Committed to the social participation of people with disabilities

Sandra Careccia: People with disabilities are simply people.
Like everyone else, they want to live a normal life, enjoy their free time, continue their education, have and maintain social contacts, meet friends, work, etc.
Nothing special! Inclusion simply means giving these people the opportunity and creating the conditions for them to live normally like everyone else, despite their possible physical or mental limitations. A lack of inclusion leads to inhumane conditions of exclusion and isolation. That is why it is so important to create inclusion: Because inclusion gives these people the chance to be normal people.

My job as an expert is first and foremost to spread this awareness. Secondly, my role is to support tourism and institutional stakeholders on the path to removing barriers and optimizing inclusion. As an expert, I act as a facilitator so that these actors can implement both structural measures in accordance with the laws in force and organizational and informational measures aimed at removing all existing barriers and creating the conditions for inclusion.

Sandra Careccia: It would be a great basis if hotel operators followed the legal requirements for accessibility. Unfortunately, this is often neglected when it comes to renovations. Legal structural requirements are a basic prerequisite for the implementation of inclusion. Organizational measures and staff training are then supplementary and sometimes crucial.

A classic example: In an accessible bathroom, the towels are stored on a high shelf that cannot be reached from a wheelchair. Or the emergency call cord next to the toilet is knotted and shortened because it is in the way of the cleaning lady. This completely defeats the purpose of the cord, which should be at a maximum height of 30 cm above the floor so that it can be used when lying down in case someone slips on the floor and can no longer stand up or get back into the wheelchair.

Sandra Careccia: There are institutional challenges (or desired goals) and challenges for the tourism operators and architects.

For authority challenges and suggestions:

• It would be sensible and expedient to also check for accessibility when approving operating facilities.
• The accessibility aspect should be taken into account in the award procedure for hotel stars.

Challenges for tourism operators:

• Convince operators and architects that accessibility is not a marginal aspect that has to be added at the end of a project, but is part of the project from the very beginning.
• Spread awareness that accessibility is now a building standard that everyone expects because it guarantees comfort for all. For people with disabilities, however, it is a necessity.
• Demystify the misconception that accessibility is associated with excessive cost increases. If we intervene at the design stage, excellent results can be achieved with minimal effort. Costs increase exponentially if you have to intervene later to correct mistakes that have already been made
• Spread awareness that for existing, non-accessible buildings, accessibility is not a goal to be achieved all at once, but a journey that can be accomplished over time: Doing something small, at first, and then perfecting it more and more is better than doing nothing.

Sandra Careccia: As part of my work as an expert for barrier-free construction, we offer:

• Free advice for institutions, planners, authorities, tourism associations and anyone who is planning and implementing something in tourism.
• Surveying the status of accessibility in tourist facilities and communicating this status to the public via various information channels, in particular via a website for accessible tourism.
• Networking

A few examples of the results of our work are

• The website on accessible tourism in the Landeck district, with around 200 facilities presented in 3 levels of accessibility.
• Printing of the Rolli Raodbook with 45 tours in nature for people with walking disabilities
• Addition of information on barrier-free restaurants to the local maps of Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis
• Several newspaper articles to raise awareness of the topic
• Some accommodation establishments that have redesigned some rooms to be barrier-free following our advice
• Some leisure facilities, especially outdoor and indoor swimming pools, which have purchased aids and furniture to enable wheelchair users to use the facilities fully and independently, etc.

Sandra Careccia: As far as tourism is concerned, I am satisfied when I look back at the past and see the difference in the awareness of tourism operators and the improvement and increase in inclusive/accessible offers.
I am less satisfied when I look at the number of accessible offers without comparing them with the past: there are very few accessible offers in tourism and leisure. I estimate around 10% of the total offer. This percentage is probably lower than the actual figure.
Many facilities that are fully or partially accessible do not communicate their accessibility and therefore cannot be recognized or used by users who need them. For a user looking for accessible facilities, it is as if they do not exist. Communicating your accessibility to the public is an essential part of accessibility and inclusion.

My wish for the future: accessibility must be considered and improved in all renovations. All facilities (as well as all events, means of transport, etc.) must provide information about their accessibility on their website.