Mélange Accessibility for All Magazine October 2022 | Page 46

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Accessibility . It ’ s more than a ramp .

As an expert in the accessible travel and tourism market industry , Maahs Travels works with Ministries of Tourism , tourism boards , governments , hoteliers , business owners , parks and recreation , and entertainment venues around the world . Not only do we assess and audit the accessibility across disabilities for a destination , business , or venue , but we also work with each entity to develop strategies to attract more market share . It involves a lot of analysis of data as well as collaboration across many stakeholders , but the outcomes are certainly worth the time and effort put into the project .
In 2019 , I was invited to speak in Dubai at the inaugural Dubai Accessible Tourism International Summit about accessible travel and tourism . After listening to ½ day of presentations by many talented and recognized leaders , it was evident that everyone was focusing on the actual “ accessibility ” of the location and things like ramps , audible signals , the use of braille and tactile information , but no one was speaking about all of the things that are necessary for a location , business , or destination to truly be inclusive and accessible . I decided to change the topic and the message of my third presentation for that Summit to fully explain the infrastructure that is necessary for any destination to be sustainable , inclusive , and accessible for people with disabilities . The title of my presentation was , “ Accessibility . It ’ s more than a ramp .”
Assuming that recent data points are correct , there are about 1.4 billion people in the world living with some type of disability . According to a recent study , those 1.4 billion people who have some type of disability comprise about 20 % of the world ’ s population with access to about $ 8 trillion US in disposable income . But they are only spending about 43 % of that total because places are either not accessible , or they are not promoting the fact that they are accessible , therefore people with disabilities are not aware of their options .
If we look beyond the ramp , in order to attract a bigger market share , we must look at things that help make a destination inclusive , for people with disabilities to travel to that destination , identify the types of information that is necessary for people to rely on and that destination , as well as the safety of people with disabilities and that this nation and the enforcement of laws protecting them .
First , in order to be truly