What people with disabilities and their families want the traveling companions to know and do
1. Do not look, but do not ignore either
"My mother has always used to say:" Instead of looking at me, ask me why I'm in this wheelchair so I can educate you with disabilities, "said Marta Rivera who has multiple sclerosis, as his mother's end.
The children of Rivera hated when other people watch their grandmother, but be ignored can also be hurtful.
"If you see someone who tries to get into a building, it does not cost you anything to hold the door open," Rivera said. "I can not tell you how many times I tried to cross a door with the wheelchairs of my mother and that people simply would leave him on us, and it's so humiliating."
2. Recognize and engage with people with disabilities
"I know the world is not built for us, but the fact that you recognize that ... in an attempt to do a little easier, it says volumes," said Bethany Hildebrandt, whose kaylee girl has Cerebral palsy, among other medical complexities, and is considered nonverbal because only one's family can understand his speech.
Hildebrandt calls for the US Handicaps Act The minimum strict for hotels and other travel entities and wants people with disabilities to be invited to the table in terms of space and experience design to welcome them.
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Deborah Dopkin, a bilateral ampute, said she could write an entire book on the accessibility of the bathroom.
"The rolling showers where it is impossible to reach the shower shower controls (are) a frequent problem, as well as napkins and dress hooks that are not accessible," said Dopkin . "Most of the hotel's bathrooms in the rooms at Ada have sinks that can be rolled under, but the mirrors are suspended so high on the useless wall of a wheelchair."
She says that the closet rods are also often out of reach and the mattresses can be "so high of the earth that it is dangerous to move from a wheelchair to bed." This assumes that it can enter the room in the first place.
"The simple act of opening the door to the room - often heavy and spring loaded - and rolling in the room would be comical if they were not almost impossible to manage alone," said Dopkin. "It's true for public bathrooms too."
"Communicating with someone who saw him", suggested in Hildebrandt to people who conceive these spaces. "Conference with them when you make these choices or decisions about what it looks like in real time."
3. Know that Covid complicates everything
While many countries have relaxed COVID-19 restrictions for travelers, we have seen throughout the pandemic that things can change very quickly. Travelers with disabilities, which require careful planning, may not be able to pivot the last minute.
"In November, we had to cancel a trip to Vienna because the day before our departure, Vienna closed his borders," said Judy Tudor, Travel Advisor for Paraplegique. "We wondered what would have happened if we were already on our flight when this change arrived and arrived in Vienna, we could not say that we could not enter. It's a disadvantage for any traveler, but for Travelers with disabilities who need special accommodation or arrangements, they can be left to very limited options to make changes. "
Pandemic-related staff shortages can also make travel more difficult.
"Many travelers with disabilities often use hotels, restaurants and attractions to ask questions about accessibility or make specific requests for their visit," said Tudor. She found personalized services like this less available and the more recent staff to be unknown with accessibility issues.
4. Center for disabled people
"Think," OK, where in my environment, a person with various different corporal people faces a barrier that prevents them from fully accessing space? "Williams of the invalidity invalidity project said.
She recognized the difficulty of doing so, especially for disabilities that could not be seen.
"If I am a capable person who sees and hears and feels and feels and ambulates, how in the world can I imagine that?" she asked. "We can actually, by simply focusing this idea that bodily diversity exists."
5. Do not assume the capacity
"Do not assume the status of the person's ability - especially when it comes to carrying baggage, walk more distances, to take the stairs, etc.," said Amy Gaeta, a doctorate. Activist of the rights of students and persons with disabilities. "This includes people who look and do not appear disabled as well as people with mental illnesses and learning impairment."
Gaeta has nerve lesions in one leg as well as multiple invisible handicaps, including anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
"If you are traveling with a disabled person, ask them what you can do to be a better travel partner," she said. "If your handicapped traveler's partner accepts, inform all travel staff. A disabled passenger is on board and asks what options (May) must make the trip more accessible and more comfortable for them. "
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Craig Harms wears a "deaf" sticker on his shirt when he travels so others can say that he lost his audience.
"It helps to cross the TSA and boarding, and airport workers seem much more accommodating knowing that I can not hear rather than judging me as stubborn or suspicious of actor," he said.
"Please be patient with us," he added. "If there are misconception problems, which occur, please solve the problem instead of taking the easy way to leave and ignore us. And please do not think we rude if you are trying to talk to us And that we do not know - our ability to communicate effectively has been the first thing that stole us. "
Craig Harms wears a "deaf" sticker on his shirt when he travels so others can say that he lost his audience.
"It helps to cross the TSA and boarding, and airport workers seem much more accommodating knowing that I can not hear rather than judging me as stubborn or suspicious of actor," he said.
6. Do not forget people with disabilities
"The use of a guide cane allows other people to know that I am visually visually impaired, but the disadvantage of shooting the cane when trips are made to wait," said Maxine Freedom Starr, MSW, a Wellness Insurance Advisor with the Disabled Center for Independence, New York. "People often see that people with disabilities go up to jump lines and go first for many things, but there is at the same time when I'm done to wait for assistance to arrive, the assistance that I do not need most of the time. "
She said that many places, such as airports and attractions, see visually visually impassional people as a responsibility.
"I'm not allowed to walk freely or service myself, despite it that I am physically capable and competent to do it," she said. "The very thing I'm trying to avoid seeking assistance when it comes to visually visually impaired, it is frequently" out of sight ". I have been left in empty rooms, place them in Coins, miss half of the event I had attended, missed meals and completely forgotten. "
7. Assume the best of others
"Be just kind. Suppose people do their best," said Shannon Rosa, senior publisher of the guide of the person thinking of autism. His son Leo is autistic and his other two children are neurodiangent.
"Even if we look different, even if we behave differently, we have the right to be in public places as anyone," she said. "So do not be naughty."
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Rosa notes that things that may not be a big deal for other people, such as making a visual contact or an adjustment of flicker fluorescent lights, can be difficult for some autistic people.
"I think it's really important to know if what we are investing is the happiness and well-being of our disabled children, even if they do not appear to other people, who are absolutely trying to welcome them from Better than we can and try not to have them when they have a difficult time because they need support, "she said." They do not need to shame. "