Tourism: Lindsay's Tips and Experience for Accessible Travel
{ Helvetica-Bold; Helvetica; ArialMT; Episode 9 \'96 Tourism with Lindsay Nott \'a0 \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Are you sick of the same old disability stereotypes? We were told, and we did something about it. Welcome to. That was unexpected. The Disability Lifestyle podcast for everyone, brought to you by care and hosted by me, Lisa Cox. Join our amazing guests as we delve into topics that don't often hit the headlines. So let's do this. Prepare for the unexpected. \'a0 If you low vision like me or have other accessibility requirements, check out our show notes. Before we get started, we'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners of land on which we record. We pay respects to their elders, past, present, and emerging.\'a0 \'a0 Lindsay Nott. It is awesome to have you in the studio today. You've been a mate of mine for many, many years. So could you start by just telling me listeners a little bit about yourself? \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Yeah, thanks for inviting me along today. I'm really looking forward to our little chat. My name is Lindsay. I have a high level spinal cord injury. I get around on four wheels instead of two legs now. Been traveling, working, enjoying life, getting out there, being a bit of an advocate for people with disabilities and like sharing my journey as well. \'a0 And yeah, having a chat to people like yourself and making things better. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Excellent. We were talking today about tourism, and you've probably traveled more than a lot of the able bods that I know. So it's really good to have you here chatting about tourism. And I know I've had breakfast and coffee many times and had chats about all sorts of things, accommodation, tourism, the transport, those sorts of things. I will be delving into some of those today, but for our listeners who maybe don't know what a high level spinal cord injury is, explain that to us.\'a0 \'a0
Lindsay \'a0 For me, we're all unique. Everyone who has a spinal cord injury is unique. No injury is the same. Even though you might have an injury at the same level, at the side effects are all different for everybody. So for mine is at around C4, C5, and for the people who are listening at home, you put your finger at the back of your neck where the hairline is. That's around the same level as my injury. It's incomplete. So I have feeling throughout my body. It's abnormal feeling. It's, it's impaired from the nipple line down. And so it's affected in that respect. Can't move my legs, can't wrap my arms properly. My hand function. Limited. Limited shoulder movement as well. So I just work on what I've got for that. \'a0 I need a wheelchair to get around in, so it's a power driver's chair that I use to maneuver around. Yeah, use a mobile hoist to transfer in and out of bed and a shower chair. And have support workers to take my personal care as well. Otherwise, I'd be stuck in bed and never get out again. \'a0 \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Shout out to support workers. Thanks for explaining all of that. And you've obviously got a lot more to think about when you go traveling than, than some people and not just even some people with disabilities. Some people need very, very little, if anything, in terms of things I need to travel, but you need quite a lot. \'a0
So can you take us through just some of the things that you need or that you pack? \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 I do travel with a lot of gear and it's increased over the years from when I first started traveling to now, back in the day, I went with a backpack and, support workers are or anyone that was helping out or able to assist. And I would hire a hoist and a shower chair. \'a0 Support people would transfer me manually. Which was great because you don't need all the extra equipment. Now I'm traveling with a shower chair that goes inside a suitcase. I have a hoist which separates into two bags. I have a medical bag. I have incontinence products I need to carry as well as in before I get to having my own clothes and just the daily equipment that you need to travel with as well. \'a0 So and then you add in the support workers suitcases and backpacks and all the other things that you need to travel to be comfortable as well. So there's quite a bit of luggage that you take around. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 And despite all of that, you know, like I said before, you travel a lot more than most people. And I say, what sort of places have we been to and what are your favourites? \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 I started out small. I went down to a ski trip. And then I expanded out. I had some great knowledge, great advice passed on to me from my physio, and he got to know me in rehab, and he knew that I like traveling. And he said to me, travel where the Olympics are being and the reason for that was because you have the Paralympics, you always have the Olympics and the Paralympics follow two weeks later. \'a0 So you know they are going to have some sort of accessibility accommodated for the tourism and also for the athletes as well. And everyone that participates. So I looked into that and then took on his advice and got a mobile shower, shower commode so I could go and do that. But I also travel domestic and I've traveled overseas, so it's been great having those and having those adventures and being through Queensland in the state and New South Wales and Victoria, Western Australia, and then headed over to parts of America, and would like to one day get to Europe and going to Singapore soon. \'a0
\'a0 Lisa \'a0 Singapore's awesome because there is a heap of underground air conditioned not a lot of hills, but it's just me. So you and I have very different disabilities, but in a similar way, we need to travel with someone and we also carry a suitcase of equipment with us. But I know that we've spoken in the past about checking into a hotel, and I check in with my husband and they often think he is my carer. They say, we'll give you two single beds. But it's kind of the opposite for you because you're checking with the carer.\'a0 \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Yeah, absolutely. Checking into our hotel, finding a hotel that can accommodate my requirement is really hard. And it is frustrating, but it takes a lot of time and effort to get to that part. And it's always been the way we can give you a rolling shower. And like you said, a double bed or a king bed. It's like, nah, we need two single beds because we're not sharing and we need to be able to have that room to get around and I can always it's always been a struggle to find those rooms that don't make it easy to do. \'a0 And I don't know why, because we spend a lot of money and we need to be comfortable when we travel. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 I think the key there is assumption just never assuming that the other person with someone who has disability is a resident, that husband, or just ask and don't assume so in a hotel room. I know one of the things that irks me like, yes, it's accessible and you get in there and there's just a ramp at the front door, but if you want to have a shower, go to the toilet and forget about it. \'a0
