I’m flying to Palm Beach for the Florida Governor’s Conference today. Hello 6:00 am flight.
As the plane was loading, the person next to me made small talk about Gulliver, then eventually asked what I do. I told her, “I change the way people think.”
She asked what I meant, so I said, “Let me give you an example. I’m a full-time wheelchair user, going to Florida. What do you think I want to do there?”
She thought for a second and started talking about ramps and walkways, ways for me to get around.
I stopped her. “I didn’t ask you what I would need to get around. I asked you what you think I would want to do.”
And that was the whole point.
She wasn’t being dismissive or insensitive. She was trying to be thoughtful. But the moment I added wheelchair user to the equation, her mind went straight to access. She stopped thinking about Florida and what someone might enjoy there and started thinking about what someone in a wheelchair would need.
If I had simply said, “I’m going to Florida. What do you think I want to do?” the answers probably would have been pretty easy. Go to the beach. Get out on the water. Eat great seafood. Go fishing. Parasail. Explore. Have a cocktail by the pool. Maybe do absolutely nothing in the sunshine for a few hours.
But add wheelchair to the sentence and suddenly we’re talking about ramps.
Let’s be clear: the ramps matter.
Accessibility should be about creating access. I need the ramp, accessible transportation, and the beach mat or beach wheelchair that allows me to actually participate. We need to keep identifying and removing the barriers that prevent disabled people from accessing places and experiences.
But accessibility isn’t the end goal. The experience is.
That is where hospitality becomes so important.
Hospitality cares about the individual. It asks where I want to go, what I want to do, and whether I get to experience what you have to offer.
Because I didn’t fly to Florida to experience your ramp.
Maybe I want to get on a boat. Maybe I want to go fishing, snorkeling or parasailing. Maybe I want a spa treatment. Maybe I want a fancy dinner with a ridiculously overpriced cocktail. Maybe I want to sit beside the water with a book and do absolutely nothing.
And maybe I want to do all of it.
You can’t determine any of that from the fact that I use a wheelchair. You have to get to know me.
Accessibility creates the access that allows me to participate. Hospitality cares about what I want to experience once I’m there.
So yes, build the ramps. Create the pathways. Remove the barriers. Give me access to everything you possibly can.
Then ask me the same question you would ask any other traveler:
What do you want to experience while you’re here?
Because Florida, I’m coming. And Gulliver and I aren’t coming just to find out where the ramps are. We’re coming to do everything that makes Florida special.
And judging by Gulliver’s travel attire, one of us is already taking the assignment very seriously.
Gulliver is ready for Florida!
Kristy
