Travel can be a rough proposition for the differently-abled, and Journeys Without Barriers (JWB) strives to smoothen it out. Three passionate women — Gouthami, Shivani Gupta and Vidhya Kalyani RamaSubban — are behind this start-up.
When approached by individuals, groups, NGOs or interested communities for travel to a destination in India, JWB makes that specific place accessible to the differently-abled and senior citizens.
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“Before we chalk out an itinerary, we visit the place, and check how accessible they are. We look at the washrooms (if they need ramps) and the ticket counters (if they must be lowered) at popular tourist spots, and work at making them accessible. The accommodation can be anything, including a homestay, guesthouse or hotel. Since Ladakh has many hotels, we decided not to build one ourselves, but to tie up with a few. When they are renovating or adding an extra room to their premises, we work with them to make it suitable for the customers. Basically, we help these people run this as a business enterprise,” she says.
“Sometimes we ourselves identify groups for such travel. Projects will soon be launched in Chennai (in Kovalam) and Delhi,” says Vidhya.
It all started with ‘Himalaya on Wheels', which they launched in 2011, with the help of PAGIR (People's Action Group for Inclusion and Rights) in Ladakh. “I've been working in Ladakh for many years, and when we started ‘Himalaya on Wheels', we thought, if people could travel to Ladakh, why not other places. That's how JWB happened. In fact, a lot of people have been asking us to take it to places such as Goa or Pune.We're planning on launching adventure sports too in Chennai, where the differently-abled and senior citizens will experience stand-up paddling and rappelling. Having said that, our packages are open to all kinds of travellers.”
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When travelling with JWB, one needn't worry about being alone, as it trains people to take care of the differently-abled. “Normally, Indians don't travel alone and always bring people along to assist them, but for those who want to be independent, we have trained helpers,” says Vidhya. “We're also a part of ‘Travel Another India', which engages in responsible tourism. We work with local communities and help empower them.”
JWB hopes to make tourism friendly to the visually- and the hearing-impaired too. “In Chennai, for example, we have Vedanthangal on our list, and we will tie up with sign language interpreters who will tell them about the birds. We're looking at having our pamphlets in Braille and in MP3 format.”
“We take people around usual tourist spots such as the lake and monasteries in Ladakh, and also do things such as a walk in the snow leopard area, spending a day with a Ladhaki family, learning to cook local cuisine and even a camel ride in North Ladakh,” says Vidhya.
For details, visit JWB at www.travelanotherindia.com/
journey-without-barriers.html