two.  “This really is discriminatory”, said King.  Paralympian Kurt Fearnley (AccessTourismNZ) will be watching the case carefully.  Fearnley crawled through Brisbane airport rather than use Jetstar’s wheelchairs, which dont allow independent use and and thus independent use of such facilities as toilets. Sheila is represented by Nicolas Patrick, a human rights lawyer and pro bono partner at DLA Phillips Fox in Sydney. He is also the lead author of the shadow report on Australia’s compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The following is guest blog from Hilary Rayner, Muscular Dystrophy Association of New Zealand Inc.

There are currently no web sites or information portals that you can use in New Zealand or anywhere else in the world that will give you accurate information about accessible accommodation. Often our members are given information about hotel accommodation that is not correct. Having an accessible bathroom but three steps to access the room in the first place is no good. What we require are some basic standards that rooms are marked by, we do not expect all rooms to have hoists and beds that are a certain height from the floor. But as a basic minimum the rooms should be wheelchair accessible and all bathrooms should be accessible for wheelchair users including the showers. How difficult can it be to develop a basic standard for building / remodelling rooms.  There are now toilets that are a standard height for disabled users so why are these not being used?  Does it have anything to do with lack of knowledge or cutting corners?

In relation to airlines they should have a better way of dealing with people that use automatic wheelchairs with tilts etc. It is not acceptable that these travellers have to be removed from their adapted chairs for at least an hour before their flight and plonked into a manual chair which is uncomfortable, ill fitting and not supportive. It is humiliating when for an hour your head and body are not supported and you need to be held back into your chair by another human being! Education of these services and policies that improve travel is essential and a basic human right!

We have to do better.  We are not asking for the world just asking for the same standard as everyone else!

Recognizing that people with accessibility needs represent a growth sector, Visit England has included the development of Access Tourism in its strategic planning.    The newly-released Strategic Framework for Tourism 2010-2020 includes the goal of improving access for people with disabilities (PwDs) as one of its objectives.  There is a commitment to continuing improvement in information about visitor accessibility throughout England, and to developing visitor and transport infrastructure.  To achieve this, Visit England will partner with the DCMS Stakeholders Forum (the UK Department for Culture, Media, and Sport forum of central and local government, the tourism industry, and charitable organisations set up to improve Access Tourism), destination management organisations, regional development agencies, local authorities, local government associations, Tourism for All (a national charity dedicated to making tourism welcoming to all), and Transport for London.   The sister publication,  A Strategic Action Plan for Tourism 2010-2020, describes how 12% of overnight domestic trips in England include at least one PwD, contributing almost £1 billion to the visitor economy.   There are over 11 million PwDs in England, and provision for them and overseas PwD guests is to be improved, especially in light of the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games in London in 2012.  With the goal of mainstreaming accessibility so it becomes part of good business practice, the action plan outlines key priorities which include:

• Provision of comprehensive and accurate information about accessibility
• Raising the awareness of the tourism industry to improve provision and increase profits
• Encouragement of greater investment in facilities and infrastructures

In January, Access Anything trained ground crew at Continental In Houston Texas on how to handle mobility and assistive devices, such as wheelchairs and scooters.  The training was organised by the Open Doors Organisation with the help of The Mobility Shop.  Open Doors also runs IATA_OSO Air carrier Access Act workshops worldwide, which aim to explain the US Department of Transportation’s Air Carrier Access Act regarding the implementation and conduct of barrier-free travel and compare it to European Union regulations.