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Making Travel Inclusive - A Conversation with Neha Arora of Planet Abled
But traveling in a context that's designed primarily for people without disabilities can pose a unique set of challenges. And sadly enough, traveling is one activity that many people with disabilities choose to sacrifice on account of these very many practical and social obstacles that they need to deal with when it comes to travel
Neha Arora
@NehaArora · 0:13
Hi Ramya, thank you so much for such a wonderful and kind introduction. I appreciate that. Glad to be here. And I look forward to our conversation today
Niha, I've been really excited about this conversation about having this conversation with you, because I've been really fascinated by the work that you do and all that you've brought to the table to make travel accessible for people with disabilities. First of all, I love the name Planetabled. It's unique. It is profound and sounds super cool. So tell us how that name comes to be
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Neha Arora
@NehaArora · 1:41
Thanks Ramya for the question. So Planetable came about with the whole idea because whenever you see anything around disability or any conversations or any initiatives around disability, it always is like that the person with disability lacks something. Disability in itself is taken as a negative word itself and we try to replace it with various different words like special ability or different labels. There are so many. But disability, like you rightly mentioned in your introduction is something that is the environment that is disabling for a person
Making the planet able to accommodate everyone. That's such a beautiful thought. Thank you for sharing that, Neha. So what really sparked the idea of a travel company centered around and making travel inclusive and accessible, as opposed to just being another travel company offering customized experiences? Is there something in specific or personal experiences or something that, you know, triggered the idea behind Planet able
Neha Arora
@NehaArora · 3:02
But traveling or going for a holiday was not something that we ever had. And when I also started earning, I was like, okay, maybe we have more money, this will solve the problem. And I saved money and we went for a holiday. But it was far from being pleasant because it always ended up in arguments at places asking for access or insensitivity of the people or people just saying, if you face so much trouble, why do you even come?
Thank you for sharing that, Neha. I think Indian has never been a friendly, very friendly landscape for people with disabilities, as is evident from your own personal experience. But being being denied and experienced due to a disability can be traumatizing and deflating for the people involved, both the person of disability and the caretakers, because the last thing anyone wants to feel on the trip is being denied an experience of being humiliated because of their body or a condition that they have
Neha Arora
@NehaArora · 4:51
So inaccessibility or exclusion, so to say in any form, whether it's for persons with disabilities, LGBTQ or any other community or anything to happen because of the mindset. There are many factors that lead to these kinds of inaccessibilities and exclusion. It could be the built environment, lack of information, like you said, lack of communication, media which are accessible. But the first and foremost remains the mindset and the societal stigmas that exist with it
I know some of your special touches include assigning a travel buddy for the blind, seeking special permissions from museums so clients can touch and feel the articles on display, and sometimes arranging for sign language interpreters for the hearing impaired. So how do you make this happen? And also speaking of partnerships, how has the experience of tying up with operators been for you, whether any challenges involved? And how has your network of local service providers grown over the years
Neha Arora
@NehaArora · 5:00
So all of this we did at our own cost and effort, because at the end of the day, the focus has always been the experience of the traveler. Because one wrong word can actually spoil your whole travel experience. Right. And most of the time, these are people who have taken that plunge and kept trusting you to take the first holiday, perhaps of their life. So it puts more responsibility on us to make sure that nothing goes wrong during that trip
Neha Arora
@NehaArora · 1:37
So the whole inclusive approach. We have been the only travel company who is focusing on a holistic inclusive manner of considering all types of disabilities, whether it's people with mobility impairments, people who are lined effort or have any other cognitive, psychosocial or intellectual disability or a medical condition that restricts their travel in any way. And the inclusive trips by Mexico with them, with their disability is to travel together. And that is the way it has to be
Not every place has a proper ramp or restrooms for people with disabilities. Things are not going to be ideal. Things may go terribly wrong along the way. So how do you manage the expectations of your clients? Is there some anecdote or some such travel story with a client that you've could possibly share with us
Neha Arora
@NehaArora · 5:00
So the understanding of needs and matching what exists at the destination in terms of products and services is the key to an inclusive and accessible travel experience which is memorable for each traveler. So like you asked for an example. I'll give you the example of our first long holiday traveler. He came in like around five years ago and this was his first trip outside his country. He came from Brazil
All over the world, policymakers have been getting more cognizant of the importance of making travel more accessible and inclusive and have been trying to address it in their policy framework. So several countries now follow their own rules concerning accessible tourism. But how has India been faring in this regard and do you think this is an area where much more can be done
Neha Arora
@NehaArora · 3:09
Their websites are not accessible and their buildings are not accessible. So there is a timeline being assigned to each establishment. But I don't see we will be meeting those anytime soon. It took America 30 years to reach where it is today. We just have to see how many decades we will take have equity for persons with disability in this country
I think travel was one of the most affected industries because of the pandemic. So how have you adapted to this? Could you tell us a little bit about that? And my second question is something that I ask all the guests who have come on board for Voices Carry COVID-19 and working from home has disrupted our routines and made work life spill all over into our personal lives. How have you been dealing with this and how best do you maintain a work life, life balance
Neha Arora
@NehaArora · 4:59
I've been seeing it for last two years that helped having that reality check. And like others travel companies, we did try a few things in the first year, some virtual events and virtual accessible events and experiences which did fare well. But again, we're not a financially sustainable model because no one was willing to pay. So we kind of got over it and realized that this cannot be the revenue stream that we can rely on
Neha Arora
@NehaArora · 2:12
And answering your second question regarding the work life balance during the pandemic. Well, I'm not a believer of worklife balance since always there is no worklife balance balance. It can never exist. It's about the choices and priorities that you set out for yourself. That what you want to do. When and how do you want to plan it?
