Just one month left into 2020, let me start by asking you this. How are you feeling?
Almost 9 months into the pandemic and being locked up inside your house restricted by the environment, what thoughts come to your mind? Frustration, helplessness, sadness. The longing to go out and experience the outside world, meet people, have fun and enjoy is stopped by fear and so many other factors which have got nothing to do with you. You are not the one responsible for it but you are being forced to bear the brunt of the actions of some random person in Wuhan and the Chinese government who hid it from the world for the longest time. All of this and what happened after that across the world, you had no role to play, but you are paying the price. By being restricted to your home or you and your loved ones being affected by it in forms of health or livelihood.
You are disabled not by your choice but by your environment and factors outside of your control.
Now imagine living a large part of your life like that. Will you get used to it or rather wish the world to be more conducive and sensitive to your freedom? Well this is what millions of people with disabilities have been going through since eternity.
People are not disabled not by their medical diagnosis but the world which is inaccessible to them and prevents them from living an equitable life. Which puts barriers in front of them whenever they long to go out and travel and enjoy and have fun just like everyone else.
These barriers sometimes come across as stairs at the entry of the building or sometimes as inaccessible websites and mobile applications. Sometimes lack of signage for directions at a public spaces is the roadblock or more often than not offers societal stigma and insensitivity served on a platter. The fear of the unknown just acts as the cherry on the top.
Pre-Covid you could perhaps decide to go on a holiday on Friday, pack your bags and catch a late-night flight to the destination and come back Monday morning. Well, reality check, people with disabilities most often do not have that privilege. Even your grandparents do not have that privilege either. The thought of travel (even for work) brings with it so many unanswered questions – inaccessibility of the destination and the means of transport, inappropriate hotel accommodations, lack of understanding of their needs by hosts, pace of the tour and the fear of the unknown!
St Augustine had said – The world is a book and people who do not travel read only one page.
And here I ask – then why should a person be devoid of reading this wonderful book called life, just because they happen to have a disability? And why people like me spend their whole childhood never going for a holiday at all just because she has parents with disabilities?
And when you attempt to do so as grownups, the series of not so good experiences never lead to a memorable happy experience. It always ends with a pinch. So what do you do? Well you leave your corporate career and start a travel company and become perhaps the least travelled travel company owner.
But with a goal that one day you want to close the company happily when the whole planet is accessible and inclusive for everyone to travel whenever they want, wherever they want, with whomsoever they want irrespective of any disability, age or impairment.
Because this road has infinite possibilities for everyone to travel together, to explore, take an adventure and experience the planet in all its glory but it is still less travelled till the time it leaves out it’s over a billion explorers with disabilities. Today for each destination Planet Abled opens up, we have to go there and work on the accessibility and inclusion development. Not just customized accessibility solutions but training and sensitization of the whole ecosystem. I dream of a day when I do not have to do that. When the travel destinations are barrier-free, websites and software applications are accessible, communication and information are readily available for all, there is human empathy and the world doesn’t treat people with disabilities as US Vs THEM rather as we all being US. Aren’t we all humans in our unique bodies with unique behaviours? We all are different yet we all are same. The pandemic has only deepened this realization that the new world, whatever that may be, has to be sustainable for everyone.
Inclusion is a journey we all take together, step by step. And even if we are slow we do not feel bad, we ask for help and the tribe comes along.
Would you like to join me in my journey to build an inclusive planet where disability is just a human feature and not a basis of segregation into groups when we travel? I am looking out for you!!
Written by Neha Arora
Neha Arora is the founder of Planet Abled, which provides accessible and inclusive travel solutions for people of all disabilities. Born to parents with disabilities she experienced challenges in travelling and one such experience, became the tipping point for her to leave her corporate career and start the inclusive travel journey. Planet Abled is the recipient of the National Award by the Ministry of Tourism Government of India and has also been awarded the best practice award by Zero Project at United Nations Vienna and India Responsible Tourism Awards by WTM London.
Week 48, November ’20
