Pittsburgh's Impressive Persona

I must admit we had our doubts about Pittsburgh, the last time I was there was 1996, and Craig had never been. Visit Pittsburgh hired us to speak at the PRSA Conference and had of course been talking it up since they scheduled us in February. Apparently cleaned up, revitalized, and renovated for access, Pittsburgh is building a new name for the Steel City.

We had pleasant surprises all five days we were there, starting with the flight in last Wednesday. Rolling greens and endless trees came into view as we approached Pittsburgh Airport; and although we're both from the east coast, the greenery never fails to impress itself upon us when we arrive.

From there, we found our way to our hotel, the Westin Conference Center; nestled in the heart of downtown, just a minute's roll from the river, the art district, the new ball park, and to our joy that evening, a live free concert. Pointed in the right direction, we spent the evening strolling around the area, tasting the local pizza, shooting shots of the riverwalk, and ending up at the Lotus show, where the young Pittsburgh was out twirling to the music and recycling their trash. Thorough recycling centers surrounded the small outdoor stage, complete with assistants who made sure your trash went into the appropriate container. (Left)

Thursday was no less impressive; starting bright and early with an overslept breakfast because our Westin "Heavenly Bed" was so dreamy. After conference speakers and breakout sessions on Green Travel, we met up with the rest for a touring cruise down the three rivers.

The three-floor river boat was accessible on the ground level with bathrooms, a bar, and a nice dance floor, even viewable from the upper floors, but since the food tables were on the second level, we begged the crew for a manual lift up the steps, and with smiles and a few grunts, they obliged. After snacks and a personal and impressive history lesson from the captain, we begged the crew again, and spent the last portion of the tour on the top deck.

Groups departed the boat in 10s and made their way to various restaurants for a dine-around. We meandered back to the hotel area to check out the Fish Market and tasted our share of the ocean's pleasures.

Friday began with a keynote breakfast including Lynn Swann, signing autographs, sharing laughs, and inspiring us to explore Pittsburgh, and Richard Bangs, the "father of modern adventure travel," inspiring us to continue to do what we do and share the world to people with disabilities. Our talk on marketing to this niche followed, and the day panned out a success with many contacts in the industry that we're excited to pursue.

Following the conference this day we made our way across the river to the Andy Warhol Museum, and dowsed ourselves in artistic wonder. Warhol's from Pittsburgh? Who knew. The museum's access was impeccable.

After downing a few rounds at the nearby Irish Pub, we spent the evening enjoying America's favorite passtime. The park's access was excellent; escorting us personally through the maze to the right pathways, and ending up with some primo seats behind home plate. Even though the Pirates couldn't get-er-done in 9 innings, and the park stops serving alcohol in the 7th, they scored in the 12th, and Canada Day's celebrations against the Toronto Blue Jays included an amazing fireworks show. Hey, what a pleasant surprise!

Sad to leave on Saturday, we strolled around downtown one last time, winding up at the Steel City Diner for some greasy eats and happy service. This morning clinched something for us that we hadn't solidified in our minds until now. Pittsburgh is a friendly town. Everyone we'd met was happy and excited to share their town with us. Smiles from strangers on the street, great conversation at the bar, and friendly locals everywhere we turned, Craig dubbed it the Big City Steamboat.

We didn't get to see everything we would have liked to- explore the restaurants fully, visit Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water, or do the NY rivaling theaters, so Pittsburgh, we'll be back! Count on it.

GADA Belt Release!

We are thrilled to announce our latest product in wheelchair seating, The GADA Belt!

Named after our company’s motto Go Anywhere, Do Anything™, The GADA Belt is a soft, secure, waterproof side guard set/clothing protector for manual wheelchairs that is also used as a sports belt, and is great for maintaining proper seating posture. This multi-functional device was designed to replace the hard-plastic side guards that typically come with manual chairs (and can cost as much as $300) and gets rid of the need for separate, single-strap lap belts often used by wheelchair athletes in sports such as tennis, basketball, and rugby. The GADA Belt’s soft canvas design reduces skin damage and breakdown, and actually improves the handling and performance of your chair while playing sports and recreating outdoors. This product is currently designed to fit all most manual wheelchairs with hard slings (specifically Quickie and Ti) and design modifications for soft sling chairs and other models such as Invacare, Lasher Sport, Colours, Kushcall, and Flight Ultralight are underway and GADA belts will be available for these brands soon in addition to other sizes of the belt for larger and smaller users such as children.

For active wheelchair users and business men and women that need to look professional, the GADA Belt keeps clothing clean & dry, and is a great way to keep business jackets neatly tucked in. For people with hip and/or pelvic alignment issues, the GADA Belt has been recommended by physical therapists to help correct and ensure good posture and alignment as well!

Released at the 2008 Abilities Expo in Anaheim, CA, the GADA Belt received a warm welcome from individuals and wheelchair companies alike, and one in particular, a new chair designed by Steven Patmont at www.GoPed.com, is already starting to look at building the GADA Belt into their design.

We are excited to share this new product with you, and hope that you take a look at the websites below to learn more about it and see it in action!


