July 14, 2023 • 36 mins
In part 2 of our travel series, we start at the beginning – where you stay and things to consider when booking it – whether that is a hotel, Air B&B or VRBO. We are also highlighting some great tips to be sure you can truly be involved in your next beach or ski trip.
Guests
- Jen Goodwin - Staff Attorney, Disability Rights Arkansas
- Mollie Goodwin - Advocate, Disability Rights Arkansas
Helpful Links
- Visit our Website
- Accessibility at AR State Parks
- Interagency Access Pass
- iCAN
- National Sports Center for the Disabled
- Achilles International
- AllTrails
Contact DRA
- Subscribe to our newsletter
- Stay connected
- Show your support
- Email us at info@disabilityrightsar.org
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lani Jennings-Hall (00:00):
At Disability Rights Arkansas, we
(00:13):
are focused on guidance forpeople with disabilities on how
to navigate your rights, thingsthat help with your everyday
life, and how to navigate thecomplex systems of how to get
the support you need. In thispodcast, Including You, we bring
that information directly toyou, the listener on things like
accessibility questions, careerand care, and even the nuances
(00:34):
of love life with a disability.
Everyone has the right to knowtheir rights, everyone,
Including You.
I'm your host, LaniJennings-Hall. I'm excited to be
back with part two of our travelseries with Jen Goodwin and
Mollie Hernandez. This timewe're back to talk about well,
really to start at the beginningwhere you stay and things to
(00:54):
consider when booking it,whether it's a hotel, Airbnb, or
VRBO. We're also highlightingsome great tips to be sure you
can truly be involved in yournext beach trip. Thank you, Jen
and Mollie, and welcome back toIncluding You.
(01:19):
You were talking about theAccess Pass. Those are at a lot
of different theme parks. Right.
This is not just solo to Disney,but there are a lot of these
theme parks offer some form ofAccess Pass.
Mollie Hernandez (01:29):
Yes, so I live with a group of thrill seekers.
So we hit a lot of theme parks.
Whenever you purchase yourtickets, you can always number
one, ask about if there are anydisability discounts, what we
refer to them as perks. So youcan ask that. And then when you
get into the park, if it's notavailable at the ticket counter,
usually you can go to GuestServices and request an ease of
(01:52):
access pass, because that iswhat makes getting on and off
some rides safer. Also, iteliminates waiting in line,
sometimes you get to move to thefront of the line. So which
that's huge. I mean, my kidshave no idea what it's like to
wait in these crazy long lines.
(02:14):
Depending on the park likeDisney, they now have Disney
Genie, which those are kind oflike for those of us in the days
of old the Fast Pass and stuff.
They're different things thatwork with phone apps, even your
access pass may work the sameway. It may work in conjunction
with those. So do your researchbeforehand about access passes
and getting into theme parks andhow you use them because they
(02:36):
are great. And it does very muchhelp from from just the actual
ease of getting on and off aride to that wait time being
reduced because depending onyour disability, you may not
have the stamina to wait in longlines in queue for a ride.
Lani Jennings-Hall (02:52):
While we're talking about passes, let's
let's kind of transition alittle bit to a different kind
of park. You know, your yournational parks or state parks.
There's the National Parks andFederal Recreational Lands
Access Pass is the full name ofit. I mean, there are seven I
think national parks in Arkansasalone. I mean, so just in
(03:12):
Arkansas, that's a really cool,a cool benefit. Y'all wanna talk
a little bit about that specificpass?
Mollie Hernandez (03:20):
So that pass, by my understanding, and Jen,
you may have to correct me, itallows you and anyone in your
car free access to the NationalPark. I think there are even
some discounts associated withthings within the park. But that
might vary park by park, so Iwould say do your research, but
you can get that pass at mostnational parks. I did read that
(03:43):
not all of them offer that pass.
But once you have the pass, it'sgood. But you can also request
it by mail or online. So it'sit's a great thing. It's a nice
perk.
Jen Goodwin (03:55):
Yeah, because I know I've been in some parks in
Arkansas where if you had thatpass, it just offered free
parking.
Mollie Hernandez (04:01):
With the Arkansas State Parks, you do get
a 50% discount on camping whichcan be quite substantial. And my
family has used that before. Youdo have to document that you
have a disability, or even ifyou use vocational
rehabilitation services, theycan provide documentation that
you have a disability. So it'snot just on your honor that
(04:23):
they're going to want somedocumentation for both the
national parks pass and stateparks. But once you have that
it's a really good thing to use.
And their wording on that, ofcourse working in the field of
disability advocacy, I'm alwaysinterested in how they word what
their definition of disabilityis. And I think it was something
like 100% completely andpermanently disabled you know,
which seemed very broad butanyhow, the they will tell you
(04:46):
what they need to be able toconfirm that you do have a
disability and you are properlyusing that access.
Lani Jennings-Hall (04:53):
While we're talking about you know parks and
Mollie Hernandez (04:54):
That's fantastic. And again, we live in
all this, let's just kind of, Imean Arkansas, obviously
Arkansas, which is where we'rerecording at currently has a lot
the natural state, and it'simportant that everyone have the
of assessible trails in general.
But there is a lot ofinformation out there that you
can find if they are accessibleopportunity to enjoy what our
state has to offer. So I'm gladspecifically for wheelchair
users. And then other ways too,I know I specifically use an app
(05:15):
called AllTrails. And you canfilter if the trail is
wheelchair accessible, you canto know that that's there. And
even the Video Preview, clearlyget a video tour of part of the
trails, you can get a typeddescription of what the trail
terrain is like, the difficultyand all that. And then of
course, reviews of the trail. SoI can't see the video. But that
would be great to be able toI know that's a pretty helpful
tool that's out there, there's afree and a paid version of that
(05:38):
that is is always helpful for uswhen we go hiking. And like I
said, there is that kind of,show to my family and say Hey,
check this out. Do you thinkthat filter that does have the
option for wheelchair accessibletrails as well.
this would be great? Boomerloves to hike, love, love loves
(06:03):
to hike. So we try and hit stateparks whenever we can to enjoy
those parts of our state.
Lani Jennings-Hall (06:19):
You and Boomer have taken many different
types of adventures. So let'stalk a little bit about the
National Sports Center for theDisabled.
Mollie Hernandez (06:29):
Yes, so I definitely want to give a shout
out to the National SportsCenter for the Disabled, they're
located in Colorado. I live witha family of snowboarders,
skiers, they love the snowsports. So by registering with
the National Sports Center forthe Disabled, their location in
Winter Park, Colorado, which isan amazing ski resort, I'm able
(06:50):
to participate in accessibleskiing. And they of course, they
work with me as a blind skier. Ido have a T-shirt that says
"World's Okay-ist Skier." Keepin mind, you do not have to be
skilled, they take you from thevery basics. And I've always
said as a parent with adisability, I've never wanted my
kids to feel like I'm a sidelineparent, like I'm going to be in
(07:13):
it with them. And when theystarted skiing and snowboarding
and loving it, I didn't want tobe just sitting fireside, some
days I do, but most of the timeI wanted to be out there with
them. So that program enabled meto go out there and be on the
slopes for them to say that momdid it too. But for me to just
be there with them and in themoment and have those family
(07:35):
pictures of four of my husbandmyself, my kids were all out
there. And then there's you cando the alpine skiing, you can do
cross country skiing, there's aton of stuff that you can do.
Boomer does not ski with me.
He'll hang out in the condowhile I'm doing that, but then
he enjoys lots of time justgetting to romp and play in the
snow when I'm not doing skisports. The National Sports
(07:57):
Center for the Disabled, theyalso have summer programs. So
I'm sure we'll have a link forthem to check them out because
there's summer hiking, mountainclimbing. So so many different
things, whitewater rafting,there's a lot of different
stuff. So check them out onlineand see what they have. If
you're more of an adventuroustype go, certainly check them
out and see if there's somethingthat would interest you.
Lani Jennings-Hall (08:23):
I will also add many people that plan their
vacations around races. Thereare many races that have a
special adapted division aswell. So if that is your thing,
definitely check that out aswell because many, many races
now have a special adaptivedivision that will have you
know, buddy runners, they'llhave a lot of different
additions.
