Growing up, Neha Arora had a hard time traveling with her family, as her father is blind and her mother uses a wheelchair. “Many times we would travel 2,000 miles only to discover that a place wasn’t accessible or that we couldn’t have the experience we were looking forward to,” Arora says. In 2016, she founded Planet Abled, a travel company that caters to people with disabilities, who the World Health Organization estimates make up 15% of the world’s population. Arora isn’t the only one pushing for a more considerate travel experience. Here are six companies focused on accessible travel.
Travel for everyone
Travel for All has organized more than 5,000 vacations around the world for travelers with a variety of needs, including those who use canes, those who walk slowly, those who are hearing or visually impaired, travelers with complex health issues such as dialysis or developmental disabilities, and those who use wheelchairs. “As multiple sclerosis began to affect my own travels, I researched what resources were available to help me execute wheelchair travel,” says CEO Tarita Davenock. “I was shocked to learn of the lack of services.” Every trip organized by Travel for All is accompanied by an accessibility expert. “Before planning a trip, we research and communicate the pros and cons of every location around the world to our customers, so they know what to expect at their destination,” says Davenock. “Meticulous planning and meticulous attention to detail are key to keeping vacations safe.”
On a Seeble Cambodia group trip, travelers visited Wat Phnom temple.
Provided by Seable Holidays
Seable Holiday
Seeble Holidays specializes in trips for visually impaired travelers. All trips include background-checked, trained chaperones, as well as inclusive sports and sensory activities like horse riding, scuba diving, kayaking, wine tasting, yoga and tactile museum visits. And everything is thoroughly vetted, with chaperones, activities and accommodations tested by people with visual impairments before being recommended by the company. Trips have been paused during the pandemic, but Seeble Holidays plans to resume trips in summer 2022.
Easy Access Travel
Debra Carper and her team at Easy Access Travel accommodate most types of disabilities on individual and mixed group trips. While Carper sometimes relies on her own experience as a wheelchair traveler, she says every trip must be tailored to the needs of each individual customer. To do this, the team takes the time to understand their customers and recommend the best vacation options, inspecting hotels and attractions, taking cruises in advance and gathering information from trusted sources to ensure a safe, accessible and enjoyable experience.
Planet Abled
Neha Arora’s Planet Abled arranges customized tours for people with various disabilities as well as group tours that include people without disabilities. Tours are primarily in India and Southeast Asia but are looking to expand to European countries. Popular activities include rafting, skiing, trekking and wildlife safaris. Special accommodations include arranging companions for the visually impaired, getting special permission from museums to allow touch and feel of exhibits, and arranging sign language interpreters for the hearing impaired.
Turning the World
Alvaro Silverstein, CEO of Wheel the World, was in an accident at the age of 18 that left him paralyzed from the chest down. That didn’t stop him from seeing the world, and he has since visited 30 countries on five continents. “I realized that people with disabilities should be able to explore places just like everyone else,” he says. Most of his clients are adults or seniors with mobility issues and wheelchair users, and he can arrange trips for them solo or with a group. Silverstein wants to raise awareness about accessibility, and his company pays special attention to details like bed height, door width and restroom accessibility, and compiles this information on the Wheel the World website. The company’s multi-day tours are designed with a focus on barrier-free travel, working with local tour operators, and include accessible bikes, beach wheelchairs, hiking, skydiving, kayaking, scuba diving and surfing equipment. A trip to Machu Picchu for wheelchair users is also planned. The company ensures that “prices are competitive and the price is the same whether the customer has a disability or not,” Silverstein says.
A quiet moment in Sintra, Portugal
Courtesy of Tapoooz Travel/Aicha Nystrom
Tapoos Travel
Laurent Loff and Aisha Nystrom have been volunteering for years with an organization that provides outdoor tours for people with disabilities. “We have a lot of friends in our community who are in wheelchairs,” Loff says. “I’m a sea kayaking guide, and [Aicha] “I’m a ski guide and this has always been a source of great joy for us. Launching an accessible travel business was a natural extension of who we are and what we love.” Their company, Tapooz Travel, specializes in travel for people with mobility disabilities, including visual and hearing impairments, rather than cognitive disabilities. If they have clients who are visually or hearing impaired, they make sure they have at least one guide trained in sign language or who can read menus in restaurants and provide audio narration during site visits. Their network also includes adaptive sports instructors, yacht captains, tribal elders, massage therapists and hot air balloon operators, all of whom are trained to work with travelers with disabilities.