Learning Unit 6

The goal of this learning unit is to describe the requirements of people with different types of disabilities and those with other access requirements. Besides the main categories of mobility, visual, hearing and mental impairments, the unit focuses also on “hidden or not visible disabilities” which represents 70 to 80% of all the disabilities, as well as other access requirements.

It is necessary to clarify that the structure of this learning unit, with the division of tourists/customers into “categories” and the description of each in terms of their access requirements, has a purely didactic purpose. Essentially, a tourist with a disability must first of all be considered as a “TOURIST” and, as such, he or she should be treated appropriately by any tourist service provider, who should be aware of their different needs.

The learning unit explains how to identify and respond to the requirements of all tourists including those with disabilities when designing a tourism package, offering a service (e.g. booking a service, transport, sightseeing guiding, dietary needs, etc.) The tourism service chain should be a reference for the identification of the different parts of a travel experience which have to be taken into consideration.

The unit also shows how to modify the built environment to meet these requirements, identify the barriers to mobility, use and participation and find alternative solutions.

Attention is also given, as part of the accessible offer, to the provision of food and beverages for people with special dietary requirements due to allergies/food intolerance, including relevant information, declaration of ingredients and labelling according to EU Regulation No. 78/2014.