Disabled Travelers News Round-Up: April
Posted April 9th, 2010 in general news and helpful information
Coastal highway in the Santa Clara gulf
Photo by: Daniel Zamora (Stock Exchange)
Howdy, folks! Today on the blog we’ll be offering some of the latest handicapped travel resources and news from around the world. It’s a new month, which means it’s time to find out what’s hot, what’s happening, and what people are saying (and more importantly, doing) about handicapped travel. Let’s find out what’s got people inspired …
We’ll begin with Challenged Travelers Break Travel Barriers, a very recent post from the immensely popular blog index Technorati. Author Kaleel Sakakeeny offers a glimpse into the ever-growing disabled travel world. There are some real good handicapped organizations linked in here with an eye toward all the great “impossible” things handicapped voyagers are doing: mountain climbing, skiing, and skydiving, for example!
Of course, we’ve known this all along, but it’s good to see others getting into the mix! The more the merrier, I say … incidentally, Mr. Sakakeeny’s other articles, linked to from this one, cover a lot of interesting travel topics. They may be a bit hit-and-miss if you’re looking for something specific, but still come recommended.
Though it’s not exactly the kind of travel we usually talk about around here, I find this news from Britain pretty compelling: Prince Harry of the UK is planning a North Pole expedition with a group of disabled British servicemembers. If successful, the prince’s journey will mark the first time a group of amputees has reached the North Pole. Naturally, His Highness won’t be going quite the whole way there, but he’s using the event to raise money to rehabilitate and help amputees.
Sources in Israel report this February was a record-breaking month for tourism. The Israeli Ministry of Tourism is launching an initiative to attract three million more tourists from abroad in the next three years. To achieve this goal and head off concerns already mounting about a lack of hotel space, the Ministry is undertaking a sweeping plan, which includes investigating and upgrading wheelchair access in six major cities and traditional visiting areas. For more information on visiting Israel, see my Accessible Israel series.
More good news comes to us from this Sydney Morning Herald article. The country’s first-ever disabled access standards for buildings will go into effect for most new construction in Australia from May 2011. While that’s still a while off, the details are bound to bring a smile to your face: all new office buildings, hotels, shops, bed-and-breakfasts, and common space in apartments will be covered. Needless to say, that’s going to bring an Australian vacation a lot closer to reality for disabled travelers. Maybe it’s time to do that Australia series I’ve been thinking about …
That’s the April news round-up, but stay tuned for a heckuva lot more from the Disabled Travelers blog, your number one source for news and information on world travel with a handicap. If you have any news or stories you’d like to share, feel free to write in to us any time. We’ll be real happy to hear from ya, and I just might include your news in a post. Adventure on!
Si
