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Travelling with a physical disability

Travelling with a physical disability
Author: Annalena Boness
1 Commentries
One can hardly imagine the burdens and discrimination physically handicapped people encounter on a daily basis, unnecessary to say that tourism can be a particularly nerve-racking issue to deal with. Many precautions have to be taken to ensure enjoyable and safe travels, which certainly limits the number of destinations to choose from. However one should not forget that the demand of handicapped accessible tourism is growing as the number of physically handicapped people is increasing. The reasons for this development are for example the increase in life-span, a less child mortality, the improved medical technology, and the decrease in communicable diseases.

In most Western countries travelling is regarded to be a social right and most people have the same desires and wishes when it comes to travelling. However, physically disabled people are facing a variety of different challenges such as practical and social barriers, which prevent them from fully participating in tourism. One very important step in guaranteeing disabled people access to tourism and the opportunity to travel is to reduce the access barriers to tourism facilities such as sites, accommodation, restaurants and transport.

It was my aim to analyse whether cities have adequately taken this trend into consideration and whether efforts to make tourism accessible to people with a physical disability were undertaken in the prospect to reduce discrimination. Therefore, I analysed my German hometown Lübeck. I quickly realised that I have never tried to see the city from a disabled person's point of view and the findings took me by surprise.

I started my analysis with some research on the internet. Especially for people with a physical disability it is crucial to plan their travel well in order to minimise and avoid barriers. I was on the hunt for information concerning wheelchair accessible sights and public toilets. However, most of the provided information did not make a very convenient impression, it lacked detail and had not been translated into English. Eventually I hoped to get additional and more satisfactory information at the tourist office, however the employees were not able to give me any further information; they referred me to the information provided on the internet. Eventually I planned a sightseeing tour accessible for disabled people based on the information provided on the internet. As I walked through the town, I was surprised to see how much the city already undertaken to make the city more accessible for disabled people. A lot of facilities have been made barrier-free such as the railway station, public buses, restaurants, shops and accommodation. There are for example elevators in almost every public building, ramps to enter and exit buildings or public buses, spacious shops or cafes so people in a wheelchair do not face barriers.

However, the historical old town of Lübeck is built on a small hill and there are a lot of narrow streets paved out of brick stones which could illustrated a barrier for people in a wheelchair. Even for people without a disability it can be very tricky to walk on those stones. However, the main streets and footpaths are only slightly gradient, built broad and there is almost everywhere a place where the kerbstone is lowered for wheelchair users to pass the street.

In general, the need for eliminating barriers for people with a mobility disability and therefore offering those people the opportunity of taking part in Lübecks tourism is recognised by the city. A lot of measures have been taken during the past decades to provide access for participating in Lübecks tourism for all people of the society. It is getting evident that most of the measures taken in the past are not only beneficial for people with a physical disability, but also for children or elderly people. However some obstacles such as the Lübeck's famous steeples remain. The narrow and brick stone paved streets that lead to some of Lübecks most romantic places away from places where the mainstream tourism takes place are also very laborious to pass.

Tourism organisations have to face the fact that in future this target market is going to increase and that desires and wishes of disabled people have to be taken seriously like any other human beings in the society.


Lübeck and Travemünde Marketing, n.d. [online] Available at http://www.luebeck-tourism.de/# [Accessed: 24 April 2012].

Shaw, G., Coles, T., 2004. Disability, holiday making and the tourism industry in the UK: a preliminary survey, Tourism Management, 25(3), pp. 397-403.

Yau, M., McKercher, B., Packer, T., 2004. Travelling with a Disability - More than an Access Issue, Annals of Tourism Research, 31(4), pp. 946-960.


Should barrier-free environments be taken for granted?
Author: Alexandra Riepe
This was very interesting to read as non-handicapped persons barely pay attention to daily barriers from a disabled person's point of view.

As Annalena described it, Lübeck is not marketing itself properly as a barrier-free city through the internet. Nowadays, more and more people plan their holidays via the World Wide Web and therefore, especially the advertising of such a touristic city like Lübeck should be adopted more to people with special needs. However, it is not only about disabled persons, but also important for other persons with special needs such as the elderly or women with prams. Actually, adopting the built environment to everybody's needs is significant. According to The Network of Major European Cities (2012), 10% of the population is absolutely dependent on accessibility, 40% require barrier-free environments as a necessary support and 100% appreciate accessibility as comfort improvement.

I think it is a pity that a city like Lübeck which obviously is designed barrier-free in different manners, such as restaurants, transport services or accommodations, is not marketed more by using this attributes. On the one hand, it should not be the case that touristic cities are advertised as being barrier-free because in my opinion it must be taken for granted. On the other hand, it still is the case that many cities such as Hamburg or Cologne are barely designed barrier-free or that cities like Munich or Lübeck (Rollingplanet, 2012), which are considered as being accessible to everyone, are not marketed enough.

However, it must also be considered that some cities cannot simply change all kind of touristic facilities. As Annalena described, 'the narrow and brick stone paved streets that lead to some of Lübeck's most romantic places ... are also very laborious to pass' showing that it is not possible to adopt that to the requirements of people with special needs. Tearing up such streets would destroy the romantic atmosphere, the flair of the city and it would be very cost-intensive. I think it is easy to say that cities need to create and design a barrier-free environment for citizens and tourists. However, on the other hand there are many obstacles restricting barrier-free environments such as the protection of historical monuments, financial aspects or the possibility to destroy the flair or charm of the city.

I totally share Annalena's opinion that the desires and requirements of all kind of people have to be taken seriously, but there are always two sides which needs to be considered.


References:

Rollingplanet (2012). Barrierefreie Städte: München auf Platz 1, Hamburg ist Schlusslicht (translated by Alexandra Riepe: Barrier-free cities: Munich on 1st place, Hamburg bring up the rear), [online]. Available at: http://rollingplanet.net/2012/05/03/barrierefreie-stadte-munchen-auf-platz-1-hamburg-ist-schlusslicht/ [Accessed 14th May 2012].

The Network of Major European Cities (2012). Konzept für eine EUROCITIES Arbeitsgruppe "Barrier-free City for All" (translated by Alexandra Riepe: Concept for a EUROCITIES team 'Barrier-free City for All'), [online]. Available at: http://www.accessibletourism.org/resources/koncept-for-arbeitsgruppe-barrier-free-cities-for-all.pdf [Accessed 14th May 2012].