Video Review: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNAjlaXaNbg
Online Store: www.accessanything.net/onlinestore
AA's latest newsletter: http://www.accessanything.net/text/AATraveler_0508.pdf

Access Anything Schedule of Events, Spring 2008

Our travel season has begun, and we're excited to share some events and websites with you where we'll be speaking, sharing our wares, and both meeting new faces and seeing old ones in this wonderfully tight-knit community of disability-focused businesses and travel experts!

Sign up for our monthly newsletter to be updated regularly on our events, travel tips, destination highlights and more!

March: Abilities Expo NY, April: Airline Advisory Board, Spinal Cord Research Fundraiser, Scenic Byways Convention; May: Abilities Expo CA; June: Travel Conference PA; July: WCD PA

March 27-31 Abilities Expo, Edison, NJ
Dubbed the largest expo in the country for anything-disability related, the New Jersey installment of this Abilities series of expos sees nearly 12,000 visitors and has hundreds of booths spread out over a dozen aisles of fun. Last year at this event we were inundated with questions, and at each of Craig's talks the room was filled to capacity and overflowing into the hallway. Needless to say we're very excited to be attending this expo once again.

April 1-2 Northwest Airlines' annual Accessibility Advisory Board, Detroit, MI
We will be attending this meeting with Continental Airlines this year, and are excited to inform you that we have recently been signed on as members of Continental's Access Advisory Board to help improve access on planes and treatment of equipment and persons with disabilities. We'll update you as often as we can on the improvements to this airline that we choose over all others for a reason!

April 5th, Scott Remington's Fundraiser for Spinal Cord Research, Brant Lake, NY
This annual fundraiser for the Christopher Reeve Foundation is now in its 8th year, and raised over $40,000 last year alone. The Remington's dedication to this important cause is apparent at the size of this fundraiser, which we attended in 2006; the room is full of prizes for auction from homemade dolls and quilts to atvs and chainsaws. This is a truly memorable experience and we're thrilled to be a part of it once again! If you would like to donate to the Chris and Dana Reeve Foundation for spinal cord research, please visit Scott's site above, or contact us directly.

April 10-11, National Scenic Byways Convention, Denver, CO
In 2006 we spent several months during the summer working for Colorado Scenic Byways, assessing five byways in the state for their accessibility, and developing a rating system for them. The time has finally come to present this rating system on a national level and we're very excited to be given this opportunity to do so!

May 30-June 1, Abilities Expo, Anaheim, CA
The second installment of this expo series occurs annually in Anaheim in June, and is second in size to the NJ expo. There are two other Abilities expos, which float in location, throughout the year, and have been in Houston, Northern CA, Wisconsin, to name a few. The June CA show usually sees about 6,000 participants, and although a little slower than it's NJ partner, is still quite an amazing 3-day event for us.

June 20-21, Travel and Tourism Conference: Go For Green!, Pittsburgh, PA
This will be our first year in attendance at this "green" conference, and we'll be speaking on marketing to travelers with disabilities. Sponsored by the Public Relations Society of America and the Society of American Travel Writers Associates Council, this will be a wonderful opportunity for this group to learn more about the overlooked yet growing niche of travelers with disabilities. We are very excited to be presenting to the non-disability-focused part of the industry once again.

July 11-12, World Congress on Disabilities, Philadelphia PA
WCD as it's better known, has been an annual event for several years, and this year is splitting its expo into two segments, Philly in July, and Jacksonville, FL in November. We are working with WCD this year on bringing more adventurous activities to these events, such as a climbing wall, scuba tank, or cycling course. We will also be speaking on marketing to travelers with disabilities, as we did at the WCD Expo in DC this past November. We look forward to working with the staff at WCD to make this event bigger and better!




If you have any questions about events or our schedule, or would like Access Anything to appear at your event, please email us at ask@accessanything.net!

Steamboat Update

Honestly, there's nothing better than a day on the hill where the snow continues to get better with every lift you take. We had 6 inches reported at 5am and 14 new by noon when we finally got up there to ski and ride. Check out this video from one of our favorite tree runs for a better visual of what it means to be "up to our necks" in it!

Without travel plans until April, you may be seeing a few more pictures of Steamboat in place of our travel blog!

2008 Steamboat All Mountain Ski Camp

Powder Powder Everywhere!

Faceshots and jumping abound, our 3rd annual Steamboat All Mountain Ski Camp is sadly behind us! Put on in conjunction with Adaptive Adventures and sponsored by the Steamboat Ski Area, Steamboat Powdercats, and the Wounded Warrior Project, the Steamboat camp sets itself above the rest in the All Mountain series of ski camps by always promising fresh powder for the attendees to play in!

We had about 25 participants, 10 friends and family, 15 coaches, and 35 volunteers make this camp the best we've had so far! Of course, the daily snow dumping didn't hurt either! Despite cold temps and blowing snow advisories, our troops spent 3 days on the ski hill and the last day in the depths of Buffalo Pass' backcountry skiing. We've got one word for all that, SWEET!

12 monoskiers, 5 three trackers, 2 blind skiers, 2 snowboarders and one brain injury came from around the country, including 7 recently wounded vets from Iraq and one from the British Army.

Our favorite event of the year, we couldn't do this without all the huge support we get from Steamboat's lodging, restaurant, ski area, and private business donations.

THANK YOU STEAMBOAT! We'll see you all this time next year!

If you have trouble viewing this video below, check out this one and more on our You Tube page.