107: Championing accessible tourism: Neha Arora, Founder, Planet Abled

The Elephant in the Room

Shownotes:

As a podcast host I meet so many inspiring people - I recently met with Neha Arora, who quit her job after working for nearly a decade in the private sector to set up Planet Abled (2016) with a vision to make travel/tourism accessible and inclusive for people with disabilities. Today, Planet Abled has grown to become a destination developer and ecosystem enabler.

Her business is rooted in authenticity, a gap in the market identified because of her lived experience. As a child she and parents (her mother is a wheel chair user and her father is blind) did not go on holidays or travel, she naively attributed it to not having enough money. Travelling with her parents when she started working opened her eyes to the reality - they chose not to travel due to the societal stigmas around disability and also inaccessibility at every stage of the travel journey.

In this eye opening episode we spoke about the series of side hustles Neha had before Planet Abled, the Indian travel and tourism landscape (from an accessibility lens), societal prejudice, assumptions that people with disabilities do not work or have money, that it is ok for make decisions on their behalf, lack of vision by investors…….👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾

👉🏾 Quitting her job and becoming an entrepreneur

👉🏾 The need to mainstream accessible and inclusive travel, and not create a parallel industry

👉🏾 Census data and the reality that people with disabilities are hidden in Indian society

👉🏾 The demand and actual numbers of people with disabilities travelling

👉🏾 Awareness, attitudes and affordability - the three A’s that influence travel decision

👉🏾 The biggest challenges facing the industry

👉🏾 Policy and legislation

👉🏾 What accessible and inclusive travel/tourism would look like in an ideal world.

We also spoke about travel and tourism industry workforce training and sensitisation, the challenges she facing running her business, role models and what drives her.

To listen to the episode head to Apple podcasts or any other podcasting platform.

Episode Transcript:

Sudha: Good afternoon, Neha. Thank you for making time to be a guest on The Elephant in The Room podcast today.

Neha: Thank you so much Sudha for inviting me and I'm looking forward to our conversation.

Sudha: Brilliant, To get started, let's start with a quick introduction. Tell us a bit about yourself.

Neha: Well, I'm Neha Arora and I'm the founder of Planet Abled, which makes tourism accessible and inclusive for persons with disabilities and the elderly. And I started because of my own personal experiences, because I never travelled as a child. And my parents who are now in their seventies and eighties, they never travelled until a few years ago. So after I started earning, the first thing I did was to save some money and travel, only to be disappointed by the inaccessibility and the societal stigmas related to it.

Neha: So we started off as a travel service provider and gradually grew up into a destination developer and an ecosystem enabler where we help businesses as well to become accessible and inclusive.

Sudha: Okay, that's very interesting. So you've said a bit about what PlanetAbled is. So it's very difficult, I understand when you start on your professional journey to actually quit a good job and to become an entrepreneur. And to become an entrepreneur at any stage is a difficult thing, it's not in our psyche, it's not in our mindset. So what were the drivers for you.

Neha: Yeah. So Planet Abled is not my first venture. So along with my corporate job, which lasted about nine years with various IT and telecom companies, I was having side hustles all the time. And just for the fun sake, because I found a corporate job to be too boring. So I was like, let's do something, this is an opportunity. Let's make some money here, and this is a gap. So every year of my corporate, I was trying and launching something new and sometimes I gave up because I lost interest, sometimes I shut things down because I thought, oh, I'm not the right person to do it. Or sometimes I ran out of money or sometimes there were different reasons for abandoning different projects, but Planet Abled actually kind of simmered over the years. So when I started working and we went for our first holiday, and it didn't go as planned, and what happened was wherever we were going I was getting into arguments about accessibility that why it's not accessible.

Neha: And one fight at a temple turned into a mob fight because the priest made it about religion, like asking for access . And that was kind of the tipping point when my parents said, we are not going anywhere because you fight anywhere. Because they are like most individuals with disabilities are conditioned to accept this is not for you and that's okay. Yeah. I mean, I was that person, why it's not okay. And so this was, I think 2009 and I thought they'll get over it and they'll get back, but they did not. And then gradually I started looking for solutions not to find it. And then I was like, okay, perhaps I should do something about it. But because of my starting and closing business trend, I cannot abandon this, if I'd have to do it, there will never be a plan B. If I do it, I'll go all in, because this is not about money, this is not about fun and this is not about just doing something exciting, because you'll be creating hope in so many people and then you cannot abandon them, because they've kept their trust in you.

