Adventure Tours Where Disabled Travelers Can Participate With the Gang

After decades of receiving little assistance from the commercial vacation industry, travelers with disabilities now can turn to a variety of specialty tour operators who compete for their business and operate programs designed just for them.

Although this is progress, some individuals with disabilities prefer to vacation in the general travel world and not in segregated groups. Similarly, some able-bodied travelers vacation alongside people with disabilities: Their spouse might be in a wheelchair or their sibling might have multiple sclerosis, and finding a trip that is suitable for both is a problem.

Enter two travel operators whose adventurous tours serve these needs with vacations that integrate travelers who have disabilities with those who are fully able. Wilderness Inquiry is a 30-year-old nonprofit that organizes outdoor adventures for a broad mix of people in search of nature and--in canoeing, hiking or kayaking--one another. The organization’s aim is to “reduce stereotypes and empower people to push their perceived limitations.”

Wilderness Inquiry has hosted people of all levels of mobility and types of disabilities, including those who are quadriplegic, deaf, blind and developmentally disabled. (A recent kayaking group sailing to Isle Royale in Lake Superior was composed of three staff members, four able-bodied participants, a camper with cerebral palsy, a blind person, a person with a severe heart condition and another who had sustained a traumatic brain injury.)

The trips are rugged but relaxed in their pace. Most involve camping. Participants are expected to help out with daily chores (cooking, pitching tents, cleaning up) according to their abilities. Wilderness Inquiry’s trips usually cost $100 to $150 a day, and the price covers all meals, equipment, instruction and staff. A five-night sea kayaking trip in Washington state’s San Juan Islands costs $645 for one of six departure dates in August and September. A five-night canoeing trip in New York’s Adirondack Mountains is $625, also in August and September. Kayaking in Utah’s Glen Canyon National Recreation Area costs $750 for a five-night trip in October.

Several adventures are also organized especially for families, such as the Superior National Forest Family Canoe itinerary, a four-night paddling adventure through lakes and rivers of Minnesota in July and August. The cost is $475 for adults and $235 for children 16 and younger.

Contact Wilderness Inquiry, 808 14th Ave. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55414; (800) 728-0719, www.wildernessinquiry.org.

Ever dreamed of sailing aboard a 19th century-style tall ship? England’s Jubilee Sailing Trust can deliver a unique experience on the sea for a mixed group of able-bodied persons accompanying others with disabilities.

The organization’s two ships, the Tenacious and the Lord Nelson, look like ships used hundreds of years ago but were carefully designed with the needs of disabled travelers in mind. They have flat, wide, wheelchair-friendly decks, lifts between decks for those who cannot negotiate steps or ladders, extra-large washing facilities and signs in Braille.

About 40 people (a maximum of 20 may have disabilities) become crew members on the ships, and each person must keep a four-hour watch every 16 hours on the seas. Most Jubilee participants with disabilities use wheelchairs, but a variety of people with disabilities take part.

About 30 trips are offered each year, most sailing in the region of the English Channel, with an occasional journey to Lisbon; Nice, France; Monte Carlo; or Dublin, Ireland. Most trips last between three days and one week and average from $150 to $200 per day.

For more information, contact Jubilee Sailing Trust, Hazel Road, Woolston, Southampton, SO19 7GB; 011-44-23-8044-9108, www.jst.org.uk.

An excellent resource for the disabled traveler is the Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality, or SATH, 347 Fifth Ave., Suite 610, New York, NY 10016; (212) 447-7284, www.sath.org. It publishes a periodical called “Open World,” filled with travel-related articles and advertisements for people with disabilities.

Finally, individuals with disabilities who wish to go abroad for an extended volunteer, research or study program should contact Mobility International USA, P.O. Box 10767, Eugene, OR 97440; (541) 343-1284, www.miusa.org, which will research the facilities of whatever institution you’re interested in.