Key Points
- Steph, who is blind, prefers to have a lot of detail about the activities she books for her holidays.
- She experiences the places she visits through her other senses such as smell, hearing and touch.
- One in five Australians lives with a disability, so making travel more accessible may have widespread benefits.
Steph Agnew is blind but that doesn't mean she's not up for taking the scenic route when holidaying.
Agnew has cone-rod dystrophy (CRD), a degenerative eye condition that she was diagnosed with at the age of 19. It took her sight completely before she turned 30.
While she may experience destinations differently to how she once did, travelling is still a great pleasure for her.
Experiencing travel without sight
On a recent trip to Cairns as part of a podcast about accessible travel, Agnew went on the Kuranda Scenic Railway. While she couldn't take in the scenery visually, she enjoyed it because she was able to experience it through her other senses.
Steph Agnew, who is blind, relies on her other senses to experience the places she visits. Source: Supplied / Reuben Nutt/Tourism and Events Queensland
"Then, when the train goes past the waterfall, I could hear the waterfall really loud. So I knew that it was there, and so I was able to really fully experience that, which was really great."
She said the details in the audio playing for all travellers were especially useful.
“They had the audio coming across that said something like, 'Out the window to your left you can see the sea in the distance and underneath is a bridge and this is the background behind the bridge.' So, it was sort of like a description of what was happening out the window, which was really accessible for me," Agnew said.
“What it did was it included me, whilst it was also talking about history, which is for everybody. So ultimately, that has been universally designed. Whether purposefully or not purposely, it has actually included me without having sight.”
Steph's travel diary
In recent years Agnew has been to Vietnam, Thailand and Fiji.
"In the past, I would plan travel around sites that I wanted to see, and I think a lot of people plan their travel around that for sightseeing, but that's obviously not an option for me anymore," she said.
In Ho Chi Minh City, she experienced the rush of activity around her and tasted the flavours of the local cuisine.
In Thailand she did a cooking class, listening carefully to follow what was happening around her and "was able to cook what everybody else was cooking and still enjoy that taste of it afterwards."
Among the overseas destinations Steph Agnew has visited is Thailand. Source: Getty / VW Pics/Universal Images Group
"I had an amazing experience on the island that we were on. I had a one-on-one basket weaving lesson," she said.
A Fijian staff member climbed a palm tree and cut down a branch in front of Agnew and helped her to weave it into a basket.
"Normally when people are teaching, they'll say 'watch what I'm doing and repeat,' but obviously that doesn't work for me," Agnew said.
"So he sat with me and guided my hands and used words to describe how to do it and I was able to weave this incredible basket."
Booking travel and tours as a blind person
Agnew said many services and attractions need to put more consideration into better catering to those with disabilities and that starts from before a booking is made.
When booking a holiday, she wants to have plenty of detail about what a travel experience involves, especially the non-visual aspects.
"The more information I have, the better," she says.
"Often there's not a lot of information on websites and that's something that is really important for tourism operators is to talk about what they have and what they don't have around accessibility and offering a contact person if there are any questions because when you travel with disability, there's a whole lot more planning involved."
Steph Agnew says businesses that take into consideration the different needs of potential customers could draw in more customers, given that 20 per cent of people live with some form of disability. Source: Supplied
"There is a real market for accessible tourism: 20 per cent of Australians have a disability. That's one billion people in the world that have a disability" Agnew said.
"Just like everybody else, we have money that we want to spend. We still want to travel, so when a business is accessible for people with disability, often they will reap many benefits."
A focus on accessible tourism
The QLD government has declared 2023 the Year of Accessible Tourism.
The state's Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe wants to make Queensland an "all-abilities destination of choice" ahead of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Funding of $12 million has been allocated to assisting the tourism industry to better cater to visitors of all abilities.
Tourism Queensland is behind Accessed That, the podcast about accessible travel, that Agnew will feature in a future episode of.
