Learning at Intercultural Intersections

Millions of people around the world have the desire, money, and time to travel but choose to stay at home because the travel industry is not adequately equipped to accommodate people with disabilities. Improved accessibility for travelers with disabilities will lead to improvements in the quality of life and to better health outcomes for this population while advancing the North American tourism market. This paper will discuss the need for (and the contents of) a customized state-of-the-art online customer service training program so that service employees in North America can be ‘accessible tourism’ ready. Training in disability awareness and customer care can minimize the barriers encountered by persons with disabilities (European Commission, 2004). Unfortunately, many organizations do not train their staff in the art of serving customers with disabilities. What is needed is a comprehensive training program for staff at destinations, attractions, events and facilities serving visitors with disabilities. The course should be designed to engage the highly mobile and technologically advanced participant, while providing flexibility within the online academic environment.  It should allow for the expansion of the traditional boundaries set by the standard classroom lecture format to a global learning exchange utilizing an electronic platform.