Accessible tourism experiences: the voice of people with visual disabilities

Our research focuses primarily on the understanding of the engagement in tourist activities of people with disabilities. Specifically, we intend to analyze the experience of people with visual impairments, identifying the factors that constrain and the factors that facilitate their decision to travel, seeking to understand how people adapt, negotiate their perceived and real constraints and become active travelers. A qualitative study was undertaken using in-depth interviews, which sought to give voice to people with visual disabilities. Results of a content analysis of the information gathered allow the following main conclusions: The participation in tourist activities by people with visual disabilities results from an ongoing and interactive process, which is shaped by multiple factors, with positive or negative influences, within each individual’s very personal context, impairment condition and social environment, with impact on different stages of the process. It is possible to identify patterns of factors influencing the process (constraints and facilitators) as well as of negotiation strategies used for continued participation in tourism. To overcome the barriers they face, people with disabilities rely on negotiation strategies associated with the travel organization process, and on different personal and interpersonal strategies that are systematized in this study