Lindsay \'a0 Well, the other part too is they also offer, a rollaway bed or a little pullout bed for this, for your support worker or a partner or whatever it is. It's like, no, I paid money for this room. We deserve to have two beds. Yeah, I don't know why we can have two beds.\'a0 \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Yeah, it's quite an easy thing to do. So what are some of the other I suppose, really specific things. And I'm, I'm asking because if there's maybe a hotel person listing like right, what can we do. One of the solutions. What would you like to see? \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Be up front. Be honest with everybody but also advertise it. It starts with knowledge at the front counter of staff when you talk to them on the phone, when you look at their website. Because we now live in an age of technology where we're always on our phones, we're on a computer of some kind, and you're able to go and do a lot of research. \'a0 So somebody could go and book a hotel room that doesn't have a disability, find out exactly what's going on, and within probably 20 minutes, they can book a room, a week or two and flights all within an hour and a couple of hours. They can have it all done. Whereas when I need to travel, I need to go look at their website. \'a0
But their website doesn\'92t have any information about the accessible rooms, photos showing the room of a rolling shower, the width of the front door, how much room is in there? Like how much clearance is beside a bed and the wall? The clearance height, all those sorts of things. That makes it even harder. So then you have to go and contact the hotel, find concierge, or find someone in reception to talk to, email them, make a phone call, send photos asking information about the measurements, getting all that information back. \'a0 That could take a week just to get the correct information back and forth. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Yeah, we've had that for sure. Getting photos of especially in the bathroom for me personally is on the rails are the rails, all those sorts of things. But I know you need a lot more in terms of, heights and beds for, for hoists and those sorts of things. So when you travel, are you fairly loyal to a certain hotel chain or anything like that based on what they, what they do, how well they do accessibility? \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 I would love to be able to do that and be loyal to them and have reward points and things like that. That would be fantastic because you could build those points and use them up. But the reality is you. I'd like to go somewhere different every time. If I went back to say, New York, I'd love to get back to the same hotel there because that was unreal. \'a0
And the staff. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Which one was at give them a shout out. \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 The Westin in Times Square they were unreal. I got to do whatever I want. They made it happen. They went above and beyond which just made the trip. It just made the trip even better. Like, I'd love to have that option where you could be have a frequent flier points type of thing with a certain brand of hotel, but if you're traveling somewhere new each time, you don't have that luxury. You have to find a hotel that can accommodate you and work with that brand at the time. \'a0
Lisa \'a0 Yeah, like I know every time I go to Sydney, there's a certain hotel I stay in, and that's because I've been saying there for ten years, guaranteed that it will be accessible. I can find my way around if my husband or someone isn't with me. And it's just awesome. And I wish I had that in other places as well, because I'm home. \'a0 It's terrifying when I go to a new a new place and just not knowing what to expect, will I be able to have a shower, etc. because the access isn't upfront like you said. \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 So there is a workaround for that. If you got to the hotel gym and have a shower in the accessible shower in the gymnasium area. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Never thought about that. \'a0
Lindsay \'a0 Think outside the square, Lisa. Improvise, adapt and overcome. \'a0 \'a0 \'a0 Lisa \'a0 True, true. I've got a bit used to that, but I need to take a bit of that on board. So what advice would you have for travelers with a disability in your sort of situation? Because like we said before, everyone with a disability, different needs when they're traveling, some people just walk in and walk out and it's no issue. But you have a few a few more things going on. So people who are similar to yourself with disabilities, who have hoists and travel with tonnes of equipment. \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Don't give up. It's hard work. I often go, why in the world am I doing this? But in the end it works out well because you do the research. You get to know what's going on, know your rights, have all your documentation, emails, everything like that. Be prepared and start your traveling early by doing little trips like maybe do a day trip, go and do a yeah, I if you based in Brisbane, go to the Gold Coast for a weekend or to a stay vacation in Brisbane and just get to know what's going online on the way, or jump in and go the whole hog and go overseas and do it in one big adventure, and you'll learn a lot that way. I learned a lot when I did my first ski trip and got to know what were, I like going on an airline for the first time. And there was a guy at the gym. We didn't have Google back then, and we I would chew his ear off every day for about three months on how we did this. \'a0 How do I get on the plane? How do we do this? When do we go at the ski field? How do we get transferred everything like that. Whereas now you can look that up and find that information. But it would also be contacting the hotel that you want to find out more information about contacting the taxi companies, contacting the transport services, whatever asset you need today, special handling dangerous goods for your batteries on your wheelchair. \'a0 Going to theme park, say Disneyland in America or going to Dreamworld on the Gold Coast and things like that. You want to go snorkeling? Depending on your level of injury, do you want to go hiring cars and traveling around, or you want to? Whatever it is you want to do, make a list. Work through it, contact everybody. \'a0
Keep that information. I put it into an Excel document. Find out what requirements do they have, what opening times, closing times, all those sorts of things and just make it happen. And then when you get there, you have all the information and you can just make it happen. And it worked out really well. And, you know, a lot of people are very helpful and they'll go above and beyond, especially when you start preparing early. \'a0 And I just yeah, they love how far you can go traveling. And so if you come from the other side of the world to America, they they're in awe of it. Sometimes they just, they I can't believe you travel that far on a on an airplane for 15 hours from Brisbane to LA, and then connect over to wherever else you want to go as well. \'a0 They love it. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 That's, relatable in all the planning you've done, but it's also exhausting listening to you talk about it. So it would be great if we didn\'92t have to go to that effort, I know it is important, but it would be so great if we didn't have to because it was all universally designed. \'a0