Mollie Hernandez (08:44):
If you want to get into traveling and getting
into other accessible sportscompetitively. Check out
Achilles International. I'm kindof a fan. Sports travel is a big
thing. Both of my kids playtennis. My husband was and still
is a tennis player butUniversity tennis playing you
travel a lot connected to whatyour kids do and what they're
(09:06):
interested in. So therecertainly is an entire
discussion to be had aroundsports and travel.
Lani Jennings-Hall (09:13):
Jen I'm looking forward to the beach
vacation. Hit us with some tipsfor traveling to the beach.
Jen Goodwin (09:17):
So while Mollie is busy going and being sporty and
doing all of those things, I'mbusy going and relaxing and
playing with my kids in the sandand in the pool and that sort of
thing. No thanks on all theextra sporty time. So I did that
in high school and now I justlike to hang out and relax on my
Lani Jennings-Hall (09:35):
Didn't you jump out of a plane or something
vacations for the most partunless you have a fun roller
coaster and then I will jump onthat anytime possible. While I'm
there. I will say the questionsthat they asked you on if your
family or yourself would be ableto get you out of the car and
(09:56):
down the ladder if your rollercoaster is to get stopped always
make me giggle because I think Icheck the box and say yes, but
it's always no, you will callthe fire department.
as well? And they asked somesimilar wonky questions?
Jen Goodwin (10:16):
My jumping out of a plane was pre-injury. Yes, but I
do have friends that have goneskydiving post injury as well.
And yeah, it's always funny thequestions that we get asked, so
it's on my list, but maybe oncemy kids are grown.
Lani Jennings-Hall (10:31):
When you do, we'll do a podcast episode on
that. So we can hear all aboutthe experience of that.
Mollie Hernandez (10:36):
I did indoor skydiving. And what that taught
me was that if I ever actuallyhave to jump out of a plane, I'm
just taking it to the ground.
The pictures from that y'all. Ilooked like a cat just thrown in
the air. The rest of my familyhad that beautiful arched back
skydiver pose. You can see spitgoing up my goggles like I'm so
(10:56):
stiff. And it was like any othertouristy thing, because they
want to sell you the pictures ofit. And you're in like a group
of people. They had like, thepictures flashing up on a big
screen, so you could purchaseit. When mine came up all the
people, the strangers justlaughed. I was like, yeah, no,
we're not buying that picture.
It was kind of a sensorydeprivation thing. It's kind of
(11:18):
a big wind tunnel. Like theyhave jet engines that are very
loud, which essentially made medeaf blind. So that is that was
great. It was like they werelike, Oh, we got this. And
you're in like the wind suit. Imean, you you look the part that
the goggles and stuff and theywere like, Hey, we're going to
tap you one time to move yourleft arm or one time to move
your right, two times for yourright arm or whatever. It's
(11:39):
supposed to be a system of taps.
Since I couldn't follow anyphysical directions. I went in
there and lost my mind. I wasterrible. I want out I mean, you
should have seen me. I was allbut climbing the person that was
assisting me to like, get to thedoor and get out. It was it was
terrible. My family will not letme live it now. We were in
Houston this past weekend forthe Taylor Swift concert. And my
(12:01):
husband was like, Oh, lookindoor skydiving. And I was
like, yeah, no, never again.
Lani Jennings-Hall (12:09):
Your family bought the photo.
Mollie Hernandez (12:12):
There are videos that I have issued some
serious threats if they ever getleaked, like my husband has it
all well documented. And yeah,the drool that flew out of my
mouth and just stuck to theglasses, I think was the epic
part. I mean, just think of thecat thrown in the air. That was
my pose.
Lani Jennings-Hall (12:31):
So when you don't want to jump out of a
plane Jen, and you want tolounge on a beach?
Jen Goodwin (12:35):
Oh, I would absolutely do that. But that was
kind of my take on skydiving.
before my injury was I just feltlike my cheeks were flapping in
the wind. And I had tearsrunning up the side of my face
just not because I was cryingjust because my eyes are
watering and it was pouring upthe side. And then when the
strap hits your legs when youpull the chute and it's just not
(12:57):
comfortable. But I will say whenin Colorado, I tried to do the
Sky Coaster that they have overthe Royal Gorge Bridge. And I
was denied they told me that Ihad to have control of my legs
to be able to do that. I thinkthey just didn't want to take
the time to get me in theharness to make that happen. So
I was really disappointed. But Iwill say the rest of the park
(13:19):
there was pretty accessible. Andwe really enjoyed our time while
we were there. Except and thisstory just kind of makes me
giggle too. We got on thegondola which goes it's attached
through cable cars, and it's thecable car that goes across the
Royal Gorge Bridge, which isreally awesome, except we got to
the other side. And they decidedthat they needed to shut it down
(13:40):
because it was too windy. Soeveryone else that was on there,
were able to just walk acrossthe big bridge and get back to
safety on the other side. And sothey made me get off the gondola
while we got to an area wherethere were two steps. I'm in a
power wheelchair that's 400pounds, and there are no ramps.
And so I looked at the guys andI said okay, so are you going to
(14:03):
lift me down? No, I take thatback. I was in a manual
wheelchair. So I asked them ifthey would help lift me down
those stairs so that I could getback down and around and they
told me know that that would bea safety hazard. So instead,
they just put me back on thegondola with my family with a 30
plus mile per hour winds.
(14:25):
Everyone else went back the safeway and then my family and I
took the gondola in the wind. Soa new take on Gone With the
Wind, I guess. So. That's whereI get my thrills these days, I
guess. But it was good time. Androller coasters too. The first
time I got on an upside downroller coaster. I was headed
(14:46):
straight up when my legs startedcoming at me. And I looked at
the person who was riding withme and he looked at me and he
said, Oh my gosh, what are wegoing to do with your legs? And
I said, Well, let's pray.
Dear Jesus if I fall out of thisroller coaster, I'll see you in
a few minutes, Love you, Jen.
And we finished the ride, I'mpretty sure he was hanging on to
(15:09):
me like Tarzan by the time wegot to the end, and he had tears
coming out his face, and I justhad a blast. And that started my
love for roller coasters, evenpostinjury. I am definitely a
beach creature even now forsure. But sand and wheelchairs
are not a great combination, gofigure. So oftentimes, we've got
a few options. And we've triedmultiple different things over
(15:31):
the years. So the condo that myfamily and Diane, it actually
has a really nice boardwalk thatgoes like halfway down to the
beach with a ramp at the end ofthat, but you get to the end,
and you're just in solid sand,even at that point and a long
way away from both the beachchairs and the water. So while
the ramp is really nice to have,it's still not going to get me
(15:54):
to where I need to be. So thereare a couple different options,
this condo actually does providesome power beach wheelchairs,
which are fantastic. They justhave big wheels on them, and
then they have power. So ittakes a little like I said
before, there's always alearning curve when you're in a
new chair. So with that, when Ikind of end up jumping back and
forth and flipping in a littlebackwards that it's got to be
(16:17):
bars, it's fine. But the problemwith that is that usually even
though they're free, people endup using them and they're not
available. So the other optionthere is to rent a power beach
chair or a manual beach chairthat can be manually pushed in
the sand as well. Both of thosejust have larger tires on them
to allow them to go over thesand.
Lani Jennings-Hall (16:38):
I read an article recently of the new
wheelchairs that you can likebasically take off roading. I
don't know if that's likeexactly what they're termed, but
like they can go on some of themore treacherous hike is a
Jen Goodwin (16:47):
Are those type chairs like where they have the
little bit more rough hikes, Iguess.
track on them? Or do they havelarger wheels,
Lani Jennings-Hall (16:59):
I wasn't sure I didn't know if they were
like the same or not.
Jen Goodwin (17:02):
No, usually the ones that you're gonna get, they
just have a little bit biggertires, these are like almost
balloon tires. So they're reallybig. I mean, we're talking
probably almost a foot wide onthe tires. And they're real
soft. And they're madespecifically for this land. And
they're made to where they canget wet to some degree, you
know, assist the merge the powerin the water at all. But you can
(17:25):
get real close to the water andyou know, get up there where
everyone's sticking their feetin the water. So anyway, those
are pretty cool. The other thingthat I found, and if you happen
to be in Arkansas, then youshould check them out from iCan,
because they actually have theseavailable now for you. It's
called Access track. And so theycome in sets of three and the
(17:45):
mats are probably three feet bythree feet. And so then you get
like a nine foot track. And sowhat they are is they are
plastic mats that have holes inthem, but you lay them out in
the sand so that your chair canactually go over them. And you
need at least two sets of thembecause you will down the three
(18:06):
and then you pick up the setbehind it and put it in front.
