New Rule Strengthens Protections for Americans with Disabilities at Rail Stations

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced that individuals with disabilities will have greater access to intercity, commuter and high-speed train travel as a result of a new rule requiring new station platform construction or significant renovation to enable those with disabilities to get on and off any car on a train.

“This will help give passengers with disabilities better access to rail travel across the country,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “By putting this protection in place, passengers with disabilities will be able to get on and off any accessible car that is available to passengers at a new or altered station platform.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is amending its Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations to require intercity, commuter and high-speed passenger railroads to ensure, at new and significantly renovated station platforms, that passengers with disabilities can get on and off any accessible car of the train.  Passenger railroads must provide level-entry boarding at new or altered stations in which no track passing through the station and adjacent to platforms is shared with existing freight rail operations. 

For new or altered stations in which track shared with existing freight rail operations precludes compliance, passenger railroads will be able to choose among a variety of means to meet a performance standard to ensure that passengers with disabilities can access each accessible train car that other passengers can board at the station. These options include providing car-borne lifts, station-based lifts, or mini-high platforms. 

The Department will review a railroad’s proposed method to ensure that it provides reliable and safe services to individuals with disabilities in an integrated manner. 

The rule also requires that transit providers carry a wheelchair and occupant if the lift and vehicle can physically accommodate them, unless doing so is inconsistent with legitimate safety requirements.  In addition, it codifies the existing DOT mechanism for issuing ADA guidance and makes minor technical changes to the Department’s ADA rules.

The Final Rule is available at http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2011-23576_PI.pdf.

 

Continental Airlines Customers with Disabilities Advisory Board says goodbye to an era

Houston, TX
October 6-7, 2010
Continental Airlines officially merged with United Airlines on October 1, 2010

It has been our highest honor to sit on the Continental Airlines Customers with Disabilities Advisory Board (CACDAB) since 2008. When approached three years ago by Customer First and Regulatory Programs Manager Bill Burnell and his team, we leapt at the opportunity to help make a difference for one of our favorite travel providers. This company has always had the contagious postitive attitude towards PWD and act as family taking care of you on the road. The company's long-term dedication to going above and beyond the regulations for handling customers with disabilities is applaudable. Therefore to be one of their advisors on the topic is the hugest honor one could have.

We were invited to visit Northwest's board in early 2008 in Detroit just before their merger with Delta, and subsequent dissolvement, and as Burnell always says, we learned what not to do. From there Continental gathered an all-star team of representatives from the travelers with disabilities community, representing as many disabilities as possible including many levels of physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities. Each meeting the Continental crowd would grow larger and larger, with multiple employees from dozens of departments coming to listen, give input, and learn at these extremely productive and educational meetings.


This Wednesday, during the board's fifth and final pow-wow under the Continental name, the crowd grew to about 80 eager bodies including the board, Burnell's super team, a first-time appearance from the Pilot's Department and smaller regional airports, and three United Managers. The morning opened with a surprisingly heart-warming speech about marriage from Vice President of Airport Operations and Planning, Cindy Szadokierski, of "the New United," former French teacher who got the "jet fuel in [her] blood" used phrases like "team effort," "leaving the past stigma behind," and closed with Craig's favorite line of the two days, "at the next meeting."

As board members, we applaud the United team for sitting in open minded during this final and therefore sometimes emotional meeting, as the new step sisters and brothers to this family who has laughed and cried together for two years now. Their input was invaluable, and their note taking did not go by unnoticed. Hopefully this board can only continue to grow in the most beneficial ways as possible during this merger.


What the next year will look like:

You will start to see the airplanes and uniforms merging, with Continental's logo remaining on the tail and the United name down the body of the aircrafts (above). Pins combining both were handed out to employees.
Mileage points rewards programs will merge.
In the spring of 2011 on "Customer Day One" the policies will merge and customers will "feel a more streamlined experience."
Next, the FAA certificate as one formal airline will be awarded.
United is still "committed to Continental's slogan of "Offering the highest standard of clean, safe, reliable (and accessible) transportation."
The New United will become the largest, most powerful, and hopefully the most accessible airline in the world.