Neha: So I think for two to three years I did my homework, to convince myself that it would be a financially sustainable model and that I can pull it off. So I sat at airports counting the number of disabled people coming out because India has no data about disabled travellers. Still doesn't.

Neha: And talked to concierge of hotels who are there at the airport to receive travellers. Like how often do they travel? Do they travel for work or leisure or stuff? And to my surprise, there were not enough people travelling. And then I went into the community, like what sort of experiences they were having, whether they were travelling or not travelling at all, what are the challenges and what is their ideal solution? And does that make business sense? Like, would I be able to pull it off as something financially sustainable? So then once I was convinced, then I was at a point like, yeah, this makes sense, I'm convinced like if not now then when. Like, you know every day sitting in Adobe office, I was like, nothing's gonna change, my parents are retired, I have a lifestyle to support I have no savings because I burnt all of them in previous businesses. But it was still like, I'll take it one day at a time and it paid off. I mean it's been the most amazing journey of my life till date.

Sudha: I can imagine. And I think, you should not forget about the kind of experience that you got running those businesses, even though they may not have succeeded, it prepared you for where you came, where you started your journey.

Sudha: And probably , this business idea was the most authentic, most aligned to your purpose. And it was like you say, whenever you have a plan B, things don't work. I think entrepreneurs just need to go all in. Otherwise it just doesn't work.

Sudha: Yeah, it's like tragic to hear the statistics and of course we're all aware about how how unusual it is for people to travel with disabilities. Globally there is an estimated, 1.3 billion people with significant disabilities and that is one in six of us, right? And as per the Indian census, it is just 2.2% or 2.68 crore. It sounds like a ridiculous figure really. And so my question to you is, would you agree that the numbers are perhaps not right, but also that people with disabilities are hidden in our society?

Neha: So both the things actually, so answering to the first part of the question, when the last census was done that time, only seven disabilities were recognised in there. Autism was not a disability at that time. We recognised as a disability only when the new RPWD law was passed in December, 2016, and which came into force in 2017. Now we have 21 disability. So there is a huge leap in the number of disabilities that are recognised.

Neha: It still does not cover all the aspects of disabled people, but still it covers a lot of them. Even some invisible disabilities. And also the world average is like 15%, how can India have 2.2%, it does not make sense. And India has the maximum number of blind people in the world, and because blindness. Most of it is preventable in India, it's lack of basic healthcare, basically cataract has been the biggest, reason for people going blind in India, and so the number is definitely not correct. And we should go by the world average and perhaps more because going by the kind of lifestyle or living conditions we have in India, we are supposed to have more disabled people, and of course it is stigmatised because even families hide that.

Neha: Even people themselves hide that they have an invisible disability. In India, how many times are we talking about children having a ADHD or a learning disability? We still consider, okay, it's only wheel chair accessibility and then also it stigmatised like, okay, why do you have to go to a shopping mall to shop? I'll get it for you. Like l've had such horrendous experiences with some people, that they have never sent them to school. They're just born into wealthy families and the person with disability has never stepped out of the house in years. The neighbours don't know that there is a person with disability that lives in their house.

Sudha: Yeah. I have seen that within my family. (I asked to edit the part about the person with visual impairment - please delete) People didn't want to talk about it. People didn't wanna tell other people about it, with the stigma associated. With my aunt and my mother, they had polio, Aunt more visibly, and my Mother less visibly, but it is such a stigma, my God.

I totally agree with you. And it's a very sad thing and I think the more we talk about all of these things and the more we sort of spotlight issues.

Neha: Yeah, and just to add, I mean, in India, even the elderly, if you acquire a disability because of age, it's not even considered a disability. I mean, people don't even accept themselves. "I wear hearing aid, but I'm not disabled". They'll lose their vision or their mobility, but they're not disabled.

