How to Travel: A guidebook for Persons with a Disability

There are about 43 million persons in the USA with someform of disability. Many of these people are concernedthat they may not be able to enjoy the same activities, such as travel, that people without a disability do. Thisbook is written as a guidebook to your rights and willpresent information on how to travel to accommodatevarious disabilities. Prior to 1986, little or no attention was paid to a personwith a disability who wanted to travel. Since 1986, twoacts have been passed by the Congress of the UnitedStates mandating that travel should be made equallyavailable to all persons, disabled or not. The first act, the Air Carriers Access Act (ACAA), passed in 1986, defined what air carriers and airports must do to make aircraft and airports accessible to persons with disabilities. The second act, the Americans With Disabilities Act(ADA) of 1990, defined, among its many regulations, what public transportation and accommodations must offer to make their facilities accessible to persons with disabilities. The Act also states that facilities must be madeaccessible if it is not too difficult or expensive. The ADAdoes not mandate that the facilities be made usable. Fred Rosen has systematically defined rights and precautions to make traveling with a disability more accessible, affordable, and sa