What has happened since March 2010:
Continental Update

• Stopped offering medical oxygen for rent and have approved 13 kinds of Personal Oxygen Containers (POC) for passengers to bring onboard. Also hosted POC Awareness Day.
• Ventilators now approved above 10,000 feet and when applicable can use onboard power to charge.
• The "Disability Quarterly" with articles from board members and passengers with personal stories receives hundreds of emails in response per issue.
• Continuing to educate and and merge policies with International Partners.
• Animal Relief Areas (guide dog potties) now listed on airport maps.
• Many airport ground crews received mobility equipment handling workshops to reduce annual damage expense.
• CACDAB's partners TSA, STAXI, and wheelchair providers have also made several changes to how they operate based on the CDAB's suggestions and experience.

It will take some time for this merger to shake out into a product that we all love and company we all patronize, but we are optimistic, and we hope you will be too.

Thanks to Continental for introducing us to an amazing team of dedicated employees and board members.


More on CACDAB and airline travel
CACDAB4
May 2009, TWD's updated rights
CACDAB2

Surehands assistive lifts in more hotels each year!

As the needs of travelers with disabilities are more and more recognized by the travel industry, amenities grow and evolve as well. We're excited to watch an increasing number of hotels add assistive lift devices to their rooms for travelers who have limited mobility and need help getting in and out of bed as well as the pool.

SureHands is one company who's got their eye on this rolling ball! Their lift devices are top knotch, and include intricate track systems, supportive slings, cups or frames, frictionless slides, and prone-style trollies that are geared for all needs from independent and assistive living to institutional use. Only recently did these top-end systems start making their way into the hotel industry, and already SureHands is gaining momentum with this great idea.

SureHands has taken on Las Vegas by storm, and has had a welcoming response from the Bellagio, Treasure Island, Mirage, Both Wynn Properties and the new luxurious ARIA at the City Center. Next time you're in Vegas, make sure to check them out!

Colorado's Nine National Parks, A Closer Look

We've diligently spent the last 2 weeks building an online database for you of the nine National Parks in Colorado at our article hub on Examiner, and we're eager to share them with you! First, check out our article on the how-to's of National Parks for PWD where we discuss web information, discount passes, and the basics of this all-inclusive system in the U.S.

If you're anywhere in the state of Colorado, one of these national gems is near you. They're all accessible, some more so than others, so we've broken them all down in one place. See the rating system below.

1. Bent's Old Fort - moderately accessible, for the history and Old West buffs

2. Black Canyon of the Gunnison - greatly accessible with trails, campgrounds, and vistas

3. Colorado National Monument - moderately accessible with one campground and great views

4. Curecanti National Recreation Area - poorly accessible because the boat tour is the key component of this park, and having it not accessible is a bummer

5. Dinosaur National Monument - fully accessible, even the flight seeing off-site is! Awesome park!

6. Florissant Fossil Beds - moderately accessible, for the rock and fossil buffs

7. Great Sand Dunes - greatly accessible, dunes with assistance only, raised tent beds in campgrounds, awesome park

8. Mesa Verde - greatly accessible, most dwellings are viewable from a wheelchair

9. Rocky Mountain - greatly to fully accessible, some trails aren't but the options are plentiful



Access Anything's Rating System:

Not Accessible - Really, just not.
Poorly Accessible - Doable with help, but poor access- meaning the bathrooms aren't accessible, or the parking isn't... it's missing something major, but the main site is ok.
Moderately Accessible - Most of it's accessible, but a few things (trails or campgrounds) aren't.
Greatly Accessible - 90-99% accessible, usually just one thing is missing.
Fully Accessible - Go looking, you won't find anything without universal design. Think Disney.