And so you're kind of building aroad for yourself. And when I
say for yourself, I mean someoneis helping you with that. So
usually my family will carry twosets of those down to the beach
as well. So that way I can getto the beach chair or whatever,
if we don't pay for one of thebeach chairs there. So that way,
(18:27):
I'll just take a manual chairand can actually get out to you
know, one of the standard beachchairs or to the water that way
without having all the extraexpense because those beach
chairs, if they are providedfree through the condo or
through the public beach thatyou're going to then they end up
being like $100 a day. And so itgets to be really expensive. And
you're paying for that whetherit's raining or whatever, and
(18:49):
you don't even go to the beachthat day. So I usually leave
that expense out because a lotof times I am a pool girl and I
don't need all of that extratrouble to be able to get out
there and my kids play in thepool as much as they play in the
oceans so but I never want tomiss out on the trip actually
being down at the sand andinvolved with my kids. And with
my family. I want to be outthere and involved as much as
(19:10):
possible. So always make atleast one or two trips down to
the sand on every trip thatwe're on some beaches I will say
now and these are really reallyawesome if you can find them.
I've seen them in VirginiaBeach, they had the boardwalk
but then at certain accesspoints on the boardwalk they
actually have a ramp that goesall the way down to the water.
And so it's made for people withall different mobility issues or
(19:32):
able bodied people as well to beable to you know, pull your
stroller or whatever you havedown to the sand and they're
really handy to have as well. Sobe sure to look for those.
Lani Jennings-Hall (19:41):
One of the biggest tips I feel like I've
heard reiterate a lot is doingyour research. You know what's
what's available to you inadvance, do you need to reserve
and I think this comes rightinto play with hotels, Airbnb,
condos, wherever you're stayingall of it entails doing your
research. Mollie, do you want totalk a little bit about when
your last experiences withAirbnb?
Mollie Hernandez (20:02):
For those of us with disabilities, depending
on the disability, it can bevery beneficial number one to
book an accessible room, they'renot as easy to find if you're
looking for condos and homes tobe able to find accessible. And
on our last trip to go skiingactually, I told my husband, I
was like, You know what we'regoing to be in a condo, so we're
(20:23):
gonna have more space, I don'tsee that we need to look for
accessible when I go to a hotel,I typically look for an
accessible room, it does nothave to be wheelchair
accessible, and Jen willprobably talk a little bit more
about that, because there is adifference, I don't need a roll
in shower. But I do need extraspace to accommodate the fact
(20:44):
that I may have a dog crate,I'll definitely have a dog, a
feeding station, you know, justthat little bit of extra room
helps not only accommodate thedog, but I'm at a heightened
risk of walking into the cornersof furniture in an unfamiliar
environment, leaning over in acrowded area and really busting
my head open. So I do alwayslook for accessible rooms with
(21:06):
hotels just for those reasons.
However, this last time, I waslike, don't look for accessible
condos, that'll be bigger than ahotel room. And we truly weren't
thinking because we got there.
And it was on a second floorwith an outside staircase, you
know, things that we justweren't thinking about, you
know, I can manage stairswithout a problem inside. But in
(21:28):
this case, it was a ton of snow.
The staircases were kind ofmetal with a little bit of grip
texture that I really worriedabout my dog's paws with so then
it was a case of making sure mydog had his boots on. And when
you're living in the South, it'sa little different remembering
how to work a dog in the snowwhen you're not used to that and
having the traction and stuff.
(21:51):
So it was a simple mistake onour part, we were like, the
floorplan of this condo looksgood. We didn't think about
stairs being outside andnavigating in the snow. So
definitely do your research.
Regardless of what yourdisability is, you may have
different needs than once you'reout of your home that you want
to look at accommodating.
Jen Goodwin (22:12):
And speaking of accessible rooms, for sure, you
know, oftentimes pre injury, Iwould always booked through one
of the secondary travel sites,so Priceline, Expedia, something
like that. And whenever I wasnewly injured, they didn't have
an option to get an accessibleroom. And, you know, I felt like
it was unfair for me to not getthe travel discounts that other
people would get. But wheneverI'd call the hotel, they
(22:35):
couldn't necessarily guaranteeand the travel sites say that
they can't guaranteeaccessibility. So I would always
call the hotel as soon as Ibooked that trip to make sure
that they had an accessible roomavailable. So now they have
gotten a lot better to wheremost of the secondary sites also
allow you to book a specificroom based on your accessibility
needs. But usually, I will goahead and call the hotel myself
(22:58):
just to confirm I want to makesure they have a note on my
reservation and let them knowthat it is legit. And then I
need it because I think thatthere are a lot of people who
have inadvertently got put in anaccessible room. They're like,
Oh, wow, this is their, this isgreat, I'm always going to book
an accessible room from then on.
And so that takes theavailability away for me because
there's just a few of themavailable. And I truly have to
(23:19):
have that to be able to get intothe rooms sometimes. I've been
to hotels where the bathroomdoor was not wide enough for my
chair to get in a standard room.
So I had to have an accessibleroom at one point, I went for
role on Capitol Hill. And soeverybody that was there for the
conference, we were all chairusers. And so they ran out of
(23:41):
accessible room. So I was like,Well, my mom's gonna be with me,
we've navigated all kinds ofdifferent, inaccessible places,
we'll be fine. But then we foundout that the door wasn't wide
enough for my chair to getthrough. But in that conference,
the hotel staff came and tookthe door off the hinges to allow
me to get into it. So you know,it was blocking the tub area at
(24:02):
that point. And I do need a rollin shower. And so those are the
things that I really have tolook for to make sure that not
only is this thing, somethingthat I can roll under, but the
shower is something that I canget in and out of and that they
have a good shower chair for meto sit on, so that I don't have
to bring my own. So those areall concerns that I have
whenever booking but Idefinitely recommend calling the
hotel ahead of time again, itgoes back to just being
(24:24):
prepared. And this is comingfrom the girl who used to book
my travel in the car when I wasgoing from city to city and I
was headed to the hotel now it'stotally different and I have to
plan usually months in advanceto make sure that everything's
gonna be accessible. And thensometimes I get there and I've
thrown everything that I saidout the window and then I put on
(24:45):
my disability attorney hat againand make sure that I know that I
know my rights. So in thosecases, I have been transferred
to another hotel, maybe a sisterproperty that they've had so
that they had an accessible roomwhenever they had given away the
last thing accessible room,because even though you book it,
if you get there later thansomebody else's who asks for a
specific room, then a lot oftimes they'll take your room.
(25:08):
And so that happens a lot. We'vebeen in those situations, and
it's very frustrating. But forthe most part, they're usually
very accommodating. I've alsogotten upgrades in those
situations where they'veupgraded my family to mislead
or, you know, whatever to beaccommodating. So, you know,
there are perks, As Molliementioned before that have come
with it. And I always take thosewhen I get them because there's
enough to weed throughotherwise,
Lani Jennings-Hall (25:30):
I will definitely kind of reiterate
what you were saying Jen ofbeing very, very specific,
because when someone at a hotelhears an assessable room, they
may not, as you guys havepointed out, know the difference
to differentiate the two. Sobeing very specific, and
continue to advocate foryourself, because a lot of times
I'm learning it's, it's just alack of knowledge, they may not
understand that, oh, there doesneed to be a grab bar here, or,
(25:54):
Oh, I can't get my chairunderneath this sink, or, okay,
well, your assessable bathroomsare closed off, I need that
option. And so it's really justcommunicating, I feel like in a
lot of instances that instanding like, like advocating
for yourself, okay, these arethe things that I have to have.
Mollie Hernandez (26:14):
The same thing goes for service animals
checking into the properties,let them know it's a service
animal. Unfortunately, there isa lot of exploitation of using
service animals where people aresaying, service animal, it's
really not, it's they just wantto be able to get their pet in
for free. So check your fees,make sure you're not being
(26:34):
charged a room deposit or a petdeposit, that you're not being
charged an additional fee foryou know, having had a pet in
the room a cleaning fee. Soalways make sure of that. But I
will say be very clear aboutyour service animal. I never
take offense, when someone fromthe hotel says is that a service
(26:56):
animal, I'm not going to makethem fish it out of me, I'll say
this is a seeing eye dog, I amblind, he is trying to guide me.
