World Report on Disability - The Travel Chain

The World Health Organization (2011) has produced an extensive research report on disability, which reviews evidence about the situation of people with disabilities around the world. It draws together the most recent sources to present a comprehensive overview of the major areas that affect the lives of people with disability. The report consists of 10 chapters including:

• Introduction
• Understanding Disability
• Disability - the global picture
• Genera health care
• Rehabilitation
• Assistance and support
• Enabling environments
• Education
• Work and Employment
• Recommendations

Interestingly, addresses many of the key concepts discussed in the blog including constraints and barriers to participation, universal design and market dynamics but the report does not mention tourism specifically. It does, however, draw attention to United Nations’ (2006) Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and how the articles relate to the importance of participation in all areas of citizenship. While it could be argued that the key chapters discussed in the report cumulatively provide a guide for developing accessible destinations, there is no doubt that the overriding priority of the report in ensuring that all people with disability have accessible environments, services and attitudes in their place of residence. Of course, once this has been completed for local residents, then the same local areas become accessible to tourists with disability visiting the areas.

With regard to travel, the report discusses the concept of the "travel chain" that is defined as

The “travel chain” refers to all elements that make up a journey, from starting point to destination – including the pedestrian access, the vehicles, and the transfer points. If any link is inaccessible, the entire trip becomes difficult (81). Many mass transit providers, particularly in developing countries, have implemented accessibility only partially, for example by providing a limited number of accessible vehicles on each route, making improvements only to the main stations, and providing access only on new lines. Without accessibility throughout the travel chain, the job is incomplete. Inaccessible links require taking an indirect route, creating the barrier of longer travel times. The goal must be for people to have access to all vehicles and the full service area, as well as the pedestrian environment (82). But progressive realization may be the most practical short-term response (WHO 2011, p.179).

Photo 1: Blog Author Simon Darcy boarding low floor accessible bus that forms an important part of the "travel chain" since their introduction in many countries since the late 1990s (© Fiona Darcy 2000)

Photo 1 shows a low floor accessible bus that is one part of a "travel chain" that also needs to be supported by for example accessible timetables, continuous pathways, tactile ground surface indicators and disability awareness trained bus drivers to name a few. In recognising the inherent pragmatism required to ensure the travel chain, this report together with the World Health Organization (2007) Global Age Friendly Cities, provides an impetus for nations and city states to meaningfully address the disability and ageing issues through creating sustainable approaches to these issues as part of addressing disability citizenship across all areas of social participation. The World Health Organization documents can be used to provide a foundation for providing a global understanding within local contexts and to draw the attention of those who are resisting the addressing of these issues. The document concludes by asking three questions that need to be addressed in a policy context: What do we know about people with disabilities?; What are the disabling barriers? And. How are the lives of people with disabilities affected?. In conclusion, the report makes nine recommendations:

·        enable access to all mainstream policies, systems and services;

·        invest in specific programs and services for people with disabilities;

·        adopt a National disability strategy and plan of action;

·        involve people with disabilities;

·        improved human resource capacity;

·        provide adequate funding and improve affordability;

·        increased public awareness and understanding of disability;

·        improve disability data collection; and

·        strengthen and support research on disability.

Interestingly in my own first major report, Anxiety to Access (Darcy, 1998), these recommendations are not dissimilar and provide a sound blueprint for improving travel and tourism industry approaches to disability, access and accessible tourism.

References  

Darcy, S. (1998). Anxiety to access: tourism patterns and experiences of New South Wales people with a physical disability (pp. 76). Sydney: Tourism New South Wales. http://corporate.tourism.nsw.gov.au/Anxiety_to_Access_p783.aspx

United Nations. (2006). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. New York http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/convtexte.htm: United Nations General Assembly A/61/611 - 6 December 2006.