FAM TRIP TO CHINA, November 10-17, 2009

For Agents who specialize in Travel for People with Disabilities Only
With Spring Tour USA in conjunction with Access Anything

NOVEMBER 10- Nov 17, 2009

Included:

• Round Way Air from Los Angeles
• 2 nights in Shanghai (Shanghai Huating Hotel),
• 4 nights in Beijing (Beijing Pullman Hotel )
• Transportation between cities
• City Excursions and Dinner shows
• Bi Lingual Tour Guide

Promotion price: USD$1999/per person (tax included, Visa not included)
Single room supplement: USD$355
Limit 10 persons


General queries and request for full itinerary:
Jimmy Deng
Spring Tour USA
Toll free: (800) 627-0886 Tel: 626 – 363 - 0888
Fax :(626) 642-0100
ytbchina@spring-tour.com

For Accessibility Questions:
Andrea Kennedy
Access Anything
970-846-9256
andy.kennedy@accessanything.net


ITINERARY - Click here


Introduction to the cities you are going to visit:

1.Beijing:
Beijing, Jing for short, is the nation's political, economic, cultural and educational center as well as China's most important center for international trade and communications. Together with Xian, Luoyang, Kaifeng, Nanjing and Hangzhou, Beijing is one of the six ancient cities in China. It has been the heart and soul of politics and society throughout its long history and consequently there is an unparalleled wealth of discovery to delight and intrigue travelers as they explore Beijing's ancient past and enjoy its exciting modern development.

As the capital of the People's Republic of China, Beijing is located in northern China, close to Tianjin Municipality and partially surrounded by Hebei Province. The city covers an area of more than 16,410 square kilometers (6336 square miles) and has a population of 14.93 million people.

Beijing is a city with four distinct seasons. Its best is late spring and autumn. But autumn is taken as the golden tourist season of the year since there is sometimes in the spring of recent years, a yellow wind. We suggest tourists visit Beijing during the months of May, September, and October when people can enjoy bright sunshine and blue skies. An abundance of international class performances are presented in May. If you like winter, you will have other chances to appreciate another landscape of Beijing. After skiing in Beihai and viewing the snowy sights on West Hill, enjoying the steaming hotpot is the best choice, which is really the fun of tour in Beijing. Please keep warm and remember to bring your down garments and sweaters when you visit Beijing in the winter.

How can one city boast so many phenomenal places? Beijing's long and illustrious history started some 500,000 years ago. It is here that the ancestors of modern Homo sapiens, Peking men, lived in caves. Records show that Beijing has been an inhabited city for more than three thousand years and has endured invasions by warlords and foreign powers, devastating fires, the rise and fall of powerful imperial dynasties and has emerged each time as a strong and vibrant city. For more than 800 years, Beijing was a capital city - from the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368) to the Ming (1368 - 1644) and Qing (1644 - 1911) dynasties. Thirty-four emperors have lived and ruled the nation in Beijing and it has been an important trading city from its earliest days.

Although now Beijing is a modern and fashionable city complete with a full 21st Century vitality, you can experience authentic Beijing life and become acquainted with 'old Beijing' by exploring its many teahouses, temple fairs, Beijing's Hutong and Courtyard and enjoy the Peking Opera. Add any or all of these to your Beijing tour and you will leave with a feeling of special appreciation in your heart for this ancient city that has truly seen it all and tells its story with matchless grace, charm and vigor.

With the biggest central square in the world - Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City that is the largest and best-preserved imperial palace complex, a superbly preserved section of the Great Wall,as well as the largest sacrificial complex in the world - the Temple of Heaven, Beijing attracts both domestic and foreign visitors who all come to wonder at its century-old history and unique cultural relics.

After a day's Beijing tours, nighttime can hold other surprises for you. These can vary from traditional performances such as the Beijing Opera, acrobatics and martial arts to modern ones including concerts, ballroom dancing, pubs and clubs. Each and every one has its individual enchantment for the tourist. No description of our capital city is complete without mention of the friendly people who throng the streets. Everywhere you will encounter smiling faces and a warm welcome, especially from the children who love to say 'Hello!' All these things add up to truly make your visit a cultural experience of a lifetime.