I give them all the information.
So they don't have to feel likeyou're having to pull that all
out of me they have the right toask two questions. Is it a
service animal? And what servicehas he been trained to perform?
I give that upfront because,again, it's something they need
to know in order to properlyaccommodate me, I'm still not
(27:19):
totally clear on where the lawsfall for Airbnb, because these
are privately owned byindividuals. So in our
experience with Airbnb, or VRBO,we've told them upfront because
I have had a fear that an ownerbecause it's a private owner
would say, No, we're not doingthat we don't do pets of any
kind. Even though he's not apet, I always let them know. And
(27:40):
they'd been great, but I justnever wanted to get to a
property and then suddenly nothave a place to stay because I
didn't disclose that there wasan animal, I feel like they have
to comply with ADA. Even thoughit's technically owned by a
private person, they arecontracting with a greater
business at large to run outtheir properties. But to be on
(28:01):
the safe side, check, you know,inform them, I try not to
surprise anyone that a big dogis going to be on their
property.
Jen Goodwin (28:11):
I always like to add to be nice too. I have found
that going in nice and justasking questions and just
explaining what your needsreally gets you a long way. Like
I said, I've been upgraded in alot of situations, and it just
comes from being kind first. Andsometimes there's room for
stepping up your game a littlebit when you have to. But if you
(28:32):
can be nice on the front end,it's going to take you a long
way.
Mollie Hernandez (28:35):
Yes. And it honestly will pave the way for
someone who comes after you. Ifsomeone's had a great
experience. Like for me, ifthey've had a great experience
with my guide dog, then I knowthey're not going to give a lot
of problems for the next personthat needs to come with a
service animal.
Lani Jennings-Hall (28:50):
Sometimes if they absolutely just didn't
know, I've run into this, insome instances with events,
planning events, the person at ahotel or something just they
just didn't know not that that'sa you know, a great excuse. It's
just an opportunity to educateat that point. And then ideally
they can they're going to makeit right, that doesn't always
happen. But again, it does itfirst put on the kindness hat
(29:11):
and educate where you can andhopefully it'll be made better.
Jen Goodwin (29:16):
A little tip for traveling in hotels, especially
if you're going to be travelingalone to and we do it with my
family all the time, but webring like power cords and we
bring power strips with usbecause a lot of times I
recently stayed in a hotel bymyself and I got there and
realized that I couldn't reachany of the outlets you know they
were bus behind the bedsidetable and I needed to plug my
(29:38):
chair in for the night and knowthat I wouldn't have access to
that. So luckily I knew somebodywith me and they were able to go
in and plug stuff in for me butI wouldn't have been able to
plug it in again. So I had apower strip that was you know,
put in a position where I couldreach it. So that's just a tip
that we've learned along the waybut also if you do get in a
situation and you are alone,they feel free to ask the hotel
(29:59):
staff or someone to come up andhelp. They don't mind doing
stuff like that as long asthey're not busy and the only
person working there so butPowerStrips are definitely your
friend when traveling and hoteland you got lots of things to
plug in.
Lani Jennings-Hall (30:13):
Let's wrap up this segment with travel tips
with Jen and Mollie. Do y'allhave any kind of general travel
tips that you would like ourlisteners to hear?
Mollie Hernandez (30:23):
My favorite one and this is as a mom
traveling with children and ahusband packing. So I'm blind
and you know coordinating allthose outfits and making sure
everyone has everything theyneed for every day that you're
traveling. We started when mychildren were very, very young
buying depending on if we weretraveling with winter gear or
(30:45):
summer gear gallon, two gallonziplock bags. And I would we
create assembly lines with theclothes because keep in mind, if
we just started unpackingsuitcases, the moment you open a
suitcase, it's not wellorganized, who knows what I'm
wearing, who knows what thechildren would be wearing. So
we'd start in assembly line of,you know, shirt, pants, socks,
(31:06):
underwear, you know, whateveryou need, put it in a Ziploc
bag, and then it's kind of cool,because it becomes a space
saver, you squish all the airout to seal it up. When the kids
were little, I'd let them youknow, really draw on design on
their bags, so they knew it wastheirs. And you know, then I
would say okay, we're gonna begone for seven days, does
everyone have at least sevenoutfits. And that way, when they
(31:28):
come out of the shower, or youknow, wake up in the morning,
I'd be like, Okay, here's yourbag, get get dressed. And it was
just for me a great way to stayorganized as a blind mom, make
sure everyone had their clothespacked. And they had enough. And
you know, to this day, now Idon't have to do it as much, you
know, my kids are grown. And ifyou're having to repeat outfits,
it's your own fault. You hadplenty of mourning, and you can
(31:49):
count. So share it into thisday. She's 15 She still loves
that, that way of packing. Yeah,whenever we pull out our
suitcases, you know, she waslooking for the baggies to make
sure she can do her outfits thatway. I do it too. So now that's
my tip.
Lani Jennings-Hall (32:06):
I love that.
I'm so using this for the aregoing to the beach this summer,
I'm thinking my my toddler isthree and she loves she has to
pick out her own clothes, Ithink that's such a good idea to
get her involved in the packingand then my husband so he can
pack his own clothes.
Mollie Hernandez (32:20):
Yes, oh, it has been the best best travel
strategy I've had. So with orwithout disability, it's,
especially with younger ones, itjust keeps it organized.
Jen Goodwin (32:33):
And I would say the same thing with travel
documents. So whenever I'mbooking a trip, I always make
sure that I'm printing out likeI always, you know, have it all
on my phone. But I like to havea paper copy in case heaven
forbid I lose my phone orelectronics go down whatever
happens. But that way I get oneof the clear cover folders that
(32:53):
just has a clip on the side toclip all the papers in. But I
have a copy of all of my hotelinformation, all of my flight
information, when we get ourboarding passes, I stick it
right in there. And I'm able toclip it in. So that way I have
you know, if I'm going on a worktrip, it's got the conference
schedule in it. So I knowexactly where I need to be and
when I need to be there forthat. So that's one of the tips
(33:16):
there. The other tip that Iwould say, as a wheelchair user,
especially, is make sure thatyou have transportation
available on the other end. SoI've been stuck in plenty of
airports where cabs weren'taccessible. Or they only had two
or three, I missed a flight oncebecause there was not an
accessible cab to get me back tothe airport in time. And so
(33:40):
usually, depending on where youare, there may be only two or
three accessible cabs or supershuttle any of that sort of
stuff we flew into Baltimore, Iwould if we got to the last
minute change on the flight wasinto a different area of DC. And
I ended up stuck in an airportuntil well after midnight that
night, because there was notransportation to get me to the
(34:00):
ER to the hotel that I wasstaying in. So be sure to plan
ahead. Again, we say that again.
But plan ahead on all of those.
So that way you know that you'renot going to be stuck when you
get there. And things I mean,I've traveled so on a trip to
New York, I've used a plane anda train, and a taxi, and a
ferry, and a subway, and a citybus all in one trip. And you
(34:28):
know most of them are accessibleand we just make it work. We've
actually used city buses inareas that maybe we wouldn't
have otherwise. But because Iwas with the group then it was
the easiest form oftransportation that we could hop
on and off of and it worked outgreat. So you know, just keep
your mind open. And we willintegrate bus schedules and
train schedules and all thethings and you get quite an
(34:50):
experience with it. So it's kindof fun.
Mollie Hernandez (34:53):
Yeah, when you live in rural Arkansas, and you
end up in like New York City orDC, where there's all these
forums have accessible publictransit. It's actually super
exciting. Like the world seemsso much bigger when you can hop
on subways and buses that thebest is that needle still
fascinating how they justthere's no steps, you can just
(35:13):
get right onto them. So yeah,it's fun. It's just it's a
liberating experience when whenthings are accessible.
Lani Jennings-Hall (35:23):
Thank you again, Jen and Molly and thank
you listeners. Traveling, takinga vacation or trip or, frankly,
just public transportation is aright for everyone. And sitting
at the edge of the beach whenyour family is playing in the
water, or not being able toaccess your room or even being
left in the airport without theappropriate escort is not the
full experience. You have theright to that full experience.
(35:46):
Make sure to advocate for yourrights shared on this series. Do
your research and don't forgetsome of the really cool perks
that are out there for you too.
