Travel Has Become a Therapeutic Tool for the Disabled

Author: Pavel Kuljuk
Published: 2025/07/28
Publication Type: Paper, Essay
Category Topic: Disability Travel Information - Academic Publications

Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main - Insights, Updates

Synopsis: This article presents a compelling analysis of how travel serves as a therapeutic necessity rather than luxury for Americans with disabilities, revealing that those with the lowest incomes and greatest social isolation are paradoxically the most active travelers. The research demonstrates that disabled individuals earning a median income of just $17,204 travel more frequently than their wealthier counterparts, using tourism as an antidepressant and escape from loneliness. The piece highlights significant accessibility barriers, particularly for the 3.1 million disabled people in rural areas who face both higher poverty rates and limited transportation options despite having the greatest need for travel-based mental health support. With disabled Americans spending over $50 billion annually on domestic tourism yet receiving minimal government support for travel initiatives, the article argues for policy reform that could benefit both disabled communities and the hospitality industry, noting that 77% of U.S. hotels already offer accessible accommodations - Disabled World (DW).

Introduction

Disabled people try to fight loneliness and problems in life with the help of tourism. So far, the state does not help them financially in this matter. But perhaps the situation will change. After all, tourism for the disabled is a wonderful business worthy of state support.

Main Content

The Worse Life Is, The More Attractive Travel Is

Traveling is not a luxury but a means of survival for people with disabilities. Poor and single disabled people travel more actively in the United States than rich and non-single disabled people. Actively traveling disabled people have the lowest median household income of $17,204. In comparison, non-traveling disabled people have a median income of $18,964. 43.51% of actively traveling disabled people do not have a car. But only 10.54% of non-traveling disabled people do not have a car. 43.47% of actively traveling disabled people are single. The share of single people among non-traveling disabled people is only 27.13%.(1)

This gives an opportunity to look at travel in a different way. Traveling becomes an antidepressant and a way to escape from loneliness. But not all disabled people can use this method.

The most active travelers are disabled people living in cities with good railway connections.(1) For disabled people from rural areas far from railways, traveling is a difficult way to relax. There are about 3.1 million such disabled people in the USA.(3) Disabled people make up 14.7% of the total rural population. In cities, this figure is lower and equals only 12.6%.(4)

Rural disabled people are poorer than urban disabled people. Every fourth disabled person in rural areas experiences poverty. In the city, only every fifth disabled person experiences poverty.(3) The share of lonely disabled people in rural areas is higher than in cities. In villages, 24.4% of disabled people are lonely. In cities, this figure is 23.4%.(5) This means that rural disabled people are more inclined to travel than urban people. But it is rural disabled people who have fewer opportunities to do so.

And although there are more disabled people living in cities than in villages, it is the disabled people from rural areas who can become the most effective target audience for the development of special tourism services for the disabled.

The Economic Impact Of Travel For People With Disabilities

Every year, Americans with disabilities spend more than $50 billion on domestic tourism.(2) This is a small amount compared to federal budget expenditures on various programs to support people with disabilities. For example, in 2021 alone, $80.6 billion was allocated from the federal budget to support individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities nationwide.(6) The total amount of money allocated to support people with disabilities from budgets at various levels is much greater. But among these appropriations, there are no significant funds spent on the development of tourism among people with disabilities. It can be said that people with disabilities pay for tourist trips from their modest incomes. And the government provides informational and legal support for these trips. Information useful for Americans with disabilities during foreign trips can be found here.(7) Data for trips within the United States is presented here.(8)

Without centralized financial support, very few disabled people actively travel to the United States. Only 3.42 million or 14.55% of all disabled people do so. (1) And 40% of disabled people never leave their homes. (9) This is doubly offensive. After all, the United States leads the world in the share of hotels adapted for disabled people. In the United States, 77% of all hotels have rooms adapted to accommodate disabled people. (10) This is an excellent result!

This greatly simplifies the organization of tourist trips for the disabled. And this makes hotels one of the stakeholders in the development of tourism for the disabled. Increasing the share of disabled travelers by 15% will enable businesses to double their income from servicing this category of the population.

The scheme by which such tourism can develop may be similar to the scheme for working with asylum seekers in New York. In this city, the authorities bought entire hotels to accommodate foreign immigrants. Many owners agreed to accommodate refugees instead of tourists.(11) This guaranteed 100% occupancy of the hotels. Which is more profitable than serving tourists. That is, it is possible to accommodate disabled people in hotels at the expense of budgets at various levels. If the authorities are ready to spend money on foreign refugees, then why not spend this money on domestic disabled people?

However, this is one of many theoretical possibilities for organizing mass tourism for the disabled. Detailed development of various proposals is possible after business and politicians become interested in this. But this is not happening yet. This means that tourism will continue to be a difficult-to-access method of support for the disabled.

References

• 1) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11194152/
• 2) https://accessiblettic.com/tourists-with-disabilities-first-for-four-global-cities/
• 3) https://www.researchondisability.org/sites/default/files/media/2024-05/2023-infographic-rural-a11y.pdf
• 4) https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/06/disability-rates-higher-in-rural-areas-than-urban-areas.html
• 5) https://rhrc.umn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/UMN-Policy-Brief_Demographics-and-Disability-Status-of-Rural-Adults-Living-Alone_3.23.21.pdf
• 6) https://news.ku.edu/news/article/ku-researchers-highlight-how-80-point-6-billion-in-federal-spending-supports-individuals-with-intellectual-and-developmental-disabilities-nationwide
• 7) https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/travelers-with-special-considerations/traveling-with-disabilties.html
• 8) https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/traveling-disability
• 9) https://www.bts.gov/travel-patterns-with-disabilities
• 10) https://www.agoda.com/info/handicapped_accessible_hotels.html?cid=1844104&ds=SMqSDzH5SwgECrtZ
• 11) https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/roosevelt-hotel-official-asylum-seekers-arrival-center-nyc-immigration-commissioner-manuel-castro/

Insights, Analysis, and Developments

Author Credentials: Pavel Kuljuk's articles and poems are published in Australia, North America, and Europe. In recent years, he has been constantly collaborating with Australian Rural & Regional News (Australia), Red Hook Daily Catch and OpEd News (USA), and Disabled World (Canada). Kuliuk's individual publications are in Forbes (Kazakhstan), Rural 21 (Germany), London Loves Business (UK), Karrep (India), RealClearDefense (RCD), Change Links, Daily Caller (USA), and many others. Explore Pavels' complete biography for comprehensive insights into his background, expertise, and accomplishments.