2.Shanghai:
Overview:
In China there is a saying that 'Xian has witnessed 2,000 of history, Beijing has witnessed 1,000 years of history while Shanghai bears witness to the last 100 years.' For anyone who is interested in the history of modern China, Shanghai serves as an ideal starting point. Regarded as the 'Oriental Pearl', the city has a unique and important place in modern China and its rich heritage is worthy of exploration.

Yesterday's Shanghai
Shanghai, Hu for short, is situated on the estuary of Yangtze River, a position that led to frequently unwelcome intervention from foreigners seeking to impose their exports on the Empire during the nineteenth century. However, in the 1920s and the 1930s, Shanghai became an important international trade center. With its advantaged natural conditions, rapid development and splendid oriental culture, Shanghai was famed as the ‘Oriental Paris’ and attracted many entrepreneurs and established businesses. In addition, many foreign scientists, literary figures and artists chose to live, give lectures or just experience the Chinese charm in Shanghai. They included Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, Bernard Shaw and the poet Rabindranath Tagore, to name but a few. However, by the middle of the 20th century, the glory of the city was in decline.

Today's Shanghai
Having suffered the ravages of war, turmoil and economic crisis, the fortunes of Shanghai have been revived thanks to the great Reform and Opening Up since 1978. A favorable national policy, efficient administration, regular market mechanism and a large number of talents have come together to enhance by leaps and bounds the city’s economic development in recent years.
Now over 300 of the world’s top 500 enterprises have opened branches in Shanghai, while many have their research and de Oriental Pearl TV Tower development centers or headquarters there. Pudong New Area has developed in just five years, and Lujiazui in Pudong has become one of the foremost world class financial and trade zones in Asia. Skyscrapers such as Jinmao Tower and Shanghai Global Financial Center dominate the skyline, while landmark constructions like Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Pudong International Airport and Shanghai International Convention Center offer the finest and best of modern facilities.

These economic achievements are due to Shanghai’s progress in the fields of politics, finance, trade, culture, science and technology. Various important international events have held in Shanghai, including political conventions, commercial conferences, academic forums, sports events, cultural exhibitions, film festivals and fashion shows.

Shanghai’s rapid development has come as a great surprise to many in China and has international recognition. Shanghai has grown from a provincial city into an international metropolis on par with New York and Paris in just ten years. No other city in the world has done this - it is unique!

Hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world throng to Shanghai to see for themselves its great economic impulse, distinctive attractions and to savor its blend of Eastern and Western cultures. In the eyes of westerners, Shanghai has special oriental charm; while in the eyes of Chinese, Shanghai has a fresh western style. The old say that Shanghai is modern and fashionable, while the young say that Shanghai is old and reminiscent. Wherever you come from and whoever you are, you will find Shanghai an ideal tour destination.

Shanghai is a shopper’s paradise. There are various bustling commercial streets and shopping centers waiting for you. These include Nanjing Road, Huaihai Road, North Sichuan Road, Xujiahui Shopping Center, Yuyuan Shopping City and Jiali Sleepless City.

The convenient transportation, comfortable accommodation and colorful places of entertainment will enhance your stay in this fascinating city.

Tomorrow's Shanghai
Shanghai continues to develop at an amazing speed. It will host the football preliminary of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the World Expo in 2010, both of which offer the means to introduce Shanghai to yet more people worldwide. There is every reason to expect Shanghai to continue to surprise the world.

Axs Vail Valley: Access, universal design, and adaptive adventure

Today I sat with Sarah Will of Axs Vail Valley for our radio show I Can Do That on Blog Talk Radio. Sarah is the driving force and Executive Director of this 5 year old company that has slowly been building momentum for access, advocacy, design, and travel in the Vail and Beaver Creek corridor of Colorado. Vail has seen numerous changes during Sarah's many years in the area, and even before Axs Vail Valley, she was helping to make her new hometown a better place for people with disabilities.

If you're visiting the area and need assistance or live in the area and need consultation on accessibility and universal design, visit www.AxsVailValley.org for more information.

Listen to our podcast of this short thirty minute segment with Sarah starting August 8.



Sarah Will of Axs Vail Valley in 2006 pointing out alternate routes for wheelchair users in Vail Village.