At Disability Rights Arkansas,we envision an Arkansas where
people with disabilities areequal members in their
communities and can dictatetheir lives through self
determination. And as made clearin this podcast, you can't
(36:08):
create that change withoutbringing self advocates to the
table. If you are interested inmore information, make sure to
subscribe to this podcast andvisit our website. And don't
forget to leave a five starrating and a review.
At Disability Rights Arkansas, we
(00:13):
are focused on guidance forpeople with disabilities on how
to navigate your rights, thingsthat help with your everyday
life, and how to navigate thecomplex systems of how to get
the support you need. In thispodcast, Including You, we bring
that information directly toyou, the listener on things like
accessibility questions, careerand care, and even the nuances
(00:34):
of love life with a disability.
Everyone has the right to knowtheir rights, everyone,
Including You.
I'm your host, LaniJennings-Hall. I'm excited to be
back with part two of our travelseries with Jen Goodwin and
Mollie Hernandez. This timewe're back to talk about well,
really to start at the beginningwhere you stay and things to
(00:54):
consider when booking it,whether it's a hotel, Airbnb, or
VRBO. We're also highlightingsome great tips to be sure you
can truly be involved in yournext beach trip. Thank you, Jen
and Mollie, and welcome back toIncluding You.
(01:19):
You were talking about theAccess Pass. Those are at a lot
of different theme parks. Right.
This is not just solo to Disney,but there are a lot of these
theme parks offer some form ofAccess Pass.
Mollie Hernandez (01:29):
Yes, so I live with a group of thrill seekers.
So we hit a lot of theme parks.
Whenever you purchase yourtickets, you can always number
one, ask about if there are anydisability discounts, what we
refer to them as perks. So youcan ask that. And then when you
get into the park, if it's notavailable at the ticket counter,
usually you can go to GuestServices and request an ease of
(01:52):
access pass, because that iswhat makes getting on and off
some rides safer. Also, iteliminates waiting in line,
sometimes you get to move to thefront of the line. So which
that's huge. I mean, my kidshave no idea what it's like to
wait in these crazy long lines.
(02:14):
Depending on the park likeDisney, they now have Disney
Genie, which those are kind oflike for those of us in the days
of old the Fast Pass and stuff.
They're different things thatwork with phone apps, even your
access pass may work the sameway. It may work in conjunction
with those. So do your researchbeforehand about access passes
and getting into theme parks andhow you use them because they
(02:36):
are great. And it does very muchhelp from from just the actual
ease of getting on and off aride to that wait time being
reduced because depending onyour disability, you may not
have the stamina to wait in longlines in queue for a ride.
Lani Jennings-Hall (02:52):
While we're talking about passes, let's
let's kind of transition alittle bit to a different kind
of park. You know, your yournational parks or state parks.
There's the National Parks andFederal Recreational Lands
Access Pass is the full name ofit. I mean, there are seven I
think national parks in Arkansasalone. I mean, so just in
(03:12):
Arkansas, that's a really cool,a cool benefit. Y'all wanna talk
a little bit about that specificpass?
Mollie Hernandez (03:20):
So that pass, by my understanding, and Jen,
you may have to correct me, itallows you and anyone in your
car free access to the NationalPark. I think there are even
some discounts associated withthings within the park. But that
might vary park by park, so Iwould say do your research, but
you can get that pass at mostnational parks. I did read that
(03:43):
not all of them offer that pass.
But once you have the pass, it'sgood. But you can also request
it by mail or online. So it'sit's a great thing. It's a nice
perk.
Jen Goodwin (03:55):
Yeah, because I know I've been in some parks in
Arkansas where if you had thatpass, it just offered free
parking.
Mollie Hernandez (04:01):
With the Arkansas State Parks, you do get
a 50% discount on camping whichcan be quite substantial. And my
family has used that before. Youdo have to document that you
have a disability, or even ifyou use vocational
rehabilitation services, theycan provide documentation that
you have a disability. So it'snot just on your honor that
(04:23):
they're going to want somedocumentation for both the
national parks pass and stateparks. But once you have that
it's a really good thing to use.
And their wording on that, ofcourse working in the field of
disability advocacy, I'm alwaysinterested in how they word what
their definition of disabilityis. And I think it was something
like 100% completely andpermanently disabled you know,
which seemed very broad butanyhow, the they will tell you
(04:46):
what they need to be able toconfirm that you do have a
disability and you are properlyusing that access.
Lani Jennings-Hall (04:53):
While we're talking about you know parks and
Mollie Hernandez (04:54):
That's fantastic. And again, we live in
all this, let's just kind of, Imean Arkansas, obviously
Arkansas, which is where we'rerecording at currently has a lot
the natural state, and it'simportant that everyone have the
of assessible trails in general.
But there is a lot ofinformation out there that you
can find if they are accessibleopportunity to enjoy what our
state has to offer. So I'm gladspecifically for wheelchair
users. And then other ways too,I know I specifically use an app
(05:15):
called AllTrails. And you canfilter if the trail is
wheelchair accessible, you canto know that that's there. And
even the Video Preview, clearlyget a video tour of part of the
trails, you can get a typeddescription of what the trail
terrain is like, the difficultyand all that. And then of
course, reviews of the trail. SoI can't see the video. But that
would be great to be able toI know that's a pretty helpful
tool that's out there, there's afree and a paid version of that
(05:38):
that is is always helpful for uswhen we go hiking. And like I
said, there is that kind of,show to my family and say Hey,
check this out. Do you thinkthat filter that does have the
option for wheelchair accessibletrails as well.
this would be great? Boomerloves to hike, love, love loves
(06:03):
to hike. So we try and hit stateparks whenever we can to enjoy
those parts of our state.
Lani Jennings-Hall (06:19):
You and Boomer have taken many different
types of adventures. So let'stalk a little bit about the
National Sports Center for theDisabled.
Mollie Hernandez (06:29):
Yes, so I definitely want to give a shout
out to the National SportsCenter for the Disabled, they're
located in Colorado. I live witha family of snowboarders,
skiers, they love the snowsports. So by registering with
the National Sports Center forthe Disabled, their location in
Winter Park, Colorado, which isan amazing ski resort, I'm able
(06:50):
to participate in accessibleskiing. And they of course, they
work with me as a blind skier. Ido have a T-shirt that says
"World's Okay-ist Skier." Keepin mind, you do not have to be
skilled, they take you from thevery basics. And I've always
said as a parent with adisability, I've never wanted my
kids to feel like I'm a sidelineparent, like I'm going to be in
(07:13):
it with them. And when theystarted skiing and snowboarding
and loving it, I didn't want tobe just sitting fireside, some
days I do, but most of the timeI wanted to be out there with
them. So that program enabled meto go out there and be on the
slopes for them to say that momdid it too. But for me to just
be there with them and in themoment and have those family
(07:35):
pictures of four of my husbandmyself, my kids were all out
there. And then there's you cando the alpine skiing, you can do
cross country skiing, there's aton of stuff that you can do.
Boomer does not ski with me.
He'll hang out in the condowhile I'm doing that, but then
he enjoys lots of time justgetting to romp and play in the
snow when I'm not doing skisports. The National Sports
(07:57):
Center for the Disabled, theyalso have summer programs. So
I'm sure we'll have a link forthem to check them out because
there's summer hiking, mountainclimbing. So so many different
things, whitewater rafting,there's a lot of different
stuff. So check them out onlineand see what they have. If
you're more of an adventuroustype go, certainly check them
out and see if there's somethingthat would interest you.
Lani Jennings-Hall (08:23):
I will also add many people that plan their
vacations around races. Thereare many races that have a
special adapted division aswell. So if that is your thing,
definitely check that out aswell because many, many races
now have a special adaptivedivision that will have you
know, buddy runners, they'llhave a lot of different
additions.
Mollie Hernandez (08:44):
If you want to get into traveling and getting
into other accessible sportscompetitively. Check out
Achilles International. I'm kindof a fan. Sports travel is a big
thing. Both of my kids playtennis. My husband was and still
is a tennis player butUniversity tennis playing you
travel a lot connected to whatyour kids do and what they're
(09:06):
interested in. So therecertainly is an entire
discussion to be had aroundsports and travel.
Lani Jennings-Hall (09:13):
Jen I'm looking forward to the beach
vacation. Hit us with some tipsfor traveling to the beach.