Neha: I was asked when my parents of my schoolmates got to know about me. My parents, they were like, who pays your school fees? I was asked this question because there is an assumption that people with disabilities don't work.

Sudha: Yeah. I had a really good colleague when I was at Uni. Raman who was such a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant person. And there were quite a few people with visual impairment at college. But you don't know what happened to those people because they're not visible in the workplaces or not visible when you go into a mall or when you are outside somewhere, you don't see people with disabilities in India.

Neha: Yeah. That's sad, but employment wise, I think it has been, improving like much, much faster because India does not have a disability benefit like the UK or US or countries in Europe where you have a disability benefit on which if you are not able to work, you can live on most benefits. India doesn't have that. I mean, yeah, we have that's like 200 rupees to 2,400 rupees, depending upon which state you are in per month.

Sudha: Yeah, that's like really not going to do anything.

Neha: So people had to struggle to find jobs. So now even the MNCs, like IBM, Microsoft, Cisco in India are hiring person with disabilities in white collar jobs. I have a friend who is a blind person and he is a cybersecurity expert. I have a certified CFA, who is a business analyst with Deloitte. So they are growing in numbers, and this is very, very refreshing to see, but when you, talk about social life.

Sudha: Yeah, I'll speak about this to you after the podcast because a lot of what I have noticed is that companies want to be seen as doing DEI and being inclusive, but for most people it is like really challenging just to get past the first screening, because most of the time they want you to not have any visible disabilities or visible problem. Maybe you're a wheelchair user and don't have anything that's going to impact how you work, which, they don't want to make any reasonable adjustments as one calls it.

Neha: True.

Sudha: And let's move on to the next question. Is there data on the number of people with disabilities travelling and how big is the demand? Because you said that you were sitting at airports counting the number of people who were coming out from the airport.

Neha: So, as per my knowledge and experience, four countries in the world monitor travellers with disabilities data. Four countries in the whole world, And these are independent organisations that track most of the time - US, Australia, UK and Germany. But their focus also is majorly on persons who are wheelchair users or mobility impaired. So in 2018 or 19, I'm not sure of the year, Americans with disabilities, only wheelchair users, so this was done by an independent organisation in the US, this research and they spent 58 billion US dollars on accessible travel in one year.

Neha: And we are just talking wheelchair users at the moment, which are like only 10% to 12% of the disabled population. So we are not even counting the 88% to 90% of disabled people, still the yearly spend is 58 billion. So that disposable income of disabled people and their families and friends is $13.1 trillion. That's the amount of money that we are talking about, and we are not creating products or services that can cater to them because we have our own prejudice that these people don't travel or they don't have the money.

Sudha: Or we are just used to doing things in a way and we don't want to move, it'a a huge opportunity, it's a huge opportunity. According to you Neha, what are the biggest accessibility challenges facing the Indian travel and tourism industry? Yeah. I mean, I'm not an expert, but I can see a lot of obvious ones.

Neha: I'm just thinking where do I start? So I think the biggest challenges first, recognising that this is a market. Recognising the fact that this is a market that you need to create products and services for that is important in the first place. That is still missing. So when I started like almost eight years ago now, and it has changed like earlier hotels used to say they don't travel, why are you even coming? ? Now they're at least talking about it, let us know how do we make it accessible? They're still not investing major money into it, but yes, there's a major shift.

Neha: Last year the Ministry of Tourism released draft to guidelines for accessible tourism in India, and it was a lot academic, so I gave them a whole new document of practical applications like pro bono. And now both the documents are nowhere to be seen, but it's changing in a way because of the RPWD Act that we have. Like the America has ADA, which recently completed, 33 years. Ours is like only six years in the making, so that's why you see at least some ramp somewhere, at least for the compliance sake being put. Just to meet the compliance at least the government organisations are doing it, but then it is so much more than just a ramp that you put in, when it comes to accessibility.

Neha: The websites are not accessible, the travel content that you see on social media or on website, the fancy videos and the promotional brand videos, they, none of them have audio description or captions. Or they're not made keeping in mind people with sensory disabilities that some kind of trigger must be there or should be a warning that people should watch or not watch. Museums, everything is still behind a glass wall, so there is no access we are talking about for people who are