Barriers to Travel: More Than Just an Accessibility Issue
Niña Carmela R. Tamayo, DO MS MPH
We have all experienced the dreaded complications of travel — long lines, delays, lost luggage, misplaced hotel reservations, unaccommodating staff — but being in a wheelchair poses a whole other set of challenges. Spinal cord injury patients have undoubtedly experienced it all— from being unable to maneuver their wheelchairs in supposedly accessible bathrooms to dealing with the onerous, hassle filled security process of air travel. And, of course, there’s the classic encounter with hotel staff members who “guarantee” an accessible room only to find that it does not fit their needs at all. Sound familiar? Let’s face it, traveling for the SCI population is not easy...and can be the stuff nightmares are made of.
For those with disabilities, research shows that participation in meaningful activities whether at work, at home, or other life domains is directly related to life satisfaction. Tourism has the potential for vastly improving quality of life for individuals with disabilities. And why not? They have the same desire to travel as those who are not disabled. That said, the statistics on disability travel are staggeringly low. The Open Doors Organization reported that people with disabilities travel only about 1-2 times every two years, and for people with SCI, statistics are even lower. Data from the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistics Center reports 38% of people with SCI had not spent a night away from home in the past year, of which 25% did not get out of their house even once a week. In another study, SCI patients reported that travel was their most disrupted social activity since their injury, with only 4% choosing it as part of their leisure activities.