\'a0 Lindsay \'a0 And I remember a couple of years ago I wanted to go to Cairns. it was like it was just a quick spur of the moment. Within about four hours I had flights and accommodation all booked. So all my support work and work going up to Cairns. And she was like, okay, cool. As we were getting flooded down in Brisbane, unfortunately, and I couldn't go away for the weekend that I had planned and I was able to contact the people in Cairns. They gave me the right information about the hotel. Everything like that worked out really well and because I hadn't flown for a little while because of, for whatever reason, I had to contact Qantas, they got the information sorted for me really quickly with dangerous goods and special handling and things like that going up the plane and organized to go out on the Great Barrier Reef. \'a0 And they remembered me from my trip from over ten years ago. So I was like, that worked out really well. I lent me a manual wheelchair to get onto the glass bottom boat, and I onto the pontoon and go snorkeling. And then unfortunately, the weather in Brisbane was really bad. \'a0 So we got to extend our stay up in Cairns just flights and booked the same hotel room again for another three nights like that worked out well.\'a0 \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Awesome. So in terms of embarrassing or just funny\'85 I know shit goes wrong in our lives, you know that. But with regards to travel, what sort of experiences have you had that are just a bit a bit embarrassing? \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Basically left field. So the trip in Cairns was fun and then the deckhand had no idea what he was getting himself into that day. They transferred me into the water. I got back out off the snow plane that was covered in salt water and had to get changed because you can't sit in wet clothes for the afternoon because you end up with sores and things like that. \'a0 So I sort of like, go, can you give us a hand? To get changed? Any help with the transfer and showering on the back of the boat really quickly and it worked out fine for him. So it's a bit embarrassing for everyone else around\'85I got transferred with my pants falling down as we got off this little tour. \'a0
And so they got to see the Great Barrier Reef and my bare bum.\'a0 \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Two for one. \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Yeah two for one. And then in New York, when we checked in on the first night, I was trying to help. When I was going to the bathroom, I thought, there's a nice big light switch and pressed it, and the bedroom door swung open because I have a button on the door on the wall to open the door, and I didn't realize I thought it was the light and I'm naked in the shower chair, pressing this button and the front door opens and people walking past like, oh well, welcome to America, everyone. \'a0
\'a0 Lisa \'a0 Good job Lindsay! \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 So we go, yeah, there's lots of stories you can talk about. Like in America, they don't have universal, unisex toilets. They're only got male or female and traveling with a female support worker, to go to the female toilet came out outside from using the bathroom in the cleaner. Guys. So you just come out of the women's toilet? \'a0 Lisa \'a0 oh, man. So with regard to, I suppose, bad experiences and I sort of, I think we don't want to harp on about those too much because we know there are so many of them, but we want to focus on solutions and what's going well to help businesses make it more accessible for us. But in terms of as far as bad experiences, what have you had and what specifically about those is something that hotel chains or something could learn from to improve on? \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 I mentioned it before, it's like putting information on the website. It's a $50 billion industry. It's untapped. It's a lot of money. It's 20% of Australians have a disability of some kind. It might not be in a wheelchair, but you could have some sort of disability, use a walking stick, have a hearing impairment, whatever it is. We also get out there. \'a0 We work, we travel, we want to do activities to keep that information readily. On your website, take away the barriers. So yes, you might have a double or a queen bed in an accessible room, but make it make it like a sleep bed. It's easy to take the doona off, separate the bed and the other part. Now there's a lot of chain going around where under the bed they have boxing around it. So nothing gets lost underneath. And the people cleaning the rooms don\'92t have to bend down right underneath. Well, that's a hindrance to people like myself who use a mobile hoist. They have to get transferred into the bed, so that stops us getting in. So a lot of hotel guys are we can't take it because we can't get the hoist in underneath. \'a0 It's like, why not? Because we can't take the board out. It's here and you're wasting money because sometimes most of us will travel and we'll spend our time, for example, 1 or 2 weeks in the one little town. And that's a lot of money for a hotel for 1 to 2 weeks of Monday through Sunday. So those sorts of things like that, being open, I'd say to hotel companies, hop in a chair and use a hoist and try out your facility and see what it's like. Then do an audit and come back to us and like, or accessible car parking, things like that. And it's not just the hotels that we need to look at. \'a0
It's a whole point to point A to point B, and what I mean by that is how do you get from home? How do you get to your site cruise ship, have airline train station to start your journey? When you get to your destination, what do you do then? How do you get from the airport or cruise terminal to your hotel or wherever you want to go? \'a0 When you're at the hotel, how do you get to your daily activities? If you've been there for a week on the subway, is it on the train? Are the footpaths accessible? Do you want to go to Dreamworld? How do you get there? With taxis or trams and everything else that goes along with it? And there's a lot of things that are broken at the moment because taxis are very hard to get a hold of, and don\'92t want to take people with a disability. \'a0 I don't know why, because you get a lot of money out of us. And if you get to a point, how do you get to those places? If taxis aren't working, you're at the airport, you want to get a coffee, you want to get to, you get to the hotel. You want to go out for dinner and drinks. \'a0 You want to go to the movies, whatever it is you want to go and do, you need to have all of those all of those venues accessible as well? So that's ramps, toilets, footpaths, theme parks, things like that. We need to have it all accessible. So that works for me and works for you. Place where there are wheelchairs. It's going to work for the whole community because that allows mums and dads with prams or walkers. \'a0 I remember being on the first accessible bus that they made and doing some promotion with them. Now I get on, you got to use a bus and it's full because everyone is using it. So mum and dad got the pram, got people using all the shopping trolleys and everything like this. I like how good this is, everyone's using that now. \'a0
