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How people who are visually impaired are affected by the ways in which they participate in and experience tourism activities?

How people who are visually impaired are affected by the ways in which they participate in and experience tourism activities?
Author: Lucy Richards
1 Commentries
Abstract

People who have disabilities are affected by the ways in which they are able to participate in and experience tourism activities. The aim of this paper is to highlight the factors that affect people who are visually impaired to participate in and experience tourism activities and to provide recommendations on what can be done to enable people who are visually impaired to participate.

Key words – Disabilities, Visual Impairment

Visual Impairment – factors affecting their participation and experience of tourism activities.

People who are visually impaired have a condition that affects the function of their bodies, however most people who are visually impaired want to join in, in tourism activities but they find that it is the ‘disabling nature of socially constructed barriers that transforms them into a person with a disability’ and prevents them from being able to participate in tourism activities (Small 2012). This paper has set out to understand what the factors are that are affecting people who are visually impaired participating in and experiencing tourism and leisure activities.

There are a number of factors that contribute to why people who are visually impaired do not participate in tourism activities, these are way finding at a tourist attraction, access to information, other peoples lack of understanding and the needs required if travelling with a guide dog.

The most important factor that affects people who are visually impaired participating in tourism activities is access to information. Without the access of information, it’s near on impossible for people who are visually impaired to travel and it will restrict tourism opportunities available for them. Prior to departure having access to information is an important part of travel, people who are visually impaired required to know relevant information about the holiday destination or attraction before they start planning their holidays, as they need to make sure that the holiday destinations and attractions will meet their specific needs. However according to literature it shows that when information is not provided in a suitable format it means that the visually impaired often have to rely on the travel companion or travel agents to do all the initial planning and information gathering (Small 2012). A lack of access to information is an important factor that affects people who are visually impaired when wanting to participate or experience a tourism activity.

Another factor that restricts people who are visually impaired participating or experiencing tourism activities is the lack of understanding people have when it comes to people who have a visual impairment. From Richard’s literature it shows that a number of tourism services and facilities have a lack of understanding when it comes to visually impaired people (Richards 2010). This lack of understanding can cause people who are visually impaired frustration, stress and anxiety. This can be seen in Richards’s literature, it shows that when visually impaired people travel by aeroplane they feel that the airline company ‘effectively stripped them of their dignity and their independence and makes people who are visually impaired feel a fraud when they travel’ (Richards 2010). Other people’s lack of understanding can be viewed as another factor that affects people who are visually impaired to participate in and experience tourism activities.

The last major concern for people who are visually impaired is way finding. This is important because many tourism activities will often occur in unfamiliar areas or environments. As the areas can often be unfamiliar, navigating in an unknown terrain often requires extra attention especially in uneven surfaces to prevent any falls or trips (Small 2012).

For the purpose of this paper, a small amount of primary research was conducted; the focus groups discussion showed answers expressing similar factors that match the literature that was found by Small and Richards.

As can be seen from above the factors that have been discussed include; way finding, access to information and other people’s lack of understanding. Currently all these factors stop people who are visually impaired from visiting, participating in and experiencing tourism activities. Many people who are visually impaired often become stressed, nervous and worried if the attraction does not provide the correct facilities that they require which can lead to the visit to these attractions being less enjoyable for them. There are some changes that the tourism, leisure and hospitality industry can make in terms of improving opportunities that are available for people who are visually impaired. People need to be more aware of the requirements and understanding of people who are visually impaired.

A good recommendation for this would be to provide the staff who work at tourism attractions and in the hospitality industry awareness training and courses. Providing staff with awareness training will ensure that when a person who is visually impaired visit, they will be able to enjoy the experience of the attraction more as staff around them have more understanding. Also if small measures such as; clear edging on steps, good colour contrast on materials, clear signage, suitable lighting and contrasting handrails were put in place, it will enable more people who are visually impaired to visit and it will enhance the experience of the tourist overall.


References

Burns, N. Paterson, K. and Watson, N. (2009) An inclusive outdoors, disabled people’s experiences of countryside leisure services. Leisure Studies 28(4):403-417.

Richards, V. Pritchard, A. and Morgan N (2010) (Re)Envisioning tourism and visual impairment. Annals of tourism research 37(4):1097-1116.

Small, J. Darcy, S. and Packer, J. (2012) The embodied tourist experiences of people with vision impairment: management implications beyond the visual gaze. Tourism Management 33(4):941-950.


Visual impairement as a disability and tourism
Author: Kelly Nuttell
The reason why I have chosen to comment on this paper is that the paper is similar to what I discussed within my topic. This paper goes into thorough detail about disability within tourism, visual impairment being the main disability being discussed. This paper looks at the main barriers that people with visual impairments face and it concludes by recommending what could be done in future to help people with disabilities.

The main similarity of this conference paper is that there are a certain number of barriers that affect people who are disabled overall regardless of what disability a person has. The difference with this paper is that this just looks at the disability being visual impaired however mine looks at overall people with disabilities.

Overall the discussion paper is very well structured and is clear on the points that it tries to raise in the discussion. It discusses and evaluates the barriers that affect people with visual impairments and it makes good clear recommendations of what can be done in future to help people with visual impairments when wanting to travel.