Travel Is Worth the Extra Effort for Disabled Children

If the three DeVault kids had any gripes about last summer’s big cross-country car trip, they couldn’t blame their parents. The kids had helped to work out the logistics.

“We want them to figure out how to accomplish what they want to do, so that when they’re older, they’ll be able to do it themselves,” explained Elizabeth DeVault. “Travel helps foster that kind of independence.”

For any kid. That 10-year-old Colin DeVault and his 8-year-old sister Bethany were born with spina bifida, a birth defect that left them partially paralyzed, only makes their parents want to encourage their independence more.

If last summer’s trip is any indication, their game plan is working. In fact, car trouble hampered the family a lot more than two kids with assorted crutches, leg braces and wheelchairs as they made their way from Niagara Falls to Mt. Rushmore to Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks, California beaches, the San Diego Zoo and back to their Pennsylvania home near the college where James DeVault teaches economics.

“We do what any other family would do on vacation,” said Elizabeth DeVault, who also has a 12-year-old son, Michael. “It just takes us longer to get there.”

But the memories are worth the extra effort. “The kids talk about the trip almost every day,” she said. “They have done something that their friends haven’t, and that’s not always easy to say for kids on crutches.”

This year, Colin and Bethany DeVault will have a chance to strut their travel stuff even more. They are the Easter Seal Society’s national child representatives and will be crisscrossing the country, giving speeches for the nonprofit organization. They demonstrate what millions of American families are learning every day on the road: A disabled family member--a child, parent or grandparent--doesn’t mean forgoing trips.

“Everybody is traveling these days,” said Dr. Philip Ziring, chairman of the pediatrics department at Chicago’s Cook County Hospital, who serves as chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ committee on disabilities.

That doesn’t mean it’s easy. Parents of children with disabilities say they travel with specialists’ names and phone numbers in the area they’re visiting, as well as a synopsis of the child’s medical history. They plan meticulously, calling ahead to make sure wheelchair-accessible hotel rooms are available.

Now, at least, there are more resources than ever to help:

* Fodor’s “Great American Vacations for Travelers With Disabilities” ($19.50) not only tells you where to go, from Orlando to the Outer Banks, but the most accessible places to stay and where to find skiing and snorkeling adventures and even wheelchair repair shops.

* Exceptional Parent Magazine’s March issue is devoted to family travel. Call (800) 372-7368 or Internet https://www.eparent.com.

* The newsletter Emerging Horizons lists and reviews accessible hotels, including inns and B&Bs;, and offers other travel ideas around the world. A four-issue subscription is $11.95. Call (209) 599-9409 or on the Internet at https://www.candy-charles.com/horizons.

* The National Sports Center for the Disabled has been offering winter and summer outdoor adventures for nearly 30 years. Learn to ski or snowboard in winter; camp at the totally accessible campground in Winter Park, Colo., in the summer; and raft, mountain-bike, rock-climb or sail. Telephone (970) 726-1540, Internet https://www.nscd.org.

* The Society for the Advancement of Travel for the Handicapped publishes a quarterly magazine, called Open World, and is a good resource for everything from disabled travelers’ rights to where to plan a sailing trip. Tel. (212) 447-7284, Internet https://www.sath.org.

* Growing numbers of travel agents, including Flying Wheels Travel in Minnesota, tel. (800) 535-6790, and Accessible Journeys in Pennsylvania, tel. (800) TINGLES, specialize in trip planning for disabled travelers and their families.

“Travel is a way to show you’re a normal family, like everyone else,” said Carol Randall, who has MS and oversees the comprehensive Web site https://www.Access-Able.com, for travelers with disabilities, which lists about 35 specialty travel agents. “People think if they can travel, they can do anything.”

The 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act certainly has made travel easier for the millions of Americans who are disabled. The law requires, among other things, that hotels, restaurants, cruise ships, transportation systems and public buildings be accessible to the disabled.

But as Deb Chrystal learned in the Florida Keys, accessibility isn’t always the way the law dictates. “All it takes is one 3-inch step to cause problems,” she said. The law also hasn’t stopped rude families from staring or pulling their kids away from a disabled child.

“It’s OK to be curious,” says Julie Hacker, associate publisher of Exceptional Parent, who often takes her 4-year-old disabled daughter Brielle on business trips.

“I wish parents would realize it’s not embarrassing if their kids ask questions. Sure, she looks different,” Hacker said. “But what people need to teach their kids is that differences aren’t bad.”