Lisa \'a0 Yeah, that's what a universal design is all about. And sort of following on from that, I suppose it's another point to remember that for hotels, restaurants, anybody really that it's not just about you and I and the people disabilities. It's also about the many people that we can potentially bring with us. I know there have been hotel chains that I started out with, bought several people with me that also stayed there. \'a0 So it wasn't just about making it accessible for me, but by making it accessible for them. They also opened up that business to a ton of awards as well. Restaurants are the same. \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Absolutely. Yeah. You can have yourself and your partner or carer. You meet with some friends and then you go in now for dinner and then it's where can we go? What else can we go and do? And then if you're doing some activities, all of that too. So you got ten people, you're bringing into a restaurant or a museum and things like that. \'a0
Make it all accessible and we will come. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Sure. And I should probably acknowledge the point that we recognize that travel isn\'92t possible\'a0 for everybody. Roughly half of our community is at or below the poverty line. So I'm not suggesting that everyone with disabilities wants to go on yachts and cruise and eat caviar, but there's no reason that we shouldn't be talking about this. For those of us who do travel, whether it's even for work. \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Yeah, absolutely no. You might be doing it for work, but it can even just be going from your place in Brisbane and going into the city for the day and looking at whatever it is you need to go shopping. You want to go out for dinner with your friends, getting to a restaurant in just Brisbane or Sydney or wherever you are based. \'a0 So it might be a stay vacation and you just can't afford to go overseas and you just want to stay in Brisbane for the week and enjoy it, that there has to be accessible for those people as well. \'a0 \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Yeah, absolutely. So given that there are so many apps around these days, and it's really great that a lot of them are around disability and travel and everything. Are there any specific apps or websites or anything like that that you'd recommend? \'a0
Lindsay \'a0 Just Google. I Google, I use Facebook, travel groups, things like that. Try and talk to other people I might know of who I've traveled somewhere as well. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Lindsay, you are a wealth of information when it comes to traveling with a disability. And you talked before about some tips and tricks, but have you got any more? \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 I do so think outside the square. Preparation is important; preparation prevents poor performance. Also sending an email with all your requirements. So it could be, what is the ideal height of the bed? The ideal height that you need to have that to transfer into. What is the under bed clearance? If you use a height measurements of the front door, bathroom requirements, all those sorts of things you need to make your holiday a full experience, have that in an email and send that to the hotel and have it pre-populated with photos, all that information. \'a0
So all you really need to do is put it in someone's email, change the name who you are sending it to for the hotel chain, and send that off so that when you get a reply back, you can put that into an email folder and then you can collate the information from there. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Great tip. Thanks very much for that. So, we've caught up for breakfast a few times. I know I've had discussions about all the great work that's been done to get wheelchairs on planes, but you have kind of a different view to that and so do I. But could you talk some more about that? \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Yeah, there's a lot of people talking about trying to get people onto airplanes and have them stay in their wheelchairs. I think that's a good idea. But I also have my hesitations in, in that, because I find it very hard to understand how we're going to get our wheelchairs onto a plane when we struggle to get through the galley way onto an airline, for example, I have to use, an Eagle hoist in in Brisbane to get through. \'a0
And that's very skinny. That's the width of an aisle. And, and also the aisle chair when I sit on it and when you get through some of the chairs can be quite large and take up a lot of space. So your manual wheelchair compared to my power driver chair are very different in size. Mine's quite long. \'a0 Some 1.2m long, just in my chair, about 1.5 with my backpack and my feet hanging out the front. So I don't know how we're going to be able to get that on to an airplane when like we reverse parking and then you take up three seats into it. I\'92d love to see it, but hard to see how that's going to happen. \'a0 \'a0 But I also think we spend a lot of money on this is my own opinion. but we spend a lot of money on maybe trying to make planes accessible and more accommodating, but why can't we put that money to having a great experience for the whole journey and making sure that our wheelchairs don't get damaged when we board and disembark? \'a0 And now chairs that range from $5,000 up to $30,000 plus don't get damaged and we can have a great experience and then an enjoyable one and get off at the other end, get our piece of equipment and have a happy journey. I think it's yeah, I love to see the design and love to see all the demos actually on a plane, not in a conference room where people are reversing anything. \'a0 Yeah, that's fantastic, but how does that work in the real world and also today, how often do people travel like I, I do travel a lot. I might be twice in one year. It could be sporadic, can be 2 or 3 years before I travel again. So how often are we all traveling and all these sorts of things like that? \'a0
And will that price point go up and will that price point go up as well. So we might take up two seats. Does that mean we have to pay for those two seats as well? \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Yeah, a really good point. I think it's great that they are looking into it or that they are, you know, finding solutions. But at the same time, the taxi system, we need to be able to get to the airport first. \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Yeah. We can't get to get to the airport. We're not getting on a plane. So yeah, I think there's a lot of work needs to be done. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 And so what sort of things do you like to do when you're away? And the reason I ask this is, a problem that I've had in the past is that the assumption is people with disabilities, theme parks, and that's it. It's like no one of my you sit around, drink cocktails or whatever, but there's so much that we can do apart from just go to theme parks. \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Yeah, absolutely. I'm just going to have a day to myself when I am away on holiday, so I don't think I've ever done that once. experience in the local area. Like when I was New York, we went to the baseball, went on a helicopter ride, went in Canada. I would go up to the mountains and check it all out. \'a0 And national parks go around the local town, walk around, experience it all, go and check out whatever is around. \'a0