I think that's the biggest takeaway that I got from our conversation. I'm sure there are going to be questions popping up from this well community here. I do hope you'll be able to take on a few of them if your schedule permits. But the great thing is you could always get around to answering them whenever you're able to, and we could keep this amazing conversation going. Thank you once again, and you haven't have a wonderful rest of the day. Bye
Neha Arora
@NehaArora · 0:38
Thank you so much, Ramya. I'm glad that I was able to add some value to this conversation today, and it helps people understand a bit of the perspective on accessibility and inclusion, and I'm am happy to answer any questions anyone might have and look forward to keep them coming. And thank you so much for having me here on this wonderful app. I pretty much enjoyed this new kind of format and I perhaps I'll be staying over longer on the app. Thank you so much
Gaurav Chauhan
@Gaurav1106 · 0:53
Hey Neha, great conversations, amazing insights and thank you so much for doing what you are doing. Kudos to you and your team or anyone who's working with you on this in any way. I wanted to get some insights in terms of I do see see that this is a real challenge and I think Kerrylock has taken an initiative for making 100 plus destinations to be disabled friendly. What should be the agenda for the other States also? And do you see this happening anytime soon?
I've learned so much from your conversation. Ramya Neha I think my biggest takeaway was that there are several reasons why people cannot travel and this includes obviously, disability, but also, as you said, racial biases and exclusion when it comes to the LGBTQ plus community
Nimisha Dhami
@NimishaDhami · 0:34
Hi Neha, great conversation, great insights. I still somehow have a small question here. It is a fact that the disabled in Indian suffer from lack of basic necessities for a dignified life. Life and their desires or to travel or explore is often ignored as being impractical or even unnecessary by their families. So in a situation like this, how do we bring about an attitude change among people
Geetanjali Kanate
@Grace_126 · 1:08
Thank you so much for talking about such a wonderful thing. It was really nice hearing about all the insights, all the hard work that you're putting into it. And I think this conversation made me realize how little we think about disabled friendly options in life, not just travel, but I thought a lot about things in general, things that are as small as wheelchair accessible parking or entrances to stores to travel, that is a big thing
55Sushma MMC
@Sushmabharti123 · 0:14
Thank you so much, Ma'am, for your opinion, your knowledge. I really enjoy this system, this conversation and looking forward to hear more from you
Tamanna Sharma
@tamannasharma · 2:03
Because I thought about events and something that is local. And you're thinking about travel, which is not just within India, but also international. And it's a huge task. But I believe, as you said, that there is a long way to go, but all the very best. I'm so glad I bumped into you on Swell. Looking forward to listening to you more. Congratulations
Neha Arora
@NehaArora · 3:23
Ask for access as a human right, even for those who sometimes do not raise their voice themselves or fight for themselves. You can become the force of nature for them or reach out to us. We'll be happy to have volunteers who can work with us and become our voice in their own independent spaces and communities. So we'll all have to come together to make it happen. And it won't just happen by disabled people and their families and friends are raising this voice
Neha Arora
@NehaArora · 3:11
So you can become the advocate for anyone underrepresented who is not able to ask for their right or ask for access by themselves because many people lose the enthusiasm and the energy to ask for access and put up a fight after many years of turmoil. So you can start with yourself, become an accessibility and inclusion advocate wherever you are and whatever you're doing. So if you work in a company, ask, do they hire persons with disabilities?
Neha Arora
@NehaArora · 0:24
Thank you so much, Grace, for your appreciation. And I am so glad that you could have a valuable takeaway from this conversation, and I hope you will see the world from a different perspective now and be an Accessibility ambassador in your networking community. All the best
Neha Arora
@NehaArora · 2:15
And she was like, okay, that's what wonderful. And she even told me that we could have some session together perhaps. So I look forward to that. And let's catch up some time. And it would be wonderful if we can do something together because it's all about the right people we get along with and admire that we should work with. And you take care of yourself and all the very best for your new initiatives that you have been taking
Theertha Panachoor
@theertha · 1:03
Hey Neha, this is Tita. Thank you so much for coming here on Swell and giving us your insights and talking about Planet Abel. I think you're doing such an incredible job. The funny thing is, I heard about Planet Abel just a few weeks ago and now you're here and just found this to be an extremely thought provoking session. It really got me thinking how much the disabled community is excluded from the system. People never keep them in mind and that's really unfair to them
Neha Arora
@NehaArora · 2:55
Whether you want to make money, it's also fine whether you want to solve a problem that you have faced yourself or your people around you have faced. Right. So why you are doing this and stick with that? Why? Because that will help you survive the tough times that will come and they will definitely come. Entrepreneurship is not as fancy as it sounds. It's a tough route to take and never do it if you're doing it just because everyone around you is doing it