Introduction

Until 2002 when the Open Doors Organization (ODO) sponsored its first nationwide study on travel and hospitality among adults with disabilities (ODO, 2002), conducted by Harris Interactive, there had never been a major, statistically reliable survey on the US disability travel market. No one could say with any assurance what percentage of adults with disabilities were travelling, how frequently, what modes of transportation they used or how much they spent on transportation, lodging or dining. This meant that corporations in the travel industry had no data on which to base investment decisions and thus little incentive to do more than the minimum required under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act or the Air Carrier Access Act.

In 2002 the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) carried out its own Transportation Availability and Use Survey (BTS, 2002) which explored not only travel by public transportation but also private vehicle. Its sample was divided evenly between disabled and non-disabled respondents of all ages. The motivation was the 'critical lack of information [on] transportation use by people with physical, mental or emotional disabilities' but the goal in this case was 'to create an information source for transportation planners and policy makers . . .' rather than the private sector (BTS, 2003: 3). While it focused primarily on local transportation, the BTS study also covered long distance travel. Findings from this survey have been released in several reports including Freedom to Travel (BTS, 2003) and Travel Patterns of Older Americans with Disabilities (Sweeney, 2004).

In 2005, ODO sponsored a second nationwide study which explored in greater depth the barriers facing travellers with disabilities in airports and airplanes as well as hotels and restaurants (ODO, 2005). The 2005 study also examined how these travellers planned and booked trips and identified which destinations are most popular in the continental US and overseas.