Travel&Vacation

We all know that taking the kids is fraught with frustration, especially these days when planes are jammed and security lines are long, but sometimes that’s the least of it.

Special-needs travel

Cindy Slak, from Cleveland, has an 8-year-old son, Gregory, who is wheelchair-bound and “completely dependent for all his daily living needs.” The Slaks also have two daughters and are trying to plan an inclusive vacation—their first in three years—that will work for everyone.

The Slaks are not alone. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 32.5 million Americans, 12 percent of the population, have a severe disability. Sadly, that number includes servicemen and women injured in Iraq and Afghanistan and, according to the March of Dimes, the more than 120,000 children born each year with birth defects.

The good news for those with physical and developmental challenges and their families is that there probably have never been so many inclusive vacation options.

My top vacation pick for the Slaks would be Walt Disney World, which does a terrific job accommodating all kinds of disabilities, whether they’re temporary, like the time we visited when my daughter was in a thigh-to-ankle cast, or not readily apparent, like families traveling with autistic children or those with ADHD. Disney guests who need help getting through auxiliary entrances or need assistance inside the park may get a Guest Assistance Card that will alert staff to their special needs. Also, check out
Passporter’s Guide to Walt Disney World for Your Special Needs
, written by Debra Martin Koma and Deb Wills, the founders of All Ears Net, an unofficial Walt Disney World information site.

For families that love the outdoors, my other top pick would be one of the growing number of affordable adaptive sports programs designed to get the disabled and their families out into the wilderness: skiing in winter or rafting, rock climbing, and navigating rope courses in the summer. There are also programs for wounded servicemen and their families. Visit the Disabled Sports USA website and check out the programs at Crested Butte, Colorado’s, Adaptive Sports Center and the National Sports Center for the Disabled at Winter Park, Colorado.

Kids traveling solo

Jeri Earl, a mom from Palmyra, Pennsylvania, needed to make sure there would be no glitches when she put her 15-year-old daughter, Kendra, on a flight to Ireland alone.

Whenever you put a teen on a plane, you should ask for a pass that will allow you to go through security so you can wait at the gate, though your teen will probably insist that’s not necessary. And, though you might incur your child’s wrath, make sure the gate agents and flight crew know that your child is traveling solo. And, if the flight is diverted or there’s a missed connection, your child should know to ask the crew for help.

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