Camping in the Adirondacks, New York

Due to an overwhelming response to the Top Five Camp Sites in the summer issue of The Traveler, we have been given a nice thorough list of links and locations for camping in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. A special thanks to everyone who sent us information on New York, as always we look forward to our return, this summer in August. Also look for our upcoming article on Lake George (at the southern tip of the Adirondack Park) in Venture Travel Magazine's fall issue.

First visit the Accessible Recreation page of New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)'s website for destinations, coordinators, recreation, and fishing; NY recommends you contacting specific DEC coordinators directly, as they are the most informed on the state's outdoor access in general.

Camping (and the plethora of it available!) can be found just inside that first link at http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/34038.html; you can count about 35 accessible camping locations in the counties of Clinton, Delaware, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Oneida, St. Lawrence, Sullivan, Ulster, and Warren!

Also don't forget about the John Dillon Park, associated with Paul Smith's College, which is open until the end of August, and all 200 acres are 100% accessible and impressively designed for visitors with disabilities. We covered this park in the May 2006 issue of The Traveler, and the park's wonderful access includes camping and picnic pads, fishing and hiking access, and bathrooms with lowered shower heads and grab bars. We continue to use this model as the best example of accessibilty in the outdoors and inclusive design for public use areas, and are thrilled to hear from a professor at Paul Smith's that the park is still thriving in it's 7th year of operation.

As many of you know, upstate New York is Craig's birthplace and will always remain very close to our hearts. If you live in the area, please make sure to check out the wonderful camping and outdoor fun the Adirondacks have to offer!

I Can Do That on Blog Talk Radio

Our apologies! (And happy July!)

We've started a new radio show and failed to put it on our blog! You may have heard about it in The Traveler, our quarterly publication, on Facebook, or Twitter, but we're sure we neglected a large part of our readership by failing to post this new ship of fun we're embarking on here!

Blog Talk Radio is an online radio website, FILLED to the brim with great shows on every topic you can imagine.

Launched the first Friday in May, Access Anything's I Can Do That on Blog Talk Radio builds on the interview series and following guidebook of the same name. So far we've covered the Denver Woman's Wheeling Nuggets, Adirondack Adventures, Adaptive Golf, the No Barriers USA Festival, and Camping in Colorado. What's neat about BlogTalk is that old episodes are archived online and you can either listen there or download to your iPod through iTunes.

Today's topic is International Travel and I've spend hours upon hours building an awesome and extensive list of links for our listeners; I can't wait to share it all with you today. Call in to (646) 378-1419 at 3:30pm MountainTime (that's 5:30 Eastern) (3 Fridays of every month), or if you're starting your holiday weekend early like we wanted to, download this as a podcast on Sunday or Monday.

Next week's topic is back to home for us, covering Steamboat Springs and it's fab access in general, but we'll also be highlighting our sports camps, of which one is coming up! Look for a future post on that next week!

Day 3 - No Barriers USA, Miami FL

Day three at this amazing festival in Coconut Grove was a clear skied, warm, agreeable day, unlike yesterday's torrential downpour.

But exhaustion has set in. I don't know how the volunteers at Shake A Leg do it... they're still smiling and helpful, with no signs of fatigue after two solid days of activities. We've logged some serious hours behind the lens already and I'm starting to eye these wheelchairs with envy. By the time I sat down today it was 7pm and I wasn't sure I could get back up. Thankfully it's 9:30 now and I'm in bed as I type. Life is good.

Let's see, where to start? Another symposium kicked off today with robotics, statistics, and a discussion of the baby boomer population's takeover in 2012, ironically the end of the Mayan calendar. The robotics were the interesting part, as Dr. Hugh Herr showed us his bionic ankle and foot that is fully integrated with with his smart phone. Apple, if you're listening, you should seriously pick up your iPhone. SuperHerr has been calling.

From there we hit the docks once again for more sailing, kayaking, windsurfing, paddleboarding, open water swimming, outrigger canoeing, yoga, tai chi, and some climbing on the wall.

