1. Inclusive Destination Development of Eldourado and the PETAR
Region: Some First Steps Scott Rains, [email protected] the
intersection between disability and tourism can be confusing. I
have just finished translating Brazils first national study on
domestic tourism and disability into English. It includes a common
complaint running through it that I wanted to makes us aware of at
the start of our conversation. There were 69 subjects interviewed
in the study. They were distributed among five regions of Brazil
and included travelers with disabilities including cognition,
sight, hearing, and mobility. The unanimous conclusion could be
paraphrased like this, When we want to travel we cannot find
sufficient relevant information to help us plan adequately. What we
do find we do not trust because generally, beyond the fact that the
information is incomplete, it is incorrect. And, after arriving at
the destination, we dont find tourism and hospitality professionals
trained in serving those with disabilities as customers. The key
statement is, ...we dont find tourism and hospitality professionals
trained in serving those with disabilities as customers. They are
saying that regardless of whatever architectural accommodations
there may be what is lacking is a culture of inclusion. For this
reason it seems valuable to examine three points at which confusion
predictably enters into discussions on this subject or disability
and tourism: What is tourism from the point of view of those who
work in the tourism sector What is disability from the point of
view of those with lived experience of disability Why accessibility
is not sufficient if a destination lacks a culture of inclusion To
begin lets recall what we sell in tourism. Our product is an
experience. Now I have colleagues who say, No Scott. What we sell
is a dream. They are wrong. To sell that experience we use
marketing to engage imagination and emotions - the ability to
dream. Yet whatever confuses their own marketing with that high
quality of service that our clients deserve will not have a
sustainable business. Even worse is that when the marketing
2. doesnt reflect reality it is the destination that suffers.
Any marketing needs to communicate truthfully the reality of a
destination to allow the traveler to imagine themselves in it and
conclude, I want, and I can have, that experience. To do this it is
necessary to understand how we understand ourselves as people with
disabilities. We are consumers of a product that we know, without a
shadow of a doubt was conceived, developed and is being promoted by
and for those who have no personal experience of disability. Think
about that. Think about the skill and sophistication we develop in
reading physical and cultural environments, yes and advertising
too. It comes from a lifetime living like a stranger in even our
home environments that were designed as if we were an afterthought
or non-existent. The success of people like Jos Fernandes Franco at
his Parque dos Sonhos in Socorro Brazil comes from individuals
overcoming their personal handicap of having no firsthand
experience of disability and in the process proving our viability
as a market. It prove something else as well. We call it the Social
Model of Disability: Progress for us as people with disabilities is
when society recognizes that their understanding and imagination is
underdeveloped. Disability is an interaction between physical,
intellectual or sensory functionality and the environment. Reinvent
the ways of modifying the environment and you eliminate disability.
Clearly an individuals functionality doesnt change. Changing the
individual in that way is the role of medicine and nobody elses
business. This reinvention is social. It is corporate. It begins in
the imagination. It begins with the realization that to have
differences and diversity in functionality is natural, normal - and
is not going to disappear by being ignored by the market. To the
contrary, it is an opportunity. One description of our objective
for this event could be summarized as How do we develop Eldourado
as a favorite destination for travelers with disabilities? Maybe as
the gateway and central hub of this geologically and culturally
unique swath of the Atlantic Forest. Even though I cannot be there
with you during these discussions on how to put this into practice,
I know that the visitor experience that we are going o develop
together, if it is to be sustainable, depends on the will of the
community of Eldourado and the network of quilombo communities in
the Ribeira Valley region. They must develop that culture of full
inclusion of residents with disabilities. They are going to
discover, as have so many other destinations around the world, that
these will be the beacons consistently attracting travelers with
disabilities. I am rooting for you!
