TRAVELABILITY: A Guide for Physically Disabled Travelers in the United States

A needed complement to Atwater's Rollin' On (p. 1012), this upbeat guide to travel will help the handicapped past most barriers. Reamy suggests that preplanning is safest, that polite requests for special services generally get courteous responses, and that many tourist attractions and cities now provide accessibility information. Like Rollin' On, this considers wheelchair access most thoroughly but also indicates specific features or disadvantages for those with other disabilities. Included are sample letters requesting information plus full evaluations of ways to travel (the QE2 has A-1 accessibility, Trailways and Greyhound have accommodating fares) and where to go: Hawaii continues to get high marks for travel ease, nearly all Holiday Inns have rooms adapted for wheelchair guests. Reamy covers medical questions--catheters, insulin, dialysis, etc.--in a short chapter, lists many places to write or call, and devotes an inspired section to Lily Tomhn's stage character Crystal, the plucky quadriplegic who wants to soar. For Wheelchair Vagabonds and like-minded spirits.