The travel bug is indifferent to disability. It bit me when I was young, and I never considered that I wouldn’t be able to put my grand plans into action. But as with any travel, sooner or later reality hits. There was no getting around the simple, hard fact that I was born with cerebral palsy.
Travel is much more complicated for a disabled person than a nondisabled one. It’s not always possible to walk across a terminal, let alone take shoes off to pass through security. Upon arrival, a landmark or lodging might not be as accessible as advertised due to something as seemingly minor as railless stairs.
When Afar asked me to guest-edit this series on traveling with mobility disabilities, I hoped to make clear that accessibility benefits everyone, not just disabled people. Ramps, curb cuts, and elevators only scratch the surface of familiar design details that accommodate physically disabled people but are used by all.
Rolling luggage is another example of universal appeal, and it underscores my goal of packing efficiently, which I wrote about in an essay offering advice. In another article, Cory Lee spotlights some accessible national parks worth a visit. And in an op-ed, AccessNow founder Maayan Ziv shares what she wishes the travel industry understood about disabled travelers, such as how the phrase “wheelchair accessible” can raise more questions than it answers.
There are a billion disabled people on the planet, and I can only imagine how many of them have, like me, dreamt of visiting faraway places. Since there is still so much work to be done as travel and accessibility continue to get acquainted, I hope this oft-neglected truth stays front and center: Wanderlust is a human condition, and disabled people feel it too.
Afar will continue to update this page year-round with stories from travelers seeing the world from different perspectives. I hope you see yourself reflected on our website, and in our magazine’s pages.
—Kelly Dawson, guest editor
