Mélange Accessibility for All Magazine April 2022 | Page 74

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Elderly woman from New Zealand and a canon at a fort in Jaisalmer

What if everyone could travel everywhere they wanted to ?

Neha Arora is working towards this goal with her company , Planet Abled ! by Alexandra Nava-Baltimore

Neha Arora , the founder of Planet Abled , has been working with intention and determination to create accessible travel opportunities for people with disabilities . Her motivation and drive derive from her personal frustration with the lack of accessibility her parents , who both have physical impairments , have faced .

Arora and her sister were born in Agra , India , but currently live in Delhi , India with their parents , who both have physical disabilities . Her father is blind , and her mother is a wheelchair user . Despite how uncommon it is for women to work in India and others ’ beliefs that neither of her parents could maintain a job because of their disabilities , they worked tirelessly to create a life for themselves and their children , starting from nothing .
Throughout Arora ' s childhood , travel and vacation opportunities were limited to visits to her grandparents ' house and picnics . Young and naive , she believed that the lack of travel was due to it being a financial burden . As she and her parents became more financially secure , she assumed that travel would be more possible . Arora said , " I could not have been further from the truth because there are societal barriers , there are stigmas associated with people ." Despite numerous attempts at traveling when Arora began earning more , the results were always the same , fighting , obstacles , and the realization that these places were not accessible and people were often insensitive . Arora ' s parents resorted to believing that they would never be able to travel , which infuriated her .