The biggest problem with accessible travel is that it actually isn’t all that accessible. Restaurants and restrooms are simply not set up to allow for the maneuverability of a wheelchair.

The biggest problem with the travel industry is that the disability access areas are designed by able bodied people. Something relatively simple like making sure the doors are light enough to be opened by someone in a wheelchair is overlooked by the able bodied designer.  Something as simple as that could truly help make travel for the disabled more of a reality.

Often those who need a little extra assistance while traveling are denied timely access to that assistance. Airports and other forms of public transportation need better education amongst the staff  when providing assistance to the disabled. The location of access ramps, elevators, and assistance buttons are generally inconvenient enough that it can’t really be considered accessible.

What the travel industry really needs is to gather real life experience from those who have tried to navigate an airport or train station while disabled. This should come in two forms. The first is to ask those who face the disabled life on a daily basis how to make things easier for them. You would be surprised at the insight available by just going to the source.

If employees of the airports, train stations, and cab companies were all required to spend just a few days in a wheelchair navigating the area without assistance there might be some valuable insight gained. Often the travel industry is not very courteous, safety minded, or even aware when it comes to meeting the needs of those requiring assistance.

Something as simple as requiring assistance for refueling at a gas station often becomes a compromised situation. Read the fine print of the assistance sticker and it is made clear that if there is only one person on duty those needing assistance will not be helped. The gains of independence that have been made are only wiped away by society’s desire not to be asked to go out of their way to make sure that the disabled retain their independence.

Access should be easy enough to get to that those with all kinds of disabilities should be able to travel without the need for extra assistance that they would not normally require. Just because one has been struck with an illness or accident doesn’t mean that the world should be set up to work against them.

New Toyota Sienna 2011 Auto Access Seat System

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101 Accessible Vacations $16.91 Written by leading expert in accessible travel, this authoritative guide highlights vacation destinations for disabled travelers. Harrington organizes chapters by vacation style, allowing readers to tailor a holiday to their own specifications.

Making Online Teaching Accessible $25.19 Making Online Teaching Accessible

The Accessible Housing Design File $90.24 Architecture The Accessible Housing Design File Barrier Free Environments, Inc. " … an invaluable resource to everyone involved with the design, construction, and management of housing for older and disabled individuals. The amount of information on each topics is the most extensive I have ever seen.… " — Elaine Ostroff, Adaptive Environments Center Boston, Massachusetts New legislation on accessibility has made it tough for designers and builders to create environments that are both aesthetically pleasing and accommodate people with disabilities The Accessible Housing Design File helps you comply with the latest accessibility standards and keep up with the increasing demand for more universal housing. Responding to the accessibility standards established by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA), this guide covers the special design and construction considerations of environments for people with mobility impairments. It also contains some design solutions to access problems for people with visual and hearing impairments. Both interior and exterior environments are addressed in chapters that take you from site planning through selection of door hardware. Site designs, room layouts, floor plans, jargon-free explanations, and 300 detailed illustrations convey whole settings and provide you with fully dimensioned solutions to tough design problems. These design solutions will help you to create new housing as well as renovate existing single- and multi-family residences to increase accessibility. The Accessible Housing Design File emphasizes both universally usable and marketable environments that have excellent resalevalue. It covers the full gamut of accessible design and construction options for: Vehicular transportation and parking— Accessible vans, carports, and garagesSite design and entrances— House placement, sloping sites, walks, crossings, bridges, lifts, ramps, and handrailsDoors and doorways— Handles, locks, power openers, hallways, floor space, screen and storm doors, door widening, and door swingsWindows— Forward reach and side reach windows, power operators, and windows as exitsKitchens— Knee and turnaround space, adjustable-height cabinets and counters, appliance siting, and control and handle placementBathrooms— Grab bars, hydraulic seats, portable boom lifts, overhead track lifts, removable tub seats, tub controls, transfer and roll-in showers, and lavatory designBedrooms— Maneuvering space and clearances, transfers at beds, lifts, communications and control systems, emergency exits, and equipment storageAs the percentage of elderly in our population increases and the civil rights of America’ s 43 million disabled citizens become better recognized, the need to create versatile environments that meet the needs of all potential users will continue to grow. This guide helps meet that need,

Making Health Services More Accessible in Developing Countries $83.64 Health is increasingly a critical concern in the context of development. This book examines the function of health systems, particularly the key factors: finance, human resources, pharmaceuticals, public facilities and stresses the importance of improving access to health services in developing countries.

The Accessible Hegel $16.57 Reading Hegel is a notoriously difficult task and there is a good deal of debate about how to interpret his words. There is thus a need for a clear presentation of his major philosophical contributions to help students and other interested persons in approaching the work of this important thinker. Philosopher Michael Allen Fox admirably fills this need in The Accessible Hegel. He begins by examining Hegel’s thought as the culmination of classical German philosophy’s idealistic trend toward explaining the universe in its entirety. Unlike Kant, who believed that human reason was limited, Hegel argued that reason has the capacity to unravel the mysteries of existence. Throughout history reason has progressed, said Hegel, like an expanding circle grasping more and more of reality. Fox discusses at length the chief component of Hegel’s systematic philosophy–the concept of the dialectic. According to Hegel, in a world of becoming and persistent change, reason progresses through conflict and the resolutions that arise from the dialectic of opposing elements. The tumultuous clash of opposites leads to ever new advances in human knowledge and culture. Fox also considers many of Hegel’s other ideas: his difficult notion of the Absolute, the final stage of history in which reason attains perfect mastery of the world and thought realizes its full potential; his dynamic conception of truth as evolving toward total comprehensiveness; the master-slave pattern of human relationships; the social structure of the self; the varied political interpretations and adaptations of Hegel’s philosophy on both the Left and the Right; and many other aspects of Hegel’s complex system. For both beginners and thosealready familiar with Hegel’s work, this excellent overview of one of philosophy’s great geniuses offers many clarifications and insights.

Making Health Services More Accessible in Developing Countries (Hardcover) $94.05 Health is increasingly a critical concern in the context of development. This book examines the function of health systems, particularly the key factors: finance, human resources, pharmaceuticals, public facilities and stresses the importance of improving access to health services in developing countries.

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