Lisa \'a0 Are you are you crazy enough to go skydiving or do anything like that? \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 I really wanted to back in the day, but no more of the adrenaline stuff is off the table. But yeah, I love to go on a helicopter ride. That's my one thing I like to do is I always try and go on a helicopter ride. I remember my first time overseas and went up to Canada and I was like, this helicopter opportunity. \'a0 And I\'92m like I'm doing it. The guy behind the counter said, yes, you can. We can book you in. And I was like, fine, you guys work in how to transfer me on and off this helicopter, and we work it from there. And ever since then I've been away I always try and get on a helicopter and enjoy looking down on the on the city or scenery area and enjoying that experience, going out, hiring a car. \'a0 So in some of the countries, you can actually go and hire a car quite easily, which is fantastic. And then you can drive around and get out of town and see the local area and enjoy those botanical gardens and local drives that you wouldn't normally get to go and do, as well. So when I went to Perth, I was able to have that holiday experience because I was able to hire a car from the airport. \'a0
Otherwise that holiday wouldn't have been able to happen. So able to pick up a hire car, drop it off. On the day I returned, went down to Margaret River, went up to the pinnacles and all those sorts of things, which is like thousands of cars traveling and experiencing that. And then on the winds, as well, where I don't, you know, always have to be, but be prepared for everything. \'a0 And we got given some great advice by the tourist information. And she said, there's stingrays at 7:00 in the morning that you can go and check out. And I was like, up at five in the morning, gotten ready, drive down and got to see the stingrays. And yes I can\'92t put my wheels in the water, but I was like half a meter away from these stingrays that they come up nice and close and like where I was standing in the water with all the other international tourists and checking out all that, checking them out, which is fantastic. \'a0 And then driving around and then getting told of a great location to go and have lunch and look over the water and being back overseas and going to the theater and getting the opportunity to go and buy tickets to Hamilton that is sold out six months ahead of time and didn't even realize and went up to the ticketing agent and say, can I get some tickets? \'a0 You want to go? And I told her and I got like two seats a row from the front, from the front of the stage and I just allocate these wheelchair spaces in America for the theater for last minute bookings for people with disabilities, which is fantastic. So I got to sit there and enjoy the whole trip, watching fireworks on the 4th of July on the waterfront, experiencing all of that just trying the food, do different activities and I'm in a different area. \'a0 I'm out of my comfort zone and having some fun and trying those experiences of whatever it is you can go and do, or going out partying one night and coming home at two in the morning and going through Times Square and just enjoying that is what I love to go and do. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 That's awesome. Some of it sounds terrifying, but the rest sounds great. Now. Now you and I have spoken before about travel programs like Get Away and all those sorts of shows. What what's your opinion about those and what do you think they should be doing? \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 I love watching those shows, but they're I reckon they should include people with a disability on a regular basis, not just on a one off. Have someone with a disability being a presenter and showing what is out there the good, the bad, the ugly, the hassles of what needs to happen. Highlighting the industry not just locally in Queensland or Australia, but overseas as well, cruise liners and things like that. \'a0
How does it work and how do you get over there? Because you got self retired, self-funded retirees, anyone and everyone wants to go out there and have a have a good time. And they work. People work hard for their money and they should be rewarded and should have the opportunity to go and experience what they want to go and do and not be restricted as well. \'a0 So highlighting them, highlighting the features would be fantastic. And if you're looking for a reporter, let me know. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 There you go, Getaway, if you need a reporter, get Lindsay Nott. I think it's even if the even the reporter is not disabled. Just talking about all the rooms and all the sites. I mentioned that there are also accessible rooms or it's also whatever accessibility feature there is, is also included. That doesn't take a lot of extra work. \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Opening up the opportunity and starting a conversation. Yeah. For example, like cruise line, like, people love cruises. There's a lot of people that go out cruising. They're affordable. They're easy to go onto. For example, you could go through all the different countries and experience a day in each place, like those Contiki tours you do in Europe and things like that. \'a0 You can do them on a cruise, and I've done several cruises where you've been able to hop on, take your luggage, get on the boat and then end up in five different ports and experience those opportunities which you wouldn't normally get. But some of those rooms, all they're all accessible. Sorry, they're not all accessible, but they the rooms that they are, they've got the opportunity to put a hoist under the bed quite easily because that's where they store the luggage, as well. \'a0 Beds can be pushed together. couples on that can be separated into two singles. And they can do that on a cruise boat that's quite small. So that's done easily. And you got internal cabins, external cabins. But cruise liners need to make more accessible range because a lot more people want to travel. And we don't always want to be on an inside, inside cabin because they're like a little prison cell because you've got no windows around. \'a0
