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Tour Company Offers Trips for those with Special Needs

© By Ann Litt and Irene Togher

Ann Litt, owner of Undiscovered Britain & Ireland, in Philadelphia, is a "specialist agent" in every sense of the word. She has completed extensive destination specialist programs given by the British Tourist Authority, the Scottish Tourist Board, the Irish Tourist Board and the Wales Tourist Board. In addition, she is the only U.S. tour operator dealing with these countries exclusively who also specializes in travel for persons with disabilities, or mature travelers with special needs.

She has been in the travel industry for 16 years, and has owned her company since 1994. She decided to specialize in the United Kingdom after a trip to Wales in 1992, where she fell in love with the country and its people. After completing the specialist program given by the Wales Tourist Board, she decided to expand her horizons, and soon finished the programs offered by the Scottish Tourist Board and the British Tourist Authority. After the Irish Tourist Board offered their own specialist program, she graduated in the first group of Shamrock Club agents.

Four years ago, she had an inquiry from a disabled client wishing to visit Britain, and soon found that the information that was available regarding accessibility was extremely outdated and in many circumstances, totally unavailable. It occurred to her that there are many people with various degrees of disability who would love to travel to Britain and Ireland, but haven't done so because of their concerns about accessibility and getting around while in a wheelchair.

She decided to do some research, and for the next year and a half, she went to Britain and Ireland every few months for 7-10 days each, checking out literally hundreds of hotels, attractions, restaurants and even pubs, to insure that her clients would be able to travel in a way that met all of their special needs. All of the information she collected was put on an extensive database, which now covers several thousand entries, which includes measurements of doorways, bedrooms, public areas, bathroom equipment and notes on accessibility at each place visited.

When she went to Ireland in 1998 with a view towards checking out accessibility, things were just starting to change to meet the needs of the less able-bodied visitor. Now, several trips and much research later, she has found that there are wonderful accessible accommodation ranging from B&Bs up to 5-star hotels all over the country and many restaurants and even wonderful Irish pubs are now suitable for disabled patrons. In addition, she is now working exclusively with Irish suppliers who can provide excellent transport with private driver/guides using adapted vehicles or larger coaches.