Late in the day as the sun beat down on us and we needed shade, Craig and three others took lead from Darol Kubacz, who summited Mt. Kilimanjaro on his one-off handcycle (pic), and hit the flooded mangrove (I meant torrential when I said it!) for some "muddin.'" Splashing abound, they raced through the 12" puddle like 10 year olds; reaffirming Craig's ache to get one of his own. Hell, I'd love one. For someone unstable on a mountain bike, this machine (oh and it is a machine, with a motorcycle wheel on the back end, disc brake and all) is a serious crawler, any obstacle is defeatable, it's the Superman of handcycles.

We finished off the day with dinner and a movie - with a very well done Sesame Street opener about coping with a military injury in your family, "Coming Home." The movie was Eric Weihenayer's Blindsight about his incredible summit on Everest with six other blind Tibetan teenagers.

Tomorrow there are four excursions - to the beach and lighthouse, more sailing, horseback riding, and our choice - deep sea fishing. (...three hour tour....) And we're here till Monday. The fun isn't over people... stay tuned.

Day 2 - No Barriers USA Festival, Miami FL

Wow. Where do I begin. We're only on day 2 of 4 at this fabulous event here in Coconut Grove, and I'm already speechless. As if the day, packed full of adventure and tumultuous weather, weren't enough to render someone in awe, but tonight's speakers put the fork in me. And I have two more days to go.

We started out the morning with the technology symposium, learning about some of the most amazing medical advancements for the blind, from a tongue stimulator that stimulates a new visual pathway (yes, you didn't read that wrong) to IRIS (Intelligent Retinal Implant System) that restores visual perception. The symposium finished with new discoveries in treating spinal cord injury here at the Miami Project; as if we weren't already confident Craig would walk again, I now see the future is nearer than we think.

After lunch we headed over to Shake-A-Leg Miami's docks for an afternoon of adventure. Craig settled into the outrigger canoeing team (recruiting for the 2016 Olympics). Adapted by actually removing the outriggers off two boats and strapping them together, the system not only creates better balance for the adaptive rowers, but it also gives more room for twice the bodies, and thus, twice the speed. The media boat trailed them pathetically and I got to watch those 10 men and women shout "HUT, HO!" to the tune of fast strokes through a very choppy bay with the acuracy of Hawaiians, despite having met each other just 45 minutes before. As they came in I heard one of the ShakeALeg vols say, "I've NEVER seen an outrigger go that fast!" Inspiring? Yea.

They've got sports stacked upon each other every day so the pickin's are actually thick, not thin, and we won't have the chance to see or do it all. I managed to snap the water sports today though while watching the outrigger canoe, kayaking, both single and tandem, and plenty of sailing (including a female quadriplegic and a world class olympian teamed up, with her steering and swinging around the boat on a mobile chair while he tacked and jibbed... or whatever!). What we missed? Stand up paddleboarding, blind sailing, and adaptive swimming.

We got to hang out with Molly the pony, whom we mentioned in our previous post, watch adaptiave yoga, and check out the equipment in the Coast Guards hangar- Solorider golf cart, a powerchair-adapted land rover, and a trike that is beefier than anything you'd see on American Chopper. Woah.

Then there were tonight's speeches. We started with Jesse Billauer's story, truly an inspiring one made even more so by hearing it live- we've known Jesse for some time and Craig interviewed Jesse for the I Can Do That motivational series in 2006. I edited the interview, so I knew his story. But hearing him tell it live, from his near-paralysis experience prior to the actual paralysis, to his brother's guilt and grief, and all the jokes and tears in between was truly inspiring. But not the end.

No, the real tears came when Craig and Kelly Pearson got up to tell one ridiculously amazing story of triumph and success. In 1995, after 3 years of worry, medical visits, and waiting, she received a donor heart, and then climbed every nearly mountain on the planet with it. From Mt Whitney to Kilimanjaro to El Capitan, they racked up miles quick on her second act in life. But it was Mt Fuji that was the inspiring one. Craig received a phone call from Kelly's donor's daughter right before the trip- Kelly had already left- and asked Craig to not only take a wish up there with him for Kelly for her mom, but to also take her mom's ashes. Because of Kelly's triumphant story, and because part of the Pearson's mission was awareness, the Japanese media went along for the ride. To protect Kelly from the burdon, Craig didn't tell her of the daughter's wish nor the box of ashes until she summited (in case of failure) but when he did the tears streamed down and the media snapped it all. Thanks to them, Japan is now doing heart-transplant procedures.

