Paralympian and television presenter Ade Adepitan has encouraged the travel industry to have an open mind when it comes to disabled travellers, and to cater for each customer’s needs individually.
Addressing 750 delegates as the guest speaker for this year’s Clia conference, Adepitan highlighted the difficulties he has faced when travelling, and warned against lumping all disabled travellers together in one “homogenous group”.
“It’s all about peoples’ mindsets,” he said. “I can see the fear that comes into peoples’ eyes when someone like me turns up because the first thing they think is that I’ll be extra hassle and wonder what will happen with my wheelchair.
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“It’s all about visibility and communication and they are key for improving the problem.
“I was in a travel TV show which was broadcast to 90 million people around the world so that was really helpful as it means loads of people have seen someone like me travelling.
“I would tell people never to assume anything on a disabled traveller’s behalf, just ask them something and they can tell you the answer.
“Don’t look at us as the same – we are not one homogenous group, we’re all different.”
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