Yeah, but I think, yeah, they do it well, but there's a lot of boat trips that have some restrictions as well over in Europe, which makes it hard on the river cruises. but I think they, everything's coming around like a lot more people are becoming accessible, which is fantastic. And the people on the boat, the staff members are awesome. \'a0 They help you out. They go out of their way to give you a hand. I've been on some cruises where I can't get off, which is understandable. So on those days, if my support worker wants go off for a few hours, that's great because I can get set up on the back of the deck. \'a0 Enjoy some sun and overlook the water and the port that I mean, read a book or just chill out and the staff members will bring cocktails or drinks over when I'm ready, help out with some food and then my support worker will come back by, have lunch together, and then just enjoy the afternoon. \'a0 \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Yeah, I suppose that's one area where I'd love to see them do the ports themselves, because we've looked into cruises and the boats are pretty accessible, which is fantastic. But then if you want to disembark and see the sights, you can't because the ports aren't set up and they're not particularly accessible a lot of instances. So the boats are nice to stay on board. \'a0 That's kind of all you can do. \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Yeah, absolutely. And I agree with that because there's been parts where I've gotten off and you can't get a tour because the busses are inaccessible, because they don't take the busses are accessible for someone who can take 1 or 2 steps up in and they've got a walk or a walking stick, but they can't take someone who's confined to a wheelchair into the bus because it's not built for it, but they need to build it for it for us, because there's a lot more people wanting to get out there and travel. \'a0
And for those is playing at home. I went to Vanuatu on a cruise and got told I can't go into town because I don't have accessible bus as I was like, how far is it from the cruise terminal to, to the, to the main part of town? They said, oh, about five K's I was like, perfect, get me off. \'a0 I'm going in by myself. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Course you did. \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 I drive in on the road and my carer waiting in the taxi. And I'm holding up all the traffic because I'm doing like nine, ten k's an hour and all the locals come past and they're beeping their horn at the cab behind me, and then they realize I'm in the chair holding up all the traffic. So, I am the talk of the town got back on the boat and everyone's going. \'a0 We saw you get to the town. That's so cool. Things like that. Which is great because if you don't try your own little adventures, you just going to stay on the boat. So I was like, I had a great experience. But to see the locals they were very helpful. They lifted me over potholes up and over and over the gutters and all sorts of things like that. \'a0
So they love it. They love seeing you out there and giving you a hand. And, I think that's a great experience. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Yeah, absolutely. I think it's a reminder as well to whether it's a cruise or hotel or something else, it's not just about that venue, but it's places around it, whether it's a local cafe needing to be accessible or the roads or, or something else. That and we, we set in Fiji a couple of times and the hotel was great. It was accessible, but anything outside of that was just a train wreck to try and get around. \'a0 \'a0 \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 My mum gave me a bit of advice. She said to us, talk to the concierge, they know what's going on. And in America, in different countries you do have to tip them. But they got great knowledge as well and they have given great advice over the years as well of going to experience and activities, or they'll go and do some research for you. \'a0 And yeah, one guy came back and said, we can do two helicopter rides, one with the door on and one with the door off. It's like, I'll do the one with the door off. And then turned out they couldn't get, a transfer to the helipad, so he did the one with the door on. But that was unreal because I actually got to travel around the whole island, and I've a look at which was even better than the one first option they offered. \'a0
So and the accessibility is all built in because they had a little plane with a little machine that goes up the side of the helicopter so you can transfer from your wheelchair onto the seat. Then that elevates guys up like an elevator level with the seat on the helicopter. And I have a slide board that I use, the goes between my chair and the seat and between my support worker and the ground crew. \'a0 They were able to slide me onto the seat and harness spin, and off we went around the island and then landed and did the reverse to get out and back into my, into my chair. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Excellent. So, Lindsay, you said something before that was really interesting that I'd like to come back to, and that was that. On cruise ships, the rooms are like prisons on the inside. But extending on from that, I sometimes find when I'm traveling to a place that the only accessible room is on the ground floor, facing the car park or the bins or something. \'a0 And it's a problem we have sometimes it's like people disabilities want to be on generalizing here. We want to be able to look at the ocean or appreciate a nice view. I mean, I'm no use because my visions terrible. But what have you found in terms of the accessible room? What's been the worst one? \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 So I've not really had a bad a really, really bad hotel outlook. It's more about getting into that hotel that was more difficult. I did have one where I was at a backpackers and went up there for a night and went to go use the accessible bathroom, and it was filled with all the janitor cleaning gear. So they had it all locked up with all the cleaning gear in there. \'a0
So the room was okay. It was just the bathroom. I couldn't get to a new one, so that was a pain. so I understand where hotels put one accessible room in, maybe two, and it's overlooking. Not a nice part, but they should make it also where they're. It's got a suite room or it's got a room where, for example, you might be invited guests and they put you up in a hotel, but you can't be put up in the nice room because it's not accessible. \'a0 So I think they should offer a variety of hotel rooms for everyone, every pay level and enough parking and all those sorts of hot I sorts of things. So make it easy. \'a0 \'a0 \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Yeah, and I know that, I did an interview a couple of years ago with the ABC, and it was all about how business owners in hospitality and tourism can make it universally designed and accessible for everyone. Because there's this assumption that if we have, accessible room that has rails, for example, that we can't possibly rent that out to anyone who's not disabled. \'a0
But that's definitely not true. So, Lindsay, you and I are well aware of our own specific requirements for travel, but the disability community is obviously so diverse and everyone's got different requirements. What are some of the other things that you're aware of that people who will say vision impaired or deaf or something might need. \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Excellent question. Everyone has their own specific requirements when you have a disability, but to make it more inclusive for everybody would be to have emergency cords. So what I mean by that is in the bathroom you have a little pulled string. So if you were to fall out of your shower chair or have an injury like have a seizure, for example, there's emergency cord that you could pull which would go down to console so they know if something's gone wrong, they can come up to help, that can have an emergency button on the bedside table as well. \'a0 And for people who have a hearing impairment would be a for example, where there's a fire alarm, the light will flash red, shaking alarm that you could put under your pillow as well, but that could be introduced not just for the room that has an accessibility requirement that could be in every hotel room, because then you don't know who, who or the hidden disabilities as well. \'a0 So you can have that implemented into all the rooms as well, which would be quite an easy task when you're retrofitting and doing refurbishments as well. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Really, really good point. There's so much about accessibility which can be extended to everyone and everywhere.\'a0 \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Captions on the TV as well. \'a0