Jen Goodwin (09:17):
So while Mollie is busy going and being sporty and
doing all of those things, I'mbusy going and relaxing and
playing with my kids in the sandand in the pool and that sort of
thing. No thanks on all theextra sporty time. So I did that
in high school and now I justlike to hang out and relax on my
Lani Jennings-Hall (09:35):
Didn't you jump out of a plane or something
vacations for the most partunless you have a fun roller
coaster and then I will jump onthat anytime possible. While I'm
there. I will say the questionsthat they asked you on if your
family or yourself would be ableto get you out of the car and
(09:56):
down the ladder if your rollercoaster is to get stopped always
make me giggle because I think Icheck the box and say yes, but
it's always no, you will callthe fire department.
as well? And they asked somesimilar wonky questions?
Jen Goodwin (10:16):
My jumping out of a plane was pre-injury. Yes, but I
do have friends that have goneskydiving post injury as well.
And yeah, it's always funny thequestions that we get asked, so
it's on my list, but maybe oncemy kids are grown.
Lani Jennings-Hall (10:31):
When you do, we'll do a podcast episode on
that. So we can hear all aboutthe experience of that.
Mollie Hernandez (10:36):
I did indoor skydiving. And what that taught
me was that if I ever actuallyhave to jump out of a plane, I'm
just taking it to the ground.
The pictures from that y'all. Ilooked like a cat just thrown in
the air. The rest of my familyhad that beautiful arched back
skydiver pose. You can see spitgoing up my goggles like I'm so
(10:56):
stiff. And it was like any othertouristy thing, because they
want to sell you the pictures ofit. And you're in like a group
of people. They had like, thepictures flashing up on a big
screen, so you could purchaseit. When mine came up all the
people, the strangers justlaughed. I was like, yeah, no,
we're not buying that picture.
It was kind of a sensorydeprivation thing. It's kind of
(11:18):
a big wind tunnel. Like theyhave jet engines that are very
loud, which essentially made medeaf blind. So that is that was
great. It was like they werelike, Oh, we got this. And
you're in like the wind suit. Imean, you you look the part that
the goggles and stuff and theywere like, Hey, we're going to
tap you one time to move yourleft arm or one time to move
your right, two times for yourright arm or whatever. It's
(11:39):
supposed to be a system of taps.
Since I couldn't follow anyphysical directions. I went in
there and lost my mind. I wasterrible. I want out I mean, you
should have seen me. I was allbut climbing the person that was
assisting me to like, get to thedoor and get out. It was it was
terrible. My family will not letme live it now. We were in
Houston this past weekend forthe Taylor Swift concert. And my
(12:01):
husband was like, Oh, lookindoor skydiving. And I was
like, yeah, no, never again.
Lani Jennings-Hall (12:09):
Your family bought the photo.
Mollie Hernandez (12:12):
There are videos that I have issued some
serious threats if they ever getleaked, like my husband has it
all well documented. And yeah,the drool that flew out of my
mouth and just stuck to theglasses, I think was the epic
part. I mean, just think of thecat thrown in the air. That was
my pose.
Lani Jennings-Hall (12:31):
So when you don't want to jump out of a
plane Jen, and you want tolounge on a beach?
Jen Goodwin (12:35):
Oh, I would absolutely do that. But that was
kind of my take on skydiving.
before my injury was I just feltlike my cheeks were flapping in
the wind. And I had tearsrunning up the side of my face
just not because I was cryingjust because my eyes are
watering and it was pouring upthe side. And then when the
strap hits your legs when youpull the chute and it's just not
(12:57):
comfortable. But I will say whenin Colorado, I tried to do the
Sky Coaster that they have overthe Royal Gorge Bridge. And I
was denied they told me that Ihad to have control of my legs
to be able to do that. I thinkthey just didn't want to take
the time to get me in theharness to make that happen. So
I was really disappointed. But Iwill say the rest of the park
(13:19):
there was pretty accessible. Andwe really enjoyed our time while
we were there. Except and thisstory just kind of makes me
giggle too. We got on thegondola which goes it's attached
through cable cars, and it's thecable car that goes across the
Royal Gorge Bridge, which isreally awesome, except we got to
the other side. And they decidedthat they needed to shut it down
(13:40):
because it was too windy. Soeveryone else that was on there,
were able to just walk acrossthe big bridge and get back to
safety on the other side. And sothey made me get off the gondola
while we got to an area wherethere were two steps. I'm in a
power wheelchair that's 400pounds, and there are no ramps.
And so I looked at the guys andI said okay, so are you going to
(14:03):
lift me down? No, I take thatback. I was in a manual
wheelchair. So I asked them ifthey would help lift me down
those stairs so that I could getback down and around and they
told me know that that would bea safety hazard. So instead,
they just put me back on thegondola with my family with a 30
plus mile per hour winds.
(14:25):
Everyone else went back the safeway and then my family and I
took the gondola in the wind. Soa new take on Gone With the
Wind, I guess. So. That's whereI get my thrills these days, I
guess. But it was good time. Androller coasters too. The first
time I got on an upside downroller coaster. I was headed
(14:46):
straight up when my legs startedcoming at me. And I looked at
the person who was riding withme and he looked at me and he
said, Oh my gosh, what are wegoing to do with your legs? And
I said, Well, let's pray.
Dear Jesus if I fall out of thisroller coaster, I'll see you in
a few minutes, Love you, Jen.
And we finished the ride, I'mpretty sure he was hanging on to
(15:09):
me like Tarzan by the time wegot to the end, and he had tears
coming out his face, and I justhad a blast. And that started my
love for roller coasters, evenpostinjury. I am definitely a
beach creature even now forsure. But sand and wheelchairs
are not a great combination, gofigure. So oftentimes, we've got
a few options. And we've triedmultiple different things over
(15:31):
the years. So the condo that myfamily and Diane, it actually
has a really nice boardwalk thatgoes like halfway down to the
beach with a ramp at the end ofthat, but you get to the end,
and you're just in solid sand,even at that point and a long
way away from both the beachchairs and the water. So while
the ramp is really nice to have,it's still not going to get me
(15:54):
to where I need to be. So thereare a couple different options,
this condo actually does providesome power beach wheelchairs,
which are fantastic. They justhave big wheels on them, and
then they have power. So ittakes a little like I said
before, there's always alearning curve when you're in a
new chair. So with that, when Ikind of end up jumping back and
forth and flipping in a littlebackwards that it's got to be
(16:17):
bars, it's fine. But the problemwith that is that usually even
though they're free, people endup using them and they're not
available. So the other optionthere is to rent a power beach
chair or a manual beach chairthat can be manually pushed in
the sand as well. Both of thosejust have larger tires on them
to allow them to go over thesand.
Lani Jennings-Hall (16:38):
I read an article recently of the new
wheelchairs that you can likebasically take off roading. I
don't know if that's likeexactly what they're termed, but
like they can go on some of themore treacherous hike is a
Jen Goodwin (16:47):
Are those type chairs like where they have the
little bit more rough hikes, Iguess.
track on them? Or do they havelarger wheels,
Lani Jennings-Hall (16:59):
I wasn't sure I didn't know if they were
like the same or not.
Jen Goodwin (17:02):
No, usually the ones that you're gonna get, they
just have a little bit biggertires, these are like almost
balloon tires. So they're reallybig. I mean, we're talking
probably almost a foot wide onthe tires. And they're real
soft. And they're madespecifically for this land. And
they're made to where they canget wet to some degree, you
know, assist the merge the powerin the water at all. But you can
(17:25):
get real close to the water andyou know, get up there where
everyone's sticking their feetin the water. So anyway, those
are pretty cool. The other thingthat I found, and if you happen
to be in Arkansas, then youshould check them out from iCan,
because they actually have theseavailable now for you. It's
called Access track. And so theycome in sets of three and the
(17:45):
mats are probably three feet bythree feet. And so then you get
like a nine foot track. And sowhat they are is they are
plastic mats that have holes inthem, but you lay them out in
the sand so that your chair canactually go over them. And you
need at least two sets of thembecause you will down the three
(18:06):
and then you pick up the setbehind it and put it in front.
