Traveling While DeafBlind
Over the summer, I traveled safely to other cities in the U.S. I don’t know if it was because I hadn’t traveled by plane for 1.5 years when I finally went back to traveling, or my disability had gotten worse. One thing my friends would tell me was how much I actually missed not because I wasn’t paying any attention, but because things just happened fast and I just didn’t catch on to everything.
Here’s the thing, I had no idea I was missing out on some things until they told me. This led me to realize that maybe I’m out of practice and hadn’t spent a lot of time around other people that I couldn’t keep up any longer!
I was walking through the Las Vegas airport trying to see if there was another flight back to my hometown, and while I was trying to walk & read (which I know I shouldn’t do), I ran right into another person. But they just kept walking. And it left me feeling very confused and with a hurt shoulder. I called out to apologize. But I wondered if it was my fault or both of our faults.
Can you imagine being in an airport unable to hear?
Navigating the airport.
Going through security.
Communicating with locals at your destination, especially if they speak another language.
Traveling while Deaf can be challenging, to say the least. It takes A LOT of research and preparation.
The travel industry is globally designed for hearing and able-bodied people.
More could and should be done to make travel more accessible and inclusive for those with disabilities.
Traveling during the pandemic has been made especially difficult since everyone is wearing masks, which creates a barrier for those of us who read lips.
I haven’t rebooked our trip to Iceland because I’m kind of nervous about what it would be like to travel overseas. We weren’t planning on going until late 2022, but I still haven’t booked cuz i’m super nervous. if we wear masks during the trip, and most of the crew is deaf, it’s not gonna be a fun trip in regards to communication. There’s a lot of hesitancy here for sure!
Airports should connect with others in the deaf and disabled communities to make travel more accessible for all.
It’s puzzling to me that every time I ask my partner what they said over the airplane intercom, he’s always like I have no idea! If they don’t know, then how the heck am I supposed to know? Shouldn’t there be a better system as to how things are communicated across the board?
Why not have announcements be both audible and visual? Why does it have to be one or the other? I wonder what happens when I lose my vision even more, I’m still trying to be independent, so I don’t want to have to rely on other people all the time. Technology exists, and yet, it’s not being used to its full potential! Why is that?