World Health Organization. (2007). Global Age-friendly Cities Guide from http://www.who.int/ageing/age_friendly_cities/en/index.html

World Health Organization, & World Bank. (2011). World Report on Disability, from http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/report/en/index.html

  

Embodiment in the disabling built-environment: an experience of daily life in Thailand

In another excellent contribution by a recently completed Ph.D. and Architecture Lecturer, Antika Sawadsri (2010) (Photo 1), we are provided with a compelling examination of the embodied challenges of a disabling built environment on a person's daily life in Thailand. In drawing on the rich body of knowledge from the geographies of disability (see Gleeson, 1999), the thesis creates a compelling understanding of social rather than medicalised approaches to understanding disabling environments and the impact upon an individual's citizenship. An abstract of an article is provided with permission from the author.

Photo 1: The researcher - Antika Sawadsri

Abstract

The approach to the inaccessibility of the built environment for disabled people in academic research has been heavily focused on legislating for access requirements and providing technical solutions. The spatial experiences of disabled people tend to be disregarded or taken as a peripheral form of knowledge. This article draws on an in-depth study of the lived experience of one wheelchair-using volunteer. It reveals that the majority of the physical and psychological difficulties encountered by disabled people are the result of inaccessible environments rather than their impairment. There is a need to understand the built environments of disabled people by regarding different forms of negotiating with a disabling environment, acquiring capital, the social agency of disabled people as well as attitudes towards them and discriminatory constructions.

Keywords: Spatial experience, disabling environment, lived experience, disabled people, agency for change

One of the strengths of the research was an understanding of how Turn, the individual the thesis is based on, negotiates accessibility to challenge the disabling nature of their local environments. One such example, was where upon discussing the access challenges that the Turn was facing, the local neighbours collaboratively got together to remove parts of the disabling streetscape to provide a continuous pathway. Photo 1 is an example from the thesis of Turn's ongoing process of negotiation that is indicative of people with disability's continual negotiation of accessibility on a daily basis.

Photo 2 The place where the street hump in Tum's village was removed on her behalf by neighbours

I am conscious that a great deal of the research and literature on accessible tourism is only from the English-speaking world and I implore readers of this blog to encourage researchers from non-English-speaking countries to submit English language abstracts so that we can promote their research and get a better cross-cultural understanding of the embodied nature of disabling environments. Congratulations Antika!

Readers can contact Antika on antika@gmail.com

Lecturer, School of Architecture

King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Thailand

References

Gleeson, B. (1999). Geographies of Disability. London: Routledge.

Sawadsri, A. (2010). Accessibility and Disability in the Built Environment: negotiating the public realm in Thailand. Doctor of Philosophy, Newcastle University, Newcastle.  

Attitudes within accessible tourism research - tourism, customer service and hospitality

As outlined in the blog entry on leisure constraint theory, Smith’s (1987) the seminal work identified attitudinal barriers as a central constraint to accessible tourism. Darcy and Buhalis (2011) extend constraints through an understanding of social model approaches to disability, where 'hostile social attitudes’ are identified together with the disabling environments as foundation considerations for understanding the lived experience of people with disability. A great deal of research has been undertaken in the area of behaviour and attitudes towards disability across many industry sectors (Antonak & Livneh, 2000; Finkelstein, 1980). The importance of attitudes within accessible tourism is central to a customer service orientated industry (Buhalis & Darcy, 2011).

This is certainly borne out in the hotel accommodation sector, where Darcy (2010) identifies that across all disability groups a 'can-do customer service attitude’ is valued as part of the top five considerations for staying at a particular hotel. Within interviews for this research, it was suggested that while some hotel accommodation may not provide the level of access that a person requires, if the customer service attitude is right then adjustments to rooms are possible to make them workable for the individuals involved. As Darcy’s research suggests, good environmental design shown in Photo 1 needs to be reinforced through staff training about inclusive practices for people with disability to create a welcoming and hospitable service environment.