And so you're kind of building aroad for yourself. And when I
say for yourself, I mean someoneis helping you with that. So
usually my family will carry twosets of those down to the beach
as well. So that way I can getto the beach chair or whatever,
if we don't pay for one of thebeach chairs there. So that way,
(18:27):
I'll just take a manual chairand can actually get out to you
know, one of the standard beachchairs or to the water that way
without having all the extraexpense because those beach
chairs, if they are providedfree through the condo or
through the public beach thatyou're going to then they end up
being like $100 a day. And so itgets to be really expensive. And
you're paying for that whetherit's raining or whatever, and
(18:49):
you don't even go to the beachthat day. So I usually leave
that expense out because a lotof times I am a pool girl and I
don't need all of that extratrouble to be able to get out
there and my kids play in thepool as much as they play in the
oceans so but I never want tomiss out on the trip actually
being down at the sand andinvolved with my kids. And with
my family. I want to be outthere and involved as much as
(19:10):
possible. So always make atleast one or two trips down to
the sand on every trip thatwe're on some beaches I will say
now and these are really reallyawesome if you can find them.
I've seen them in VirginiaBeach, they had the boardwalk
but then at certain accesspoints on the boardwalk they
actually have a ramp that goesall the way down to the water.
And so it's made for people withall different mobility issues or
(19:32):
able bodied people as well to beable to you know, pull your
stroller or whatever you havedown to the sand and they're
really handy to have as well. Sobe sure to look for those.
Lani Jennings-Hall (19:41):
One of the biggest tips I feel like I've
heard reiterate a lot is doingyour research. You know what's
what's available to you inadvance, do you need to reserve
and I think this comes rightinto play with hotels, Airbnb,
condos, wherever you're stayingall of it entails doing your
research. Mollie, do you want totalk a little bit about when
your last experiences withAirbnb?
Mollie Hernandez (20:02):
For those of us with disabilities, depending
on the disability, it can bevery beneficial number one to
book an accessible room, they'renot as easy to find if you're
looking for condos and homes tobe able to find accessible. And
on our last trip to go skiingactually, I told my husband, I
was like, You know what we'regoing to be in a condo, so we're
(20:23):
gonna have more space, I don'tsee that we need to look for
accessible when I go to a hotel,I typically look for an
accessible room, it does nothave to be wheelchair
accessible, and Jen willprobably talk a little bit more
about that, because there is adifference, I don't need a roll
in shower. But I do need extraspace to accommodate the fact
(20:44):
that I may have a dog crate,I'll definitely have a dog, a
feeding station, you know, justthat little bit of extra room
helps not only accommodate thedog, but I'm at a heightened
risk of walking into the cornersof furniture in an unfamiliar
environment, leaning over in acrowded area and really busting
my head open. So I do alwayslook for accessible rooms with
(21:06):
hotels just for those reasons.
However, this last time, I waslike, don't look for accessible
condos, that'll be bigger than ahotel room. And we truly weren't
thinking because we got there.
And it was on a second floorwith an outside staircase, you
know, things that we justweren't thinking about, you
know, I can manage stairswithout a problem inside. But in
(21:28):
this case, it was a ton of snow.
The staircases were kind ofmetal with a little bit of grip
texture that I really worriedabout my dog's paws with so then
it was a case of making sure mydog had his boots on. And when
you're living in the South, it'sa little different remembering
how to work a dog in the snowwhen you're not used to that and
having the traction and stuff.
(21:51):
So it was a simple mistake onour part, we were like, the
floorplan of this condo looksgood. We didn't think about
stairs being outside andnavigating in the snow. So
definitely do your research.
Regardless of what yourdisability is, you may have
different needs than once you'reout of your home that you want
to look at accommodating.
Jen Goodwin (22:12):
And speaking of accessible rooms, for sure, you
know, oftentimes pre injury, Iwould always booked through one
of the secondary travel sites,so Priceline, Expedia, something
like that. And whenever I wasnewly injured, they didn't have
an option to get an accessibleroom. And, you know, I felt like
it was unfair for me to not getthe travel discounts that other
people would get. But wheneverI'd call the hotel, they
(22:35):
couldn't necessarily guaranteeand the travel sites say that
they can't guaranteeaccessibility. So I would always
call the hotel as soon as Ibooked that trip to make sure
that they had an accessible roomavailable. So now they have
gotten a lot better to wheremost of the secondary sites also
allow you to book a specificroom based on your accessibility
needs. But usually, I will goahead and call the hotel myself
(22:58):
just to confirm I want to makesure they have a note on my
reservation and let them knowthat it is legit. And then I
need it because I think thatthere are a lot of people who
have inadvertently got put in anaccessible room. They're like,
Oh, wow, this is their, this isgreat, I'm always going to book
an accessible room from then on.
And so that takes theavailability away for me because
there's just a few of themavailable. And I truly have to
(23:19):
have that to be able to get intothe rooms sometimes. I've been
to hotels where the bathroomdoor was not wide enough for my
chair to get in a standard room.
So I had to have an accessibleroom at one point, I went for
role on Capitol Hill. And soeverybody that was there for the
conference, we were all chairusers. And so they ran out of
(23:41):
accessible room. So I was like,Well, my mom's gonna be with me,
we've navigated all kinds ofdifferent, inaccessible places,
we'll be fine. But then we foundout that the door wasn't wide
enough for my chair to getthrough. But in that conference,
the hotel staff came and tookthe door off the hinges to allow
me to get into it. So you know,it was blocking the tub area at
(24:02):
that point. And I do need a rollin shower. And so those are the
things that I really have tolook for to make sure that not
only is this thing, somethingthat I can roll under, but the
shower is something that I canget in and out of and that they
have a good shower chair for meto sit on, so that I don't have
to bring my own. So those areall concerns that I have
whenever booking but Idefinitely recommend calling the
hotel ahead of time again, itgoes back to just being
(24:24):
prepared. And this is comingfrom the girl who used to book
my travel in the car when I wasgoing from city to city and I
was headed to the hotel now it'stotally different and I have to
plan usually months in advanceto make sure that everything's
gonna be accessible. And thensometimes I get there and I've
thrown everything that I saidout the window and then I put on
(24:45):
my disability attorney hat againand make sure that I know that I
know my rights. So in thosecases, I have been transferred
to another hotel, maybe a sisterproperty that they've had so
that they had an accessible roomwhenever they had given away the
last thing accessible room,because even though you book it,
if you get there later thansomebody else's who asks for a
specific room, then a lot oftimes they'll take your room.
(25:08):
And so that happens a lot. We'vebeen in those situations, and
it's very frustrating. But forthe most part, they're usually
very accommodating. I've alsogotten upgrades in those
situations where they'veupgraded my family to mislead
or, you know, whatever to beaccommodating. So, you know,
there are perks, As Molliementioned before that have come
with it. And I always take thosewhen I get them because there's
enough to weed throughotherwise,
Lani Jennings-Hall (25:30):
I will definitely kind of reiterate
what you were saying Jen ofbeing very, very specific,
because when someone at a hotelhears an assessable room, they
may not, as you guys havepointed out, know the difference
to differentiate the two. Sobeing very specific, and
continue to advocate foryourself, because a lot of times
I'm learning it's, it's just alack of knowledge, they may not
understand that, oh, there doesneed to be a grab bar here, or,
(25:54):
Oh, I can't get my chairunderneath this sink, or, okay,
well, your assessable bathroomsare closed off, I need that
option. And so it's really justcommunicating, I feel like in a
lot of instances that instanding like, like advocating
for yourself, okay, these arethe things that I have to have.
Mollie Hernandez (26:14):
The same thing goes for service animals
checking into the properties,let them know it's a service
animal. Unfortunately, there isa lot of exploitation of using
service animals where people aresaying, service animal, it's
really not, it's they just wantto be able to get their pet in
for free. So check your fees,make sure you're not being
(26:34):
charged a room deposit or a petdeposit, that you're not being
charged an additional fee foryou know, having had a pet in
the room a cleaning fee. Soalways make sure of that. But I
will say be very clear aboutyour service animal. I never
take offense, when someone fromthe hotel says is that a service
(26:56):
animal, I'm not going to makethem fish it out of me, I'll say
this is a seeing eye dog, I amblind, he is trying to guide me.
I give them all the information.
So they don't have to feel likeyou're having to pull that all
out of me they have the right toask two questions. Is it a
service animal? And what servicehas he been trained to perform?