Lisa \'a0 Yeah, that's another one. Good point. So compared to the rest of the world, how do you think Australia is tracking. \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 We are pretty good. We got a lot of the accessibility requirements implemented with standards and things like that. We have the companion car we work on, I think TransLink access pass cards and things like that that make it easy for people with a disability in Australia to do daily activities and have carers come with them included. So what I mean with the companion card is it's a two for one deal with venues. \'a0 \'a0 \'a0 For example, if you were going to the movies, I can pay for myself and my carer can come for free, for example, and help me out. Stuff like that that's used universal throughout Australia, but you can't use that overseas. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Yeah. \'a0
Lindsay \'a0 In America. Me personally, I find that way ahead of us. they are way ahead of what we are here in Australia. For example, I went to a shop in one of the cities and my friend went in and they were looking, looking through the clothes and the shop assistant came out and said, do you want to come in? \'a0 And I said, nah, I'm okay. I'll just wait outside. That was about four steps to get into the shop as a not so good. He said, come on in, I'll get a ramp. I said, no, don't worry about me. You're going to have a look around. And so he got the ramp and put it over 4 or 5 steps, pulled it out. \'a0 I went in and had a look around, went back. I said, thank you very much. Appreciate that. He said that is no problems. And that's just the way what they do over there on like this is unreal. Well, can we bring that back home place that, that was like that. My that makes the experience, that makes it a little bit more enjoyable or I've other parts where I've gone into a restaurant and they have, the restaurant's full, but I have one table set aside for people with a disability, and they got the wheelie symbol on it. \'a0 And they've got a seat for your friends or your companions or whoever else to see that. And then they've got one area where it's vacant for the wheelchair areas that I can then hop in and get in under the table, which is great. So and everyone's aware of it, they have tie down tie downs on their busses in the States, which is great because we don't have tie downs on our busses in Brisbane or in Australia. \'a0 So that's that was very helpful. And the bus driver was like, yep, I can tie you in, just take a seat and everyone gets up out of the end of the row for you as well. So that yeah, they do it well over there.\'a0 \'a0 Lisa \'a0 We should both just move. What about us by some of the specifics? And I'm thinking more of people who either have a new injury or have had one for a long time, but who want to travel but think, oh, I'm just I'm limited to this tiny little confined of my home because I can't possibly do anything because of my disability. \'a0
You've obviously proven that's rubbish. But what do you think other people with disabilities need to know? \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 As I mentioned before, having an email with all information you require and sending that to the hotels to get your information that you need, making sure that you get travel insurance and letting them know about your disability and making sure that you can get full insurance and if not partial insurance for whatever you can claim under your specific disability. \'a0 \'a0 And having that open conversation with them, taking medications, making sure that you have enough for your medic for your trip, maybe for an extra week or two so that in case something does go wrong and you're stuck overseas, or you run out, you you have enough there to, to have for you. Not just medication but incontinence products, things like that. \'a0 Making sure that you've got the right equipment. Making sure that your support worker, I travel with a support workers. So making sure that they're fully aware of what's happening, having a clear agreement with both parties, making sure that you're comfortable with everything as well, and having downtime apart as well, is very important because you don't want to burn each other out. \'a0 I'm a go-go type of guy and you want to make sure you got the right person to do that with you as well. thinking outside the square, like, for example, there might be a day where it's raining and you can't go and do what you would normally do. So you might go find a restaurant and or a coffee shop and sit there for a couple of hours and talk to someone and go, you know what? \'a0
You guys can go over here, this is happening today and think like a local or think outside the square and be able to go down and do a different activity that you wouldn't normally think of doing. So sometimes they work out just as good as anything else, and be bold. Don't be afraid to ask questions of what can I go and do? \'a0 And I remember one time I had a tour booked and we went through to the Amish community and everyone was getting these buggy rides and it's all included. It's like, I want to do this. So I asked them and they said, yeah, we can get you on one. A couple of the guys lifted me up and my carer got my cushion and we stuck that on the seat sat on that. \'a0 And when did the buggy ride and come back, which was great. It was horse drawn buggy ride through the Amish community, which was fantastic. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Yeah. I'm not sure they would have been used to wheelchairs with the Amish. \'a0
Lindsay \'a0 No, obviously not, because when I got back, my wheelchair was covered in hay. So I didn't know what was going on there. But also, I also think that, getting to know your own body, knowing what you can do so safely when you're traveling on a plane because you can sit on economy premium business, you can do it all. \'a0 You can take cushions, you can take your armrests. So some of the other advice I've been, that I've learned over the years is that you take all your breakables with you. So I use a power drive, wheelchair user, manual drive, manual chair. So for me, it's taking the armrest. I've taken, taking the controller so that it doesn't get damaged, taking my cushion that I sit on and taking a spare cushion that I use now to sit on in the on the plane. \'a0 Because if you're sitting there for a couple of hours, you can you're prone to pressures. So it's like I for my level of injury. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Which I am too. \'a0 \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Yes. You don't want that because you can spend years in bed recovering. So this is a special cushion that's very thin. Your, work colleagues here love sitting on it. It's a very expensive cushion for about $1,000, but it's all air, and you can sit on that. And it's very thin because I'm quite tall. I'm six foot. When I sit in the airplane seat, my head is just level with the top of the seat. \'a0 But when I put a cushion on, I'm even higher. And because I can't move my body properly, I'm restricted. So being restricted with the seatbelt makes it even harder. So my, my occupational therapist, advised me to get a travel cushion. That's what I call it. So it's a low profile, very high. and as you fly, it expands. \'a0
