Disability-Friendly Travel Starts Now: Get to Know Wheel Escapes – We are a disabled husband-and-wife team. We love travelling and thought how great it would be to share our experiences, but more importantly, to share what is truly accessible and what is worth steering clear of.
Caroline
“Hi, I’m Caroline. Co-founder of Wheel Escapes. I am a full-time power chair user (Q300M Mini), and my disability is called Arthrogryposis, which is a very rare disability occurring in 1 out of every 3,000 live births, and true amyoplasia occurs in 1 out of every 10,000 live births. Source: Nationwide Childrens
The most common type of arthrogryposis is called amyoplasia, which affects the hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips, feet, and knees. In more severe types, every joint, including the jaw and spine, can be affected.
I have my own business and work from home as a Website Developer. I created this website (so if anything breaks, the buck stops with me lol) and I created our sister site, Disability Uncensored.
Holiday-wise, my favourite is cruising. I love how easy it is to get to, check in and embark onto the ship, especially when sailing from Southampton. More on this in a later review.”
Jeff
Hi, I’m Jeff—though some of my old mates call me SGM. What does that stand for? I’ll let your imagination run wild for now, but trust me, it’s not “Sexy Giant Mechanic” (although… that would be cool).
Let’s cut to the chase: I’m missing a left leg. Yep, fresh out of the womb, my thigh bone and knee clearly decided to phone in sick. So, when I was one, the doctors played a very intense game of orthopaedic Tetris. They took out the thigh and knee, folded my hip like origami, slid my shin up into place, bent my ankle downward like it was doing yoga, and voila! I ended up with a small leg pointing south like a determined divining rod.
To balance things out, I now sport a full-length prosthetic leg, which I wear with the same pride people have for limited edition sneakers, and yes, it does have tattoos.
Oh, and back in the day, I had hair the colour of a traffic cone on fire—so naturally, my friends dubbed me SGM: Short Ginger Monopod. Catchy, right? Rolls off the tongue like a slightly awkward limerick.
I’m big on travel and trying new things, although these days, too much walking feels like auditioning for a pain endurance reality show. After sampling a buffet of mobility scooters, I settled on the TopMate ES35—my trusty mechanical steed. Honestly, the scooter saga alone deserves its own Netflix series or, at the very least, a blog post (which I may or may not write when I’m done racing pensioners at the park).
What Will You Gain From Using Our Website?
We often attend weekend events at conventions or comic-cons. We’ll share our experiences about the venue’s accessibility, including the availability of accessible toilets, noise levels, crowd management, and more. We also frequently go away for respite weekends, and we’ll share our experiences on these.
Then there’s the big one, holidays abroad, cruising and more. As a little teaser, our first detailed holiday review will be a cruise to the Norwegian Fjords. We will also be reviewing a cruise with Celebrity Cruises around Japan that will include a 14-hour flight…Wow, not looking forward to that! But that is next year.
When we review a holiday destination, we will include information such as:
- Space under the bed for equipment/luggage
- Door Widths
- Bed Height
- Toilet Height
- Shower seat height
- Shower/bathroom layout
- Sink height/design – Any facia at front
- Desk Height
- Electrical sockets placement
- Table height in restaurants
- Wheelchair spaces in and around the complex
- Check-in/reception desk height
- Quiet areas
- Noise levels
To name a few. I always seem to think that any “accessible room” is not very accessible. I’ve encountered rooms where there has been no table at an appropriate height for me to use. Nor a sink far enough away from the toilet to enable me to transfer independently! The list goes on. That’s where we hope to help you guys out.
