Speaking up for the Ordinary Tourist

By Alison Walsh

I was recently approached by a well-known British radio chat show presenter who had read my book, Able to Travel: True Travel Stories by and for People with Disabilities, loved it, and was keen to interview me. But after the initial exploratory phone call, the producer told me that I was not "wacky" enough for the show. Moreover, she did not feel it was appropriate to get too excited over the book -- after all, everyone knows that people with disabilities travel, and isn’t it a little patronizing to make a fuss over the stories of ordinary folk taking holidays simply because those ordinary folk have disabilities?

Mostly, I plead guilty to the non-wacky charge -- I haven’t driven across the Sahara in an all-terrain vehicle. But perhaps this makes it easier for the average reader with a disability to relate to me: I am an ordinary woman, aged thirty-something, with a simple liking for travel. I enjoy "getting away from it all," when I can scrape the cash together, and I am interested in other countries and cultures. My disability prevents me from travelling the way I’d like -- in a good pair of boots with a pack on my back -- but I have learned that there are other ways. And because I know that no single way suits everyone, I have produced a book which celebrates all types of travel instead of promoting only the "Great Adventures."

If I’d been given the chance, I could have explained to my radio producer that the very justification for excitement over my book is that it is not another media-hyped tale of one person’s heroic struggle and "triumph over adversity." Most people with disabilities are a little tired of those. As far as travel literature is concerned, we dream of simple integration of reliable access information into ordinary mainstream guidebooks and travel brochures. On the long road to that goal, Able to Travel provides a stepping stone -- a guide for travellers with disabilities and a blueprint for a change of heart among travel operators and publishers. Perhaps that was my one flash of wackiness, when in 1987 I decided that a collection of travellers’ tales written by people with disabilities from all walks of life and with very little experience in travel writing could not only make a great read but might also supply exactly the sort of advice and information that is so badly lacking in other guidebooks and brochures.

Able to Travel contains more than 100 personal accounts of travel covering every continent. There are country-specific "Travel Notes" including information on transport, tour operators and accommodation. The final section, "Practicalities," concerns every aspect of planning a trip, including guidelines to help travellers get the best out of travel agents and mainstream tour operators (with a list of tour companies that specialize in travel for people with disabilities), advice on what equipment and medicines to take, tips on finding suitable accommodation, a discussion of the pros and cons of independent and group travel, notes on travel by air, land and sea, scores of addresses, useful publications -- and more.

As the title suggests, Able to Travel is by people with disabilities. They have contributed to the "Travel Notes" and "Practicalities" as well as offered their stories. There are accounts of every imaginable style of travel: sun-and-sand vacations, independent touring with every type of accommodation from two-man tents to houseboats to five-star hotels, weekend citybreaks, ski trips, overland expeditions, activity holidays, luxury cruises, business trips, even simple train journeys.

It is a vibrant, joyous collection, written by every imaginable type of person -- young, old, hyped-up, laid back, crazy, conventional. There are contributions from travellers who use wheelchairs, crutches or canes, from those with visual or hearing disabilities, from mothers of children with disabilities, from survivors of brain injury and cancers.

Because it is built from the exchange of views, experiences and advice of hundreds of travellers with disabilities who know the score and offer hard-learned tips and suggestions based on the success and failures of their own travels, Able to Travel achieves a wider scope than any other guidebook for travellers with disabilities. It is a sharing of expertise rather than a dishing out of professional advice.

Able to Travel is, of course, for people with disabilities -- providing inspiration for first-time travellers, fresh ideas for seasoned travellers, and information for all. But it is also for those without disabilities. It is a fascinating and entertaining read for any travel lover, full of vivid evocations of countries and people and refreshing, often humorous insights from people who not only rejoice in the pleasures of travel but also recount frankly the fears, embarrassments, disappointments and disasters. It is a valuable guide for travel escorts -- offering stories by relatives, friends, volunteers or paid attendants who travel with people with disabilities -- and for the travel industry, offering recommendations for change and feedback from customers with disabilities. For those who contribute to the rehabilitation and empowerment of people with disabilities, Able to Travel provides a readable reference tool.

Able to Travel radiates all the satisfaction, the sense of achievement and newly attained self-confidence felt by very ordinary people whose ordinary journeys are made extraordinary only by lack of access and by limiting attitudes. Forced at times to be patient, philosophical, intrepid and adaptable and to accept help along the way, we have enjoyed vacations that are as ambitious, as modest, as long and as short as any offered. And we have published our stories to set you dreaming, help you plan, and add our voices to the call for barrier-free travel.

For your copy of this invaluable guide, please send a cheque or money order for $29.95 (includes shipping and handling in Canada) to:
Able to Travel
Canadian Abilities Foundation
PO Box 527, Station P
Toronto, ON M5S 2T1

(Alison Walsh is a freelance travel writer living near London, England.)