Disabled Facilities Accommodation
Information

Disabled Access Holidays Canary Islands

Information on Travel for the disabled and disabled mobility and access to services and hotels abroad is available from various sources. A particularly good first port of call for disabled access information abroad is Holiday Care (www.holidaycare.org.uk). They have produced a number of disabled holidays leaflets with information particularly on disabled friendly accommodation in areas like Majorca, the Canary Islands and Spain in general. The pamplets are reasonably priced as well!

If you're a disabled adult or travelling with disabled children it's well worth doing a bit of research before your holiday to the Canaries on what kind of assistance and help is available to you, and what your disability rights are abroad. Wheelchair users and disabled travellers abroad are firstly going to need assistance at the airport and during the flight. You'll be a little surprised and a tad miffed that flying, for some reason!, is not covered under the Disability Discrimination Act (1995). What the airline industry adhere to is their own code of practice - umm. Better than nothing, but not a legal document!

Useful key points are outlined in a leaflet from the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) which is basically a summary of key points in the airlines' code of practice. Until you've checked in at your airline check in desk, responsibility for disabled access and mobility assistance is the airports.

Disabled Access & Wheelchair Asistance at Airports Canary Islands

Disabled travellers can expect access to assistance at airports and during flights. When you arrive at airports, and it's well worth notifying airports on your required needs, expect assistance to reach your check-in desk which could take the form of needing a wheelchair from the terminal entrance, or an escort if you have a sensory impairment, or help carrying your luggage. You can also get assistance with registration at the check-in desk, with staff on hand trained in BSL. Help to reach your departure gate can also be provided. The code leaves the decision to the individual passenger whether to transfer into one of the airlineÕs wheelchairs or to remain in your own whilst waiting to board. You can also get help boarding and disembarking from the aircraft.

Cabin crew on the aircraft should provide you with assistance in stowing and retrieving baggage on the plane should you need it. However if baggage to be stowed in cabin lockers is very heavy, they may refuse to lift it on Ôhealth and safetyÕ grounds. Ask about this if you think your hand luggage may be heavy when you check in. If you need it, an on-board wheelchair can be provided, as can assistance moving to and from the plane toilet. Cabin crew cannot help on any issue involving personal hygiene, again connected with health and safety and food handling. You can also expect assistance transferring between a mobility aid and passenger seat. This again is a Ôhealth and safetyÕ issue. ItÕs increasingly the practice of airlines that this task is carried out not by cabin crew but by baggage handling staff who are trained in manual handling techniques.

During your flight you can get limited assistance with meals, but Cabin crew will only assist with opening packaging, and describing the layout of the tray to visually impaired passengers, but they cannot assist with feeding. Cabin crew will assist in briefing disabled passengers and their travelling companions on emergency procedures and the layout of the cabin. Airlines can also provide staff trained in BSL or offer an explanation which is easy to understand. When you reach your destination airport you can expect assistance to the general public area or to a representative tour operators. Prior to your travel it's well worth ensuring that this mobility transport support is in place. Generally, assistance to passengers in transit is provided as is assistance to the point of onward travel. The rule of thumb for travellers with disabilities is to make clear your needs to airports, tour operators and airlines before you travel. They should then kick in with all this support as specified in the code of practice. If any fail to offer the support outlined in the Code of Practice after you have outlined your needs prior to travel, it's well worth complaining to either Tripscope or DPTAC.

Disabled Travel Los Cristianos, Playa de las Americas Tenerife and the Canary Islands

If you are a wheelchair user or traveller with any disability issue you are certainly entitled to travel alone. It's a question that ask. There are some basic guidelines on this issued by DPTAC and they state that you can travel alone if you are not reliant on supplementary oxygen, you can feed yourself, you can transfer to an on-board wheelchair (where available) on your own, you can use the on-board toilet without assistance, you can administer your medication without help amd that you can understand instructions and make yourself understood.

Quieter than Playa de las Americas, with a family feel come chilled lively atmosphere, Los Cristianos is the Tenerife resort of choice for visitors with mobility issues. It's easy to move about here as most of Los Cristianos is pedestrianised, and most of the bars, restaurants and shops are clustered around the beach promenades lining the main beaches Playa de Los Cristianos and Playa de Las Vistas. Tenerife resort shopping doesn't get better than Los Cristianos - with bargain tax free prices and everything from electricals to clothing. There are a large number of bargain shoe shops in Los Cristianos!

Disabled visitors will be delighted with the accessibility of Los Cristianos (and increasingly the other south Tenerife resorts and the Arona municipality). There's a history here to the excellent attitude and disabled access facilities in Los Cristianos. In 1957 a small group of young Swedish travellers all with mobility issues arrived in Los Cristianos. Early on they seemed to have had an influence on Los Cristianos developing as a Tenerife resort with good disabled access, including the now 7km long barrier free and completely wheelchair accessible promenade (it's the longest in Europe!) Many of the beaches, restaurants, bars and amenities in the resort are disabled friendly too! If only more resorts could be like this!