Tourism constraints for people with disabilities.Picture this: You and your family finally get away for that long-awaited vacation. Upon boarding the plane, you find out you can't use the restroom. At the conclusion of the four-hour flight, you discover that your luggage has been lost. After the hour wait for the airline staff to locate your stuff, you hail a cab, only to discover that the cabby won't load your baggage in the trunk. Upon making other arrangements for special transportation to the hotel (another hour's wait), you find that you cannot get into your bathroom or use the telephone. Some vacation, huh? For many travelers with disabilities, this situation is a familiar one. Wheelchairs are lost or broken in airplane baggage compartments, public transportation is difficult and often not accommodating, and hotel rooms do not always meet accessibility codes. Even in 1998, many barriers to travel still exist for persons with disabilities, requiring great skill and patience on the part of the traveler. Tourism is the word's largest growth industry, and it's showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Receipts from international tourism have increased by an average of nine percent annually for the past 16 years. During that same period, international arrivals rose by a yearly average of 4.6 percent to reach 594 million in 1996. The World Tourism Organization (WTO See World Trade Organization. ) forecasts that international arrivals will reach one billion by 2010. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the U.S. Department of Transportation's American Travel Survey (1996), approximately 776 million people engaged in pleasure travel in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . Many of these travelers have a disability, illness, or limitation that may hinder one or more life functions. In 1994, the U.S. Census Bureau Noun 1. Census Bureau - the bureau of the Commerce Department responsible for taking the census; provides demographic information and analyses about the population of the United States Bureau of the Census estimated that some 54 million Americans were covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act Americans with Disabilities Act, U.S. civil-rights law, enacted 1990, that forbids discrimination of various sorts against persons with physical or mental handicaps. (ADA Ada, city, United States Ada (ā`ə), city (1990 pop. 15,820), seat of Pontotoc co., S central Okla.; inc. 1904. It is a large cattle market and the center of a rich oil and ranch area. ) of 1990; this constitutes nearly 21 percent of the U.S. population. In examining leisure in general, McGuire (1984) differentiated between barriers and constraints. Constraints were viewed as factors that preclude or reduce an individual's frequency, rate, or satisfaction as a participant in an activity. Crawford and Godbey (1987) classified leisure constraints into three categories: (a) intrapersonal in·tra·per·son·al adj. Existing or occurring within the individual self or mind. in  tra·per ;
(b) interpersonal; and (c) structural. Intrapersonal constraints include
lack of self-confidence, lack of encouragement, or lack of information
about opportunities for leisure that affect preference or lead to a lack
of interest in a particular type of leisure activity. Interpersonal
factors are those associated with other individuals, including lack of
leisure partners or lack of social interaction skills. Structural
barriers are those that exist between individual preferences and
participation in a leisure activity, including lack of finances, lack of
transportation, limited abilities, lack of time, or architectural
barriers architectural barrier Public health Any structure or design feature that makes a building inaccessible to a person with a disability–eg, lack of ramps, narrow elevator doors. See Americans with Disabilities Act, Service dog. .
Although the literature on leisure constraints has been growing, there has been a limited number of studies on travel constraints, especially travel constraints for individuals with disabilities. Murray and Sproats (1990) conducted a study in Australia and identified three types of constraints to travel for persons with disabilities: economic, physical, and attitudinal. Blazey (1989) studied travel constraints for older adults and found this group most commonly experienced travel constraints in five categories: external resources, time, approval, abilities/social, and physical well-being. It is likely that Blazey's findings could also fit into the three categories identified by Murray and Sproats. The lack of previous research prompted researchers at Illinois State University ISU is recognized in the prestigious US News rankings as a "National University", that is, a university which grants a variety of doctoral degrees and strongly emphasizes research. to study this issue with a grant from the National Center on Accessibility. Turco, Stumbo, and Garncarz (1998) examined constraints to travel in Illinois for people with disabilities, illnesses, or limitations. Four focus groups conducted in 1997 and 1998 involved clients of independent living centers. Participants had a variety of disabilities including cerebral palsy cerebral palsy (sərē`brəl pôl`zē), disability caused by brain damage before or during birth or in the first years, resulting in a loss of voluntary muscular control and coordination. , spinal-cord injury, post-polio, visual impairments Visual Impairment Definition Total blindness is the inability to tell light from dark, or the total inability to see. Visual impairment or low vision is a severe reduction in vision that cannot be corrected with standard glasses or