Tips and Tricks.
The Additional Steps.
Many travel guides for people with disabilities includes extra steps and planning for every destination. It is seemingly inevitable that travelers with disabilities will require extensive planning, experience limited accessibility, and need to avoid certain locations.
Tips for Travelers with Disabilities
By Rick Steves, John Sage, and Susan Sygall
The creaky, cobblestoned Old World has long had a reputation for poor accessibility. It's the very charm of Europe — old, well-preserved, diverse, and different from home — that often adds to the barriers. But Europe has made some impressive advances toward opening its doors to everyone, including travelers with limited mobility.
I'm inspired by the fact that, wherever I go in Europe, I see locals with disabilities. The days of "hiding" disability are over: On the streets, in the museums, in the restaurants, and on the trains, you'll see people using wheelchairs, scooters, walkers, and canes to get around. If people with disabilities can live rich and full lives in Europe, then travelers with disabilities can certainly have an enjoyable and worthwhile vacation there, too.
Anyone with adventure in their soul can take advantage of all Europe has to offer. Levels of personal mobility vary tremendously from person to person. You need to consider your own situation very thoughtfully in choosing which attractions to visit, which hotels to sleep in, which restaurants to dine at…and which things you might want to avoid.
What is Rick Steves Saying?
Rick Steves is a known travel writer and is well respected as a resource for trips and tricks when going abroad. This article describes ways for travelers with disabilities to have a better experience abroad. His stance on the topic is quite interesting, he reasons that if there are Europeans with disabilities who live perfectly normal lives, then travelers with disabilities can have the same experience. He claims that Europe is on the incline in terms of accessibility, and the places that aren't accessible are somewhat easy to avoid. He admits that there must be careful consideration in which destinations a traveler with disabilities chooses, but this seems okay to him. It appears that he considers this an acceptable part of life, and that inaccessible destinations are inevitable. It is interesting how this able-bodied male is claiming to know the different considerations a traveler with disabilities might have to make. I think it's great that he recognized the extra struggles someone with disabilities might have while traveling, but he cannot actually know the pain of limited accessibility and corporate neglect involved in the experiences of travelers with disabilities.