Photo 1: Height adjusted table provided for workshop participants - hotel staff provided a range of adjustments to ensure the smooth running of a disability related workshop at a major Sydney hotel  - Participants and research team from left to right: Peter Simpson, Greg Killeen, Bruce Cameron, Simon Darcy, George Laszuk, Glenn Bennett  & Emma Wong (© Fiona Darcy 2007)

Yet, as Groschl’s (2007) study concluded that in a review of human resource polices and practices in Canadian hotels identified no best human resource management practices regarding disability. Groschl further suggested that manager perceptions of people with disability were coloured by an industry discourse of aesthetics and self-presentation that adversely affected people with disability's chances of employment. This reinforced previous research that suggested that tourism marketing managers 'camouflaged' their true attitudes towards people with disability to provide a politically correct organisational response (G. A. Ross, 1994). This type of discrimination was further reinforced by a study on the ethics of treatment of people with disability by students studying tourism and hospitality (G. F. Ross, 2004).

The importance of a well structured measures to assess attitude toward and the delivery of disability awareness training across industry sectors is well established (Antonak & Livneh, 2000; Chan, Livneh, Pruett, Wang, & Zheng, 2009; Finkelstein, 1980). Daruwalla & Darcy (2005) study of tourism and hospitality students, and employees of a tourism marketing organisation examined the affect of disability awareness training on personal and societal attitudes towards disability. Their study suggested that personal attitudes were much harder to change than societal attitudes. Further, there is a greater impact to training when the intervention involves people with disability that could be considered the peer of those being trained. However, the effect of the training dissipates with time unless reinforced through workplace practices.

A new contribution to this area is the work of the Bizjak, Knezevic, & Cvetreznik (2011) titled Attitude change towards guests with disabilities: Reflections From Tourism Students. The paper identifies that no tourism based curriculum within Slovenia includes modules on people with disabilities as tourists. The method they employed involved designing an experiment to test whether attitudes towards disabilities could be changed through education interventions. They used a semantic differential scale to measure the changes in student attitude towards people with disability through a short education program and sessions about people with disability.

Abstract: (restricted to 10% of abstract due to copyright)…In our experiment, it was shown that the process of changing perception of tourism students towards people with disabilities was relatively simple…a range of topics on the disabled have the potential to improve attitudes of students towards people with disabilities as tourists.

Keywords: people with disabilities, tourism education, semantic differential, attitude change. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

References

Antonak, R. F., & Livneh, H. (2000). Measurement of attitudes towards persons with disabilities. Disability and Rehabilitation, 22(5), 211-224.

Bizjak, B., Knezevic, M., & Cvetreznik, S. (2011). Attitude change towards guests with disabilities: Reflections From Tourism Students. Annals of Tourism Research, 38(3), 842-857. doi: 10.1016/j.annals.2010.11.017

Buhalis, D., & Darcy, S. (Eds.). (2011). Accessible Tourism: Concepts and Issues. Bristol, UK: Channel View Publications.

Chan, F., Livneh, H., Pruett, S. R., Wang, C. C., & Zheng, L. X. (2009). Societal attitudes toward disability: Concepts, measurements, and interventions. In F. Chan, H. Livneh, S. R. Pruett, C.-C. Wang & L. X. Zheng (Eds.), Understanding psychosocial adjustment to chronic illness and disability: A handbook for evidence-based practitioners in rehabilitation. (pp. 333-367). New York, NY.: Springer Publishing Co.

Darcy, S. (2010). Inherent complexity: Disability, accessible tourism and accommodation information preferences. Tourism Management, 31(6), 816-826.

Darcy, S., & Buhalis, D. (2011). Chapter 2 - Conceptualising Disability: Medical, Social, WHO ICF, Dimensions and Levels of Support Needs. In D. Buhalis & S. Darcy (Eds.), Accessible Tourism: Concepts and Issues (pp. 21-44). Bristol, UK: Channel View Publications.

Daruwalla, P. S., & Darcy, S. (2005). Personal and Societal Attitudes to Disability. Annals of Tourism Research, 32(3), 549-570.