contact lenses and , and mobility limitations. The results of this investigation are reported for four major tourism sectors: attractions, information resources (1) The data and information assets of an organization, department or unit. See data administration. (2) Another name for the Information Systems (IS) or Information Technology (IT) department. See IT. , transportation, and accommodations. Within each section, recommendations are given for travelers with disabilities--and for tourism service providers. Remember, too, that much of this advice applies directly to park and recreation departments that operate facilities and parks as tourist destinations A tourist destination is a city, town or other area the economy of which is dependent to a significant extent on the revenues accruing from tourism. It may contain one or more tourist attractions or visitor attractions and possibly some "tourist traps". . Attractions Attractions are the elements of a tourism destination that stimulate visitation VISITATION. The act of examining into the affairs of a corporation. 2. The power of visitation is applicable only to ecclesiastical and eleemosynary corporations. 1 Bl. Com. 480; 2 Kid on Corp. 174. . They may be contrived con·trived adj. Obviously planned or calculated; not spontaneous or natural; labored: a novel with a contrived ending. con·triv (theme parks, sporting events); nature-based (oceans, mountains, climate); historical (museums, antique shopping); or social-cultural (festivals, visiting friends or relatives). Most of the constraints encountered by tourists with disabilities were architectural or environmental in nature, mainly focusing on site inaccessibility. Some in the study felt that reduced entrance fees were in order because the site barriers restricted them from enjoying the opportunity as much as their counterparts without disabilities could. It is recommended that individuals with disabilities gather as much information as possible about the site accessibility of their intended travel destination. Tourism attraction providers need to provide better, more complete information about site accessibility and the accommodations they have made for travelers with disabilities. In addition, consideration for reduced fees should be made at those attractions where full accessibility is not possible. Information Resources Most persons in the study relied on key informants to locate information about things to do, places to stay, and how to get to the destination. These key informants included family and friends, selected travel agents, and, in some cases, the Internet. Those who used a travel agency remained loyal to the agent. Recommendations for those with disabilities included finding a trustworthy person to serve as a reliable source of information about travel destination and transportation accessibility. It is likely that tapping into several key informants would yield the most reliable and usable information. On the other hand, it is clear that the tourism industry needs to provide information that meets the needs of travelers with disabilities. Since tourists with disabilities are gathering information from a variety of sources, service providers should use several means of communication to hit this target market. Transportation An issue among some travelers with is a major determinant determinant, a polynomial expression that is inherent in the entries of a square matrix. The size n of the square matrix, as determined from the number of entries in any row or column, is called the order of the determinant. in deciding whether or not to visit the establishment. Travelers with disabilities assumed that newer restaurants and nightclubs were more likely to comply with ADA standards. Some individuals encountered problems when making hotel reservations. In some facilities, even when accessible rooms were available, the hotel policy was that specific rooms could not be reserved for an individual, following a first-checked-in, first-served rule. The sample also reported that some room accommodations promoted by hotel properties as accessible were not actually accessible to people with disabilities. For example, showers with handrails accommodated some people, but for many in wheelchairs, bathtubs presented a major barrier. Some hotels also offered rooms that were too cluttered clut·ter n. 1. A confused or disordered state or collection; a jumble: sorted through the clutter in the attic. 2. A confused noise; a clatter. v. , thereby restricting wheelchair movement. Other frequently encountered flaws included restrictive appliances (such as lamps and TVs), frontdesk counters that were too high, a lack of nonsmoking non·smok·ing adj. 1. Not engaging in the smoking of tobacco: nonsmoking passengers. 2. Designated or reserved for nonsmokers: the nonsmoking section of a restaurant. rooms, and accessible rooms that were inconveniently located. One of the ways in which tourists with disabilities negotiated these constraints was by contacting the hotel directly, thus avoiding a hotel chain's national toll-free phone number. A second strategy was to find out when the facility was built or most recently renovated before making a decision. Accommodation providers -- and many park, recreation, and leisure professionals need to increase their awareness of accessibility standards accessibility standards (akses´abil´itē), n.pl the requirements designed by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), by which public places must provide disabled individuals with barrier-free access to as well as examine their own policies about everything from general accessibility to room design to reservation procedures. Most staff at hotels and motels Motels may refer to any of the following:
Lessons to be Learned * More and more people -- both with and without disabilities -- are traveling more often. * People with disabilities are becoming more vocal in expressing their needs and desires, especially with regard to flexibility in travel options. * People with disabilities are more likely to be disproportionately loyal to businesses (such as specific travel agents and hotels) that best serve their needs. * People with disabilities are more likely to rely on a limited number of information resources from which to gather travel information. This is partly due to the lack of service flexibility they encounter in negotiating with unexpected barriers during tourism experiences. * People with disabilities are more likely to choose newer facilities in anticipation that they will meet federal (ADA) accessibility standards. * The tourism industry needs to aggressively market to the 54 million people with disabilities. * The tourism industry needs to become more familiar with accessibility standards and the needs of tourists with disabilities. Accessibility audits performed by knowledgeable people with disabilities may be a key to the improvement of facilities and services. * The tourism industry needs to increase its customer service training in order to serve those with disabilities and limitations. Comprehensive programs should include policy-setters as well as front-line staff. * The tourism industry needs to develop policies that are barrier-free with zero exclusion (Germ germ (jerm) 1. a pathogenic microorganism. 2. a living substance capable of developing into an organ, part, or organism as a whole; a primordium. & Schleien, 1997). References Blazey, M. A. (1987). The difference between participants and nonparticipants in a senior travel program. Journal of Travel Research, 23(3): 7-11. Crawford, D.W. & G. Godbey (1987). Reconceptualizing barriers to family leisure. Leisure Sciences, 9(2):119-128. Germ, P. A. & S.J. Schleien (1997). Inclusive community leisure services: Responsibilities of key players. Therapeutic Recreation Journal, 31(1): 22-37. McGuire, E (1984). A factor analytic Adj. 1. factor analytic - of or relating to or the product of factor analysis factor analytical study of leisure constraints in advanced adulthood. Leisure Sciences, 8, 313-326. Murray, M., & Sproats, J. (1990). The disabled traveler: Tourism and disability in Australia. The Journal of Tourism Studies, 1, 9-14. Turco, D., N. Stumbo & J. Garncarz (1998). Constraints to travel for people with disabilities. Conference paper presented at "Disabled but Enabled and Empowered," Rochester, NY. United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (officially Bureau of the Census as defined in Title ) is a part of the United States Department of Commerce. . (1997). The official statistics [On-line]. Available: http://www.census.gov/ United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) is a federal Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with transportation. It was established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966 and began operation on April 1, 1967. . Bureau of Transportation Statistics The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), as part of the United States Department of Transportation, compiles, analyzes, and makes accessible information on the nation's transportation systems; collects information on intermodal transportation and other areas as needed; and . (1995). American Travel Survey [On-line]. Available: http://www.bts.gov/programs/ats/ Online resources for travelers with disabilities -- and the agencies seeking additional information to better assist them. Access-Able Travel http://www.access-able.com Accessible Journeys http://www.disabilitytravel.com/ E-mail: sales@disabilitytravel.com ADA Vacations Plus/Medical Travel http://www.vacations-plus.com E-mail: medical@vacations-plus.com Barrier-Free Vacations http://www.Barrier-Free-vacations.com/ Disability Access in the Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies comprise the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains range. The southern end in Alberta and British Columbia borders Idaho and Montana of the USA. The northern end is at the Liard Plain in British Columbia. http://www.selkirk-tangiers.com/~access/ Flying Wheel Travel http://www.flyingwheels.com/ E-mail: thq@ll.net Global Access http://www.geocities.com/Paris/1502/ Hidden Treasures
Hidden Treasures is an EP by American thrash metal band Megadeth, released in 1995. Travel Agency http://httravel.com/ E-mail: treasures@communityonline.net Insiders Guide to Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, http://www.geocities.com/ Heartland/6295/access.htm The Minnesota Broken Wing Connection http://www.uslink.net/~daryl/index.html Mobility International USA http://www.miusa.org/index.htm National Park Service http://www.nps.gov/ New Horizons -- Information for the Air Traveler with a Disability http://www.faa.gov/acr/dat.htm Society for the Advancement of Travel for the Handicapped http://www.sath.org/ Travel Turtle Tours http://www.access-able.com/tours/turtle/ E-mail: tourturtle@aol.com Wheels Up! Wheelchair Travel Specialist http://www.wheelsup.com/ E-mail: maryann@wheelsup.com Wilderness Inquiry Wilderness Inquiry (WI) is a non-profit organization whose activities are based on the concepts of inclusion and social integration. WI conducts outdoor trips and programs for people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities, including those with physical and cognitive disabilities. http://www.wildernessinquiry.org/ |
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