Disability Travel - CNN: Travel with disabled kids

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-08-19/travel/traveling.with.disabled.kids_1_society-for-accessible-travel-autistic-children-wheelchair-athlete?_s=PM:TRAVEL

Traveling with children is difficult, but when children have wheelchairs or communication problems, it can be overwhelming for parents to plan even a weekend getaway.

"You cannot pick up and go like everyone else does. You have to plan your trip very carefully," says Jani Nayar, executive coordinator of the Society for Accessible Travel & Hospitality.

About 2.9 million youths ages 17 and younger have a disability, according to the 2009 American Community Survey. Even if it requires extra planning, Nayar says, it's important for children with disabilities -- whether they're blind, deaf, autistic or use a wheelchair -- to "get out of the house and travel like any other child."

ya that's right... i feel there should be special privileges for such kids everywhere.... common people should also understand their responsibility towards them. This would make things easy for them and their parents as well..

.... common people should also understand their responsibility towards them...Perhaps you could explain what you mean here, as it doesn't come across very nice.

I have been traveling for four years now with my son who has cerebral palsy and reduced mobility.

It is a daunting task, often made worse by lack of services (even when they should be available on paper). As a result i have become strongly opinionated about the issue. Sadly, no matter how accurate preparations can be, there are far too many variables at play that may transform a pleasant flight into a hellish experience.

Even if complicated, I still believe the benefit my son has from traveling outweighs the problems we face when traveling.

Welcome to FlyerTalk, UKBob64, and thanks for your input. I agree that the benefits are worth it (for myself - I've never tried to travel with a disabled child).

Like UKBob64 I have a child (8 years old) with cerebral palsy but she is also blind and has a seizure disorder. We have traveled multiple times with her over past 6 years. My job moved me from NC to CO '05-'07 and we made over 10 airline trips cross country with her and her sister (typical) who is her junior by 2 years.

As UKBob stated, you can have all the best plans put into place and one or two things can change everything in a minute. I have so many stories I could tell both very trying as well as some very rewarding from our travels.

One of the main issues we deal with today is that the older our daughter gets the more difficult it will be to travel; so we are going to get a couple more trips in with her over the next few years. We feel that the benefit that entire family gets with her on trips outweighs any possible problems we will likely face.

I appreciate Katja's post.

Welcome mkwargin, thanks for sharing your experiences traveling with your daughter.