I give that upfront because,again, it's something they need
to know in order to properlyaccommodate me, I'm still not
(27:19):
totally clear on where the lawsfall for Airbnb, because these
are privately owned byindividuals. So in our
experience with Airbnb, or VRBO,we've told them upfront because
I have had a fear that an ownerbecause it's a private owner
would say, No, we're not doingthat we don't do pets of any
kind. Even though he's not apet, I always let them know. And
(27:40):
they'd been great, but I justnever wanted to get to a
property and then suddenly nothave a place to stay because I
didn't disclose that there wasan animal, I feel like they have
to comply with ADA. Even thoughit's technically owned by a
private person, they arecontracting with a greater
business at large to run outtheir properties. But to be on
(28:01):
the safe side, check, you know,inform them, I try not to
surprise anyone that a big dogis going to be on their
property.
Jen Goodwin (28:11):
I always like to add to be nice too. I have found
that going in nice and justasking questions and just
explaining what your needsreally gets you a long way. Like
I said, I've been upgraded in alot of situations, and it just
comes from being kind first. Andsometimes there's room for
stepping up your game a littlebit when you have to. But if you
(28:32):
can be nice on the front end,it's going to take you a long
way.
Mollie Hernandez (28:35):
Yes. And it honestly will pave the way for
someone who comes after you. Ifsomeone's had a great
experience. Like for me, ifthey've had a great experience
with my guide dog, then I knowthey're not going to give a lot
of problems for the next personthat needs to come with a
service animal.
Lani Jennings-Hall (28:50):
Sometimes if they absolutely just didn't
know, I've run into this, insome instances with events,
planning events, the person at ahotel or something just they
just didn't know not that that'sa you know, a great excuse. It's
just an opportunity to educateat that point. And then ideally
they can they're going to makeit right, that doesn't always
happen. But again, it does itfirst put on the kindness hat
(29:11):
and educate where you can andhopefully it'll be made better.
Jen Goodwin (29:16):
A little tip for traveling in hotels, especially
if you're going to be travelingalone to and we do it with my
family all the time, but webring like power cords and we
bring power strips with usbecause a lot of times I
recently stayed in a hotel bymyself and I got there and
realized that I couldn't reachany of the outlets you know they
were bus behind the bedsidetable and I needed to plug my
(29:38):
chair in for the night and knowthat I wouldn't have access to
that. So luckily I knew somebodywith me and they were able to go
in and plug stuff in for me butI wouldn't have been able to
plug it in again. So I had apower strip that was you know,
put in a position where I couldreach it. So that's just a tip
that we've learned along the waybut also if you do get in a
situation and you are alone,they feel free to ask the hotel
(29:59):
staff or someone to come up andhelp. They don't mind doing
stuff like that as long asthey're not busy and the only
person working there so butPowerStrips are definitely your
friend when traveling and hoteland you got lots of things to
plug in.
Lani Jennings-Hall (30:13):
Let's wrap up this segment with travel tips
with Jen and Mollie. Do y'allhave any kind of general travel
tips that you would like ourlisteners to hear?
Mollie Hernandez (30:23):
My favorite one and this is as a mom
traveling with children and ahusband packing. So I'm blind
and you know coordinating allthose outfits and making sure
everyone has everything theyneed for every day that you're
traveling. We started when mychildren were very, very young
buying depending on if we weretraveling with winter gear or
(30:45):
summer gear gallon, two gallonziplock bags. And I would we
create assembly lines with theclothes because keep in mind, if
we just started unpackingsuitcases, the moment you open a
suitcase, it's not wellorganized, who knows what I'm
wearing, who knows what thechildren would be wearing. So
we'd start in assembly line of,you know, shirt, pants, socks,
(31:06):
underwear, you know, whateveryou need, put it in a Ziploc
bag, and then it's kind of cool,because it becomes a space
saver, you squish all the airout to seal it up. When the kids
were little, I'd let them youknow, really draw on design on
their bags, so they knew it wastheirs. And you know, then I
would say okay, we're gonna begone for seven days, does
everyone have at least sevenoutfits. And that way, when they
(31:28):
come out of the shower, or youknow, wake up in the morning,
I'd be like, Okay, here's yourbag, get get dressed. And it was
just for me a great way to stayorganized as a blind mom, make
sure everyone had their clothespacked. And they had enough. And
you know, to this day, now Idon't have to do it as much, you
know, my kids are grown. And ifyou're having to repeat outfits,
it's your own fault. You hadplenty of mourning, and you can
(31:49):
count. So share it into thisday. She's 15 She still loves
that, that way of packing. Yeah,whenever we pull out our
suitcases, you know, she waslooking for the baggies to make
sure she can do her outfits thatway. I do it too. So now that's
my tip.
Lani Jennings-Hall (32:06):
I love that.
I'm so using this for the aregoing to the beach this summer,
I'm thinking my my toddler isthree and she loves she has to
pick out her own clothes, Ithink that's such a good idea to
get her involved in the packingand then my husband so he can
pack his own clothes.
Mollie Hernandez (32:20):
Yes, oh, it has been the best best travel
strategy I've had. So with orwithout disability, it's,
especially with younger ones, itjust keeps it organized.
Jen Goodwin (32:33):
And I would say the same thing with travel
documents. So whenever I'mbooking a trip, I always make
sure that I'm printing out likeI always, you know, have it all
on my phone. But I like to havea paper copy in case heaven
forbid I lose my phone orelectronics go down whatever
happens. But that way I get oneof the clear cover folders that
(32:53):
just has a clip on the side toclip all the papers in. But I
have a copy of all of my hotelinformation, all of my flight
information, when we get ourboarding passes, I stick it
right in there. And I'm able toclip it in. So that way I have
you know, if I'm going on a worktrip, it's got the conference
schedule in it. So I knowexactly where I need to be and
when I need to be there forthat. So that's one of the tips
(33:16):
there. The other tip that Iwould say, as a wheelchair user,
especially, is make sure thatyou have transportation
available on the other end. SoI've been stuck in plenty of
airports where cabs weren'taccessible. Or they only had two
or three, I missed a flight oncebecause there was not an
accessible cab to get me back tothe airport in time. And so
(33:40):
usually, depending on where youare, there may be only two or
three accessible cabs or supershuttle any of that sort of
stuff we flew into Baltimore, Iwould if we got to the last
minute change on the flight wasinto a different area of DC. And
I ended up stuck in an airportuntil well after midnight that
night, because there was notransportation to get me to the
(34:00):
ER to the hotel that I wasstaying in. So be sure to plan
ahead. Again, we say that again.
But plan ahead on all of those.
So that way you know that you'renot going to be stuck when you
get there. And things I mean,I've traveled so on a trip to
New York, I've used a plane anda train, and a taxi, and a
ferry, and a subway, and a citybus all in one trip. And you
(34:28):
know most of them are accessibleand we just make it work. We've
actually used city buses inareas that maybe we wouldn't
have otherwise. But because Iwas with the group then it was
the easiest form oftransportation that we could hop
on and off of and it worked outgreat. So you know, just keep
your mind open. And we willintegrate bus schedules and
train schedules and all thethings and you get quite an
(34:50):
experience with it. So it's kindof fun.
Mollie Hernandez (34:53):
Yeah, when you live in rural Arkansas, and you
end up in like New York City orDC, where there's all these
forums have accessible publictransit. It's actually super
exciting. Like the world seemsso much bigger when you can hop
on subways and buses that thebest is that needle still
fascinating how they justthere's no steps, you can just
(35:13):
get right onto them. So yeah,it's fun. It's just it's a
liberating experience when whenthings are accessible.
Lani Jennings-Hall (35:23):
Thank you again, Jen and Molly and thank
you listeners. Traveling, takinga vacation or trip or, frankly,
just public transportation is aright for everyone. And sitting
at the edge of the beach whenyour family is playing in the
water, or not being able toaccess your room or even being
left in the airport without theappropriate escort is not the
full experience. You have theright to that full experience.
(35:46):
Make sure to advocate for yourrights shared on this series. Do
your research and don't forgetsome of the really cool perks
that are out there for you too.
At Disability Rights Arkansas,we envision an Arkansas where
people with disabilities areequal members in their
communities and can dictatetheir lives through self
determination. And as made clearin this podcast, you can't
(36:08):
create that change withoutbringing self advocates to the
table. If you are interested inmore information, make sure to
subscribe to this podcast andvisit our website. And don't
forget to leave a five starrating and a review.
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