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I grew up in Amish country. Constantly driving behind Amish buggies inadvertently creates a slower pace of life, whether we realize it or not. We had one stop sign in my small town. By 14, I was allowed to ride my bike to the next town, where I could find the closest stores
Lund Sustainable: able to be maintained or continued over a long time without exhausting natural resources or causing severe damage to the environment. Cambridge Dictionary. Truthfully, sustainability is a beautiful thing that I’ve always wanted to support, but when it comes down to booking it’s rarely practical with accessibility needs. I
Q: What if the wheelchair breaks while traveling? A: This is what every parent dreads, isn’t it? It’s good to know that airlines have loaner chairs for just such an emergency. They don’t have custom or pediatric options. They’ll give you more of a bare bones option like you would use in hospital halls. These chairs won’t
Jennifer Allen is the writer behind Wonders Within Reach, a disability travel blog for families. She travels with her three children, all of whom have disabilities, including her middle son who is a wheelchair user. The failure Seven years ago I packed my three kids into the minivan for our first
At home, I am queen in a kingdom of chaos. We have a nearly exact routine from the moment the kids wake up in the morning right up to the moment we collapse in bed at night.
Q: What happens when things go wrong (delays, meltdowns, inaccessible service)? A: I noticed the question was worded as “when,” not “if,” because in real life it’s inevitable that something will go wrong. I’m not sure if our roles as disability parents make us more flexible, knowing that we need to hold each day with open hands, or
This winter was a season of caring for family needs. This provides me with the unique gift of time. Instead of rushing to share all that we’ve done, I’d like to use this issue to take a step back and share some of our absolute favorites.
Q: How have real families navigated mixed-access needs?
A: “It’s utter chaos!” responded Amy Tarpein, of Elijah’s Baby Bucket List, but of the best kind. In some ways, it’s no different than traveling with any family with varying ages and interests.
You may be familiar with the Emily Perl Kingsley short story, “Welcome to Holland.” It’s a beautiful analogy that compares the disability journey to a flight to Italy that unexpectedly delivered travellers to Holland, instead.
Traveling to Japan with a wheelchair can feel overwhelming. Figuring out where you can and cannot go is hard enough when you can research in your own language and time zone, not to mention making follow-up calls to confirm accessibility needs.
As a disability travel writer, I have a lot of unique experiences exploring accessible destinations and attractions with my family. Every once in a while something sticks out as exceptionally fun and accessible – we share those here.
Responses from readers included things that the travel industry can do to remove barriers, while all suggestions for travelers focused on sticking with known quantities.