This is a very small taste of what this No Barriers event is all about. Inspiring people with stories of triumph over adversity and physical tests, sharing their love of each sport and each adventure with each and every one of us.

I have no more words but thanks.

Accessible Travel Groups on the Internet

As part of creating the Spring issue our quarterly (look for it next week!) we began gathering a list of online groups, networks, and people you should hook up with. Today's age is all about networking; so this topic has made our blog today as well. To clarify, this post isn't about social networking, although it might look like it, it's about social networking in a group setting with a specific topic in mind.

WHY?
Why join a travel group? For us it's a no-brainer to join as many groups as we can to help us cut costs, find information, meet great people and live vicariously on another continenent! For some, keeping up with many networks can cost the precious time you seem to lack, so here are a few great places to start. For those of you looking to start your own group, drop in on some of these first to get ideas, but joining an existing network seemed much better to us than creating our own.

LinkedIn
We both held off on really diving in to the LinkedIn network until recently, but what drove us home on the concept of adding yet another social network to our gamut was LinkedIn's groups. You get an email of the ongoing discussions (you pick how often), and you can meet professionals who are in the same field or work at a company you'd like to connect with. In general, it's a much more focused business network than the others you're hearing about like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and the like. LinkedIn's groups are where it's at! You must first join LinkedIn to be in a group, and then you do have to request permission to be in a group once you find one, but so far neither of us have been rejected from a group. We both belong to many groups on various topics, but the only group we've found so far for Accessible Travel on LinkedIn is here. If you do join this network, make sure to network with us as well! [Andy's and Craig's pages]

Facebook
The best part of Facebook for networking are the fan and causes pages, the second of which you can actually raise money with. These social networks can be daunting, but they're excellent for networking once you get the hang of the concept in general. If you're already on Facebook, check out some of our favorite pages, causes, etc in the world of Accessible Travel: Access Anything, Wounded Warrior Project, Adaptive Adventures, All Mountain Ski Camp, Venture Travel, but there are hundreds more. This is a wonderful social network, don't put off joining us there.

Accessible.Travel
Created by colleague Craig Grimes, Accessible Travel is a NING network (a do-it-yourself social networking tool) is growing exponentially as I type. Unlike some NING networks, Craig's left this one open for all and anyone is invited. Chockfull of blogs, destinations, suggestions, and members with the same thirst for travel that we have, we're excited to help grow this network for sharing information on accessible travel! Within this group there are additional groups like Rail Travel for a more focused forum.

What Else?
We also belong to My Steamboat for fans of this ski area, several Twitter Groups that are focused on various topics of what we do, Disaboom, and The Wheel Life. However, you'll have to dig a little further to find Accessible Travel topics at these locations.

If you have a group you'd like to include, please share it in a comment to this post.

China FAM Trip

This trip has been updated to February and is open to all travelers with disabilities. Look for upcoming articles on this event in both Palaestra and Action! Magazines.

Spring Tour and Access Anything are hosting a 10-day trip to China
February, 2008

$1599 +$430pp tax includes:
Air from Los Angeles
Huating Hotel (Shanghai), Sofitel Hotel (Hangzhou), Xian Shangri La, and Loong Palace (Beijing)
Transportation between cities
City Excursions (such as Great Wall) and Dinner Shows
Bi Lingual Tour Guide

Assess this tour for your clients so you can begin to book SpringTour's China trips on commission.

LIMIT 30 persons

Andy Kennedy: andy.kennedy@accessanything.net
Jimmy Deng: ytbchina@spring-tour.com


NOTE: Unfortunately at this time we are discouraging power wheelchairs until our first dry run has confirmed that we can acomodate them.