Finkelstein, V. (1980). Attitudes and disabled people: Issues for discussion: International Exchange of Information in Rehabilitation.

Gröschl, S. (2007). An exploration of HR policies and practices affecting the integration of persons with disabilities in the hotel industry in major Canadian tourism destinations. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 26(3), 666-686. doi: DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2006.05.007

Ross, G. A. (1994). Attitudes Towards The Disabled In Destination Marketing Organizations (Marketing Organizations).  Ph.D. Thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.  

Ross, G. F. (2004). Ethics, trust and expectations regarding the treatment of disabled staff within a tourism/hospitality industry context International Journal of Hospitality Management 23(5), 523-544.

Smith, R. (1987). Leisure of disabled tourists: barriers to participation. Annals of Tourism Research, 14(3), 376-389.

Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games - a foundation for destination development

Previous posts on the blog have examined the possible contribution of Olympic and Paralympic games to accessible tourism development. In particular, the recent Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games identified tourism and accessible tourism as one of five identified disability legacies (2010 Legacies Now, 2010a, 2010b). There is a growing body of literature on the specifics of Paralympic legacy, which is being brought together in an edited collection by Legg and Gilbert in The Paralympic Games: Legacy and Regeneration (2011).

A media release from the International Paralympic Committee identifies the tremendous spotlight that an international mega event can bring to host cities and countries (International Paralympic Committee, 2011). Disability and access are part of the operational partnership between the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee that host cities are required to address. There is a very strong Australian connection between the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the International Paralympic Committee in what was described as the Benchmark Games (Cashman & Darcy, 2008). Photo 1 shows one of the lasting legacies of the Sydney Games, the inclusions for mobility and vision sports spectator facilities at the Sydney Olympic Stadium (now ANZ Stadium), Sydney Olympic Park.

Photo 1: Accessible seats & tactile ground surface indicators at  ANZ Stadium (© Fiona Darcy 2000)

As the media release identifies the delegation included the Vice President Greg Hartung, who at the time of the Sydney Games was the President of the Australian Paralympic Committee, and the CEO of the IPC Xavier Gonzales, who at the time of the Sydney Games was the Sydney Paralympic Organising Committee’s General Manager Sport and Games Operations. The international spotlight the IPC focuses on the host city offers an opportunity to leverage the games into an opportunity for an accessible destination of the future. We already know from previous entries that some excellent work is being done in Brazil on the accessibility of airports through the Masters by research project of Rafael Teixeira de Castro.

There are a number of groups who are working towards this goal through the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic specialist groups involving people with disability and tourism. A very active group of professionals can be found on LinkedIn through subgroup forums. The importance of the strategic planning for the Rio 2016 Games, the integration of disability and access, and the future leverage for accessible tourism is needed now to make sure that it moves beyond potential to a reality after 2016. I wish Rio the best in these endeavours.

International Paralympic committee media release 16 June 2011

IPC Complete Week of Meetings in Rio, Brazil

An International Paralympic Committee (IPC) delegation including Vice President Greg Hartung, Chief Executive Officer Xavier Gonzalez and Paralympic Games Senior Manager Thanos Kostopoulos has concluded a week of activity in the Brazilian capital of Rio de Janeiro to see how preparations are going for the 2016 Paralympic Games.

Hartung is a member of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Co-ordination Commission for the Rio 2016 Games which met for second time in Rio to observe the progress made so far.

This included meetings with government officials, venue tours and updates from the Organizing Committee's in different areas. The Co-ordination Commission was also updated on preparations for the Paralympic Games.

Following the conclusion of the IOC's Co-ordination Commission, the IPC held an Executive Project Review with Rio 2016 on Friday 10 June.

The Organizing Committee presented to the IPC their plans on different areas including Rio 2016 organizational structure and its focus on the planning of the Paralympic Games. Sport and venues updates were also given after the inclusion of two new sports (Para-Triathlon and Para-Canoe) in the Paralympic Sport programme as well as the progress on the development of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games emblem which will be launched later this year.