As you get higher in the altitude, that the cushion expands for the air. So my support worker needs to be able to adjust it and lower it down. And so that I think bottom out or don't have to sit on to my chair. So having that is fantastic, but also having all your luggage that you need. So having any drainage bags, all the incontinence products your medications and straws all handy for the support worker to hold on to. \'a0 Because if you've got that little sign that comes on, keep your seatbelt on and you can't stand up to get into the overhead luggage, your baggage for a couple of hours if you want to have a drink. So making sure all of that information so all of that equipment is close by so that the support worker can have that on the plane for two hours before the sign is unlocked is very helpful. \'a0 And also being mindful of your temperature and your food and your drinking, how much you're looking after your own body and pressure care stockings as well. So for circulation and DVT. So it's a lot to take in. but I've learned that over the years and just talking to people it's helpful the Facebook groups too. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Yeah I think what you said before I feel about just being brave, but just being brave enough to ask whether it's asking the flight attendant for a blanket because your temperatures drop too far, or asking someone for help, up a hill when you when you're traveling. But people are a lot more willing to help than we sometimes think they are. \'a0
And you said something before about knowing your rights and a story about that. Could you repeat that for us? Because I think it was really important for listeners to know those with a disability. \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Yeah, I like I, I like to travel with Qantas because I, they look after me really well and and I think you do too. Yeah. But when I have my luggage checked through it and I have another airline connecting that I have to take all of my luggage with me at the same and not pay an excess luggage fee. \'a0 So knowing that information and knowing that you've booked correctly and that's all being ticketed through, I didn't. I then don't have to pay an excess luggage fee of whatever it's going to be, because it's going to be hundreds of dollars because I've got 5 or 6 bags with me. So making sure that you have that paperwork showing the staff members that information so you don't get, billed at the other end, but also knowing that if you just talk to them like a normal human being, you can get you can get used your point across and they understand what's happening, and then they can look into your history and know what's going on as well. \'a0
So being upfront with the airlines at the very beginning, putting that all that information through, yes, it's a lot of hard work and time consuming, but it pays off in the end. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 Yeah. And, absolutely. It would be great if we didn't have to do that if everyone just got it. But for the time being, there's work to be done, but it's worth it in the end. I mean, you can just sit back in the end and enjoy the trip instead of having to worry about everything else. Now, I know you've brought in a ton of equipment. \'a0 You and I both travel with equipment and lots of stuff. But I was wondering if you could take me through some of that for people with disabilities, just to give them an idea of what, what a trip means for you. So it's not just a case of, throw in a bikini, some sunscreen and off you go. You got a lot more going on, so can you explain that to me? \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Yeah. So I use a hoist, that, machine that lifts me in and out of my bed, in and out of my shower chair, my wheelchair and my support workers will put a sling that goes around under my legs, around behind my back. And then it's like a crane that goes under the bed. And then they hook it up and they raise it up with the remote, and then they will put me out and position me over my shower chair or my wheelchair and put me in the position and then get me set up for the day. \'a0 And then when I come back at night, they take me out of my chair and put me into bed in that respect. So that's what I was talking before. When they put the blocking underneath the bed that stops the hoist going under. \'a0 Lisa \'a0 And what about the bed block that you brought in? \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 So I travel with these, bed blocks, I carry six now and they go under the legs of the bed. So as we all know, beds come in different heights and sizes and all sorts of things like that. And, on some of the beds, when they're really quite low and you can't get the hoist under it, there's an easy fix. \'a0
You just put these bed blocks underneath and it goes under the legs and it rises the bed up. So that way I can put the hoist under. Or if I for people that don't need a hoist and I want the bed a bit higher, the transfers that someone like yourself. So someone who has paraplegia and you want that nice smooth transfer across so that it's easy to do, you can put these bed blocks under and then you makes it nice and easy. \'a0 And even if the bed's too high, it's too hard to transfer up into. Makes it very hard. One chair for it's going to be uphill, the other transfer is going to be downhill. So you're going to have a hard landing somewhere. and these and I've learned over time now that I travel with six of them because some of the beds have six legs and you want the leg in the middle to be supported, because when you're lying on it, you can't get the hoist on it because it's a bit of a bend in it. \'a0 \'a0 Lisa \'a0 I see, what about slide boards is something I've used before, but for all the listeners, if they are not quite sure what they are?\'a0 \'a0 Lindsay \'a0 Yeah. So it is like an oversize serving tray that I use between my wheelchair and the bed that I carried as a backup because I like I was saying I use a hoist, but on those occasions where you're out and about and you're stuck and you can't use the hoist, I can use the slide board. So it's, a board that I put under my bottom, on my, in my wheelchair, a position that next to the bed and the support worker can transfer me onto the bed, and I can sort of position myself in a way where we can slide two and two and four to and from the bed. \'a0 But it also it can be used for people getting in and out of that car, getting to some other like, whatever activity that I want to go and do, for example, roller
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