Know Your Rights: A Traveler’s Guide to Local Disability Laws

An “accessible” elevator up three short stairs. A single bathroom with no handrails. A form to request accessibility accommodations with low-contrast text. Nearly every disabled person can name an accessibility fail or twenty that have happened to prevent their access to goods and services.

While you may be familiar with the laws in your hometown that ensure equal access—such as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 in the United States, the Equity Act of 2010 in the United Kingdom, or Law No. 13,146 on Inclusion of People with Disabilities of 2015 in Brazil—you may not be familiar with what protections you have when traveling.

Knowing the laws that protect individuals from disability discrimination, or ableism, helps us to be better prepared as travelers, in the same way that you might look up laws on jaywalking in a specific country. 

Here are some tips to help you become more familiar with disability law while away from home:

1. Know your rights at home.
   • Counter-intuitive as it may seem, knowing your rights at home is the first step in protecting yourself from disability discrimination while traveling. Whether you’ll stay in your own country or you are going abroad, knowing what you are legally entitled to at home will give you the language to discuss your access needs and legal rights abroad.

1.  
2. Look up disability law at your destination.
   • While you don’t need to be an expert in the laws of a country you are visiting, looking through the basics of what laws cover and what they don’t will give you a sense of what protections you are offered. If you live in a country like the United States, which has various regions with different governments, you may want to look up the laws and policies that are specific to where you are traveling. When I travel, I like to bookmark disability laws on my phone, just in case I need to refer to my rights under another law.

• • Checking local laws and customs is good practice even if you’re non-disabled, as different countries may have different laws. For example, while jaywalking may be legal in New York City, it is a finable offense in Nashville and Memphis, TN.

1. • Be sure to check the definition of disability under different laws, as it may vary regionally.

3. The CRPD

• • The United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is an international agreement with 162 signatories. This agreement lays out certain human rights guidelines which must be adhered to in countries that have ratified the CRPD. This agreement provides certain protections for all people with disabilities, such as requiring buildings and roads to meet certain accessibility requirements.
  • Not every country has ratified the CRPD, meaning they are not necessarily accountable to this agreement. Some countries, like the United States, have not ratified the CRPD, but they do have other laws that protect people with disabilities, such as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and its amendments in 2008.

4. Plan ahead and; pack appropriately

• • As with any trip, plan ahead for any disability and accessibility needs you might have. Build in time to rest your body and recuperate energy you might have spent while traveling, ensure you have any medical supplies that will aid you in caring for your disability, consider any accessible seating or other needs you may have in transit. For example, I know that I need a bathtub/basin in my hotel room, so I like to email and confirm that any room I reserve has this feature in it. That way, the hotel is aware of and can help to accommodate my needs while traveling.

5. Have fun!

• • Even while being cautious and knowing what rights you have, it is important to enjoy yourself while traveling. Don’t be afraid to try new things, even if they may seem a little scary or you may still have some minor questions about accessibility. You never know what you might find when traveling!