Another important part of the visit was the progress reports from all levels of Government which made clear of the intention to leave a long and lasting legacy for people with an impairment in Rio after the Games.

Xavier Gonzalez said: "A lot of progress has been made since the last time we met which is extremely encouraging and I'd like to thank Rio 2016 President Carlos Nuzman and his team for their continued hard work. 

"One area which we are particularly excited about is the launch of the Paralympic Games emblem.

"The emblem will gain national and international exposure and will be the symbol of the event. It needs to have the right look and feel for the Games and feature the Agitos, the symbol of the Paralympic Movement. We are confident the final design will achieve this."

The Rio 2016 Paralympic Games will take place 7-18 September 2016 and will consist of 22 sporting events. For further information, please visit www.rio2016.com

References

2010 Legacies Now. (2010a). Accessible Tourism Strategy: accessibility rating icon guidelines business   Retrieved from http://www.2010legaciesnow.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Accessible_Tourism/Brand_Standard-Business.pdf

2010 Legacies Now. (2010b). Disability programs  Retrieved 9 February, 2010, from http://www.2010legaciesnow.com/disability/

Cashman, R., & Darcy, S. (Eds.). (2008). Benchmark Games: The Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games. Petersham, NSW Australia: Walla Walla Press in conjunction with the Australian Centre for Olympic Studies.

International Paralympic Committee. (2011). Media release - IPC COMPLETE WEEK OF MEETINGS IN RIO, BRAZIL - 16 June 2011. Bonn: International Paralympic Committee.

Legg, D., & Gilbert, K. (Eds.). (2011). The Paralympic Legacies. Champaign, IL USA: Commonground Publishing.

Blind People's Tourism Experiences: An Exploratory Study from Israel

Adding to Richards, Prichard and Morgan's (2010) (re)envisioning of the tourist experience that provides a wonderful examination of tourism from a non-sighted perspective, comes an exploratory study by Poria, Reichel & Brandt (2011) from Israel. In a qualitative study, they sought to hear the "voice of the customer" (Pakdil & Aydin, 2007) through 15 in-depth interviews of blind people recruited from their personal contacts and organizations for people with disabilities. The environments and service context covered include air travel, hotels and restaurants, art museums and staff behaviour. The chapter highlights the challenges that people who are blind or vision impaired have maintaining independence and dignity in environments away from their home that they are not familiar with where simple enabling practices by tourism organisations could have created a more enabling experience. Photo 1 presents an image of a guide dog friendly environment where many people who are blind or vision impaired report that hospitality providers regularly refuse their entry because they are accompanied by their guide dog even though disability discrimination law in most countries recognises the service practice to be discriminatory (Darcy & Taylor, 2009). The introduction to the chapter is provided together with the full reference to the chapter.

Photo 1: Guide Dog Friendly Envoironment - Wendy David & guide dog relax at a resort in Hawaii (Photo courtesy of Wendy David)

Poria, Y., Reichel, A., & Brandt, Y. (2011). Chapter 9 - Blind People’s Tourism Experiences: An Exploratory Study. In D. Buhalis & S. Darcy (Eds.), Accessible Tourism: Concepts and Issues (pp. 149-159). Bristol, UK: Channel View Publications. http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?k=9781845411602

         

INTRODUCTION

          The tourism literature is increasingly turning its attention to tourists with diverse physical disabilities (Chou & Chao, 2007; Eichhorn, 2007; Yates, 2007). However, there is a dearth of studies about disabled people's perceptions of the tourism experiences. Furthermore, most existing studies focus on wheelchair users, ignoring other segments of the disabled population such as blind or deaf people. This study, centering on blind people's perceptions of the tourism experiences, aimed at minimizing this gap.

This chapter is part of a series of studies documenting the tourism experiences of Israelis with diverse disabilities. The chapter addresses elements which play an important role in blind people's tourism experiences including flights, hotels, hotel restaurants and museums. 

Literature Review

Conceptualizing blindness and disability

          The current study adopts Nicolle and Peters's approach to disability (1999: 122) which asserts that being handicapped is a result of “a mismatch” between the individual's needs and abilities, and the environment. The importance of the link between the individual and the environment was used in the present study with regard to the term "disability." This approach considers the human environment affecting the process through which things are done.

This study is also in line with WHO (2007) ecological conceptualizations of disability and concurs with the social model of disability. The latter presents issues such as the social construction of disability as a state of marginalization and highlights social issues as potential barriers, rather than mere physical aspects of the environment (Shaw & Coles, 2004). This conceptualization was also adopted in recent studies on the tourism experience of people with disabilities (Daruwalla & Darcy, 2005; Yates, 2007).

 

The dearth of Research about blind people's tourism experience

          Existing studies have devoted little, if any, attention to the experiences of blind people. This lack of attention is surprising, first, because of the considerable size of the blind population. Second, blind people often travel accompanied by others. Third, during group travels, the presence of blind people may affect the travel patterns and itineraries of their fellow travelers. Fourth, legislation requiring organizations and companies to offer accessibility to all members of society, particularly to people with disabilities should also be taken into account. Such accessibility legislation is also reflected in rules (e.g., the ADA and the DDA) relevant to the tourism experience of disabled people. In addition, prevailing western social norms recognize travel as a social right of all members of society (Hazel, 2005; Yates, 2007). Finally, travel's contribution to the quality of life of people with disabilities and their well being is well recognized (Kinney & Kinney, 1992; Yau et al., 2004). Therefore, both researchers and practitioners need to investigate blind people's tourism experience in terms of theory and practice.

This chapter focuses on blind people experiences of flights, hotels, and art museums. With regard to the flight experience, there are virtually no empirical studies focusing on blind people. A limited number of studies contain some implicit reference to this topic, while focusing on wheelchair users (Takeda & Card, 2002; Turco, et al., 1988; Yates, 2007). Abeyratne (1995), for example, focuses on the flight and airport experience, referring to issues such as accessibility to the aircraft and flight safety.

With respect to museums, hotels and their restaurants, to the best of our knowledge, no studies exist which refer to the blind. Perhaps, the assumption is that if you cannot see, there is no point being involved in tourist activities. Traditional understandings equating travel with a visual experience may further explain the limited scholarly interest in blind people's tourism experiences (Small, 2008). The

A full copy of the chapter can be obtained from

Poria, Y., Reichel, A., & Brandt, Y. (2011). Chapter 9 - Blind People’s Tourism Experiences: An Exploratory Study. In D. Buhalis & S. Darcy (Eds.), Accessible Tourism: Concepts and Issues (pp. 149-159). Bristol, UK: Channel View Publications. http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?k=9781845411602

References

Abeyratne, R. I. R. (1995) Proposal and guidelines for the carriage of elderly and disabled persons by air. Journal of Travel Research 33 (3), 52-59.

Altman, B. M. and Barnartt, S. N. (2000) Introducing research in social science and disability: An invitation to social science to "Get In"." In B. M. Altman and S. N. Barnartt (eds) Expanding the Scope of Social Science Research and Disability (pp. 1-30). Stanford: JAI Press.

Chou, S-H. and Chao, W-C. (2007) Seeing voices: Travel experience and individual risk of the hearing impaired." In Andreu, L., Gnoth, J. and M.

Darcy, S. (2002) Marginalised participation: Physical disability, high support needs and tourism. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 9 (1), 61-73.

Darcy, S., & Taylor, T. (2009). Disability citizenship: An Australian human rights analysis of the cultural industries. Leisure Studies, 28(4), 419-441.

Daruwalla, P. and Darcy, S. (2005) Personal and societal attitudes to disability. Annals of Tourism Research 32 (3), 549-570.

Eichhorn, V., Miller, G., Michopoulou, E. and Buhalis, D. (2008). Enabling access to tourism through information schemes? Annals of Tourism Research 35 (1), 189-210.

Gladwell, N. Y. and Bedini, L. A. (2004) In search of lost leisure: The impact of careering on Leisure Travel." Tourism Management 25 (6), 685-693.

Grayson, E. and Marini, I. (1996) Simulated disability exercises and their impact on attitudes towards persons with disabilities. International Journal of Rehabilitation Research 19, 123-31.

Grönroos, C. (2001) Service Management and Marketing: A Customer Relationship Management Approach. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.

Hazel, N. (2005) Holidays for children and families in need: An exploration of the research and policy contexts for social tourism in the UK. Children and Society 19 (3), 225-236.

Kinney, W. B. & Kinney, W. B. (1992) Predicting life satisfaction among adults with physical disabilities. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 73(9), 863-869.

Kozak (eds). Proceedings of the 2007 Advanced in Tourism Marketing Conference (pp. 1-10), September 2007, Valencia, Spain,.

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McKercher, B., Packer, T., Yau, M. K. and Lam, P. (2003) Travel agents as facilitators or inhibitors of travel: Perception of people with disabilities. Tourism Management 24, 465-474.

Nicolle, C. and Peters, B. (1999) Elderly and disabled travelers: Intelligent transport systems designed for the 3^rd Millennium. Transportation Human Factors 1 (2), 121-134.

Pakdil, F. and Aydin, O. (2007) Expectations and perceptions in airline services: An analysis using weighted SERQUAL scores. Journal of Air Transport Management 13, 229-237.

Poria, Y., A. Reichel. and Brandt, Y. (2009a) People with disabilities visit art museums: An exploratory study of obstacles and difficulties. Journal of Heritage Tourism, In print.

Poria, Y., A. Reichel. and Brandt, Y. (2009b) People with disabilities flight experiences: An exploratory study. Journal of Travel Research, In print.

Richards, V., Pritchard, A., & Morgan, N. (2010). (Re)Envisioning tourism and visual impairment. Annals of Tourism Research, 37(4), 1097-1116. doi: DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2010.04.011

Riley, R.W. and Love, L. L. (2000) The state of qualitative tourism research. Annals of Tourism Research 27 (1), 164-87.

Ross, G. F. (2004) Ethics, trust and expectations regarding the treatment of disabled staff within a tourism/hospitality industry context. International Journal of Hospitality Management 23, 523-44.

Shaw, G. and Coles, T. (2004). Disability, holiday making and the tourism industry in the UK: A preliminary survey. Tourism Management 25, 397-404

Shaw, G., Veitch, C. and Coles, T. E. (2005). Access, disability and tourism changing responses in the United Kingdom. Tourism Review International 8 (3), 167- 176.

Small, J. (2008) The absence of childhood in tourism studies. Annals of Tourism Research, 35 (3), 772-789.

Small, J., & Darcy, S. (2011). Chapter 5 - Understanding Tourist Experience Through Embodiment: The Contribution of Critical Tourism and Disability Studies. In D. Buhalis & S. Darcy (Eds.), Accessible Tourism: Concepts and Issues (pp. 72-96). Bristol, UK: Channel View Publications.

Smith, R. W. (1987). Leisure of disabled tourists: Barriers to participation. Annals of Tourism Research 14, 376-389.

Takeda, K. and Card, J. A. (2002). U.S. tour operators and travel agencies: Barriers encountered when providing package tours to people who have difficulty walking. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing 12 (1), 47-61.

Turco, D. M., N. Stumbo. and Garncarz, J. (1998) Tourism constraints for people with disabilities. Parks and Recreation 33 (9), 78-85.

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Yau, M. K-s., McKercher, B. and Packer, T.L. (2004) Traveling with a disability more than an access issue. Annals of Tourism Research 31 (4), 946-960.