News from Northwest ADA Center ~ Idaho

Accessible Destinations

Last month the Access Idaho Adventures (Idaho Access Project) made it’s first fact-finding tour of northern Idaho destinations. Their mission is to eliminate physical, attitudinal, and policy barriers to ensure people with disabilities can live, work and play in our communities.

Let’s look at some of what happens when you become accessible, as written by Jake Steinman.

a) If you are accessible today, you will also be accessible for the future baby boomers of tomorrow. This is a huge portion of population with a lot of spending power. Many boomers self-identify as having a disability and control over 70% of all discretional spending in the U.S.

b) It’s a growing movement to become part of this new mainstream. Adaptive products, pop culture, and more are becoming inclusive of people with disabilities.

c) Become accessible to visitors and it helps the local community. Make everyone aware of what is accessible like hotels, attractions, and it benefits everyone.

d) Being accessible is appealing to elected officials. It’s a great way to promote inclusiveness. This is a great time to be advocating for things like accessible housing, transportation and more as it’s good for a local economy.

Accessibility has historically been considered a “nice to have”, and not a “must have”. It’s good to see it moving to a “cool to have” feature.

Jake Steinman is the founder of TravelAbility. Those with questions can contact Jake Steinman at info@travelability.net

For more information about the ADA contact:

Dana Gover, MPA, and ACTCP Certification, ADA Training and Technical Assistance Coordinator 

For more information about ADA Technical Assistance visit the NW ADA Center Idaho website: nwadacenter.org/idaho

Email:dananwadacenteridaho@gmail.com
Phone: Voice and Text 208-841-9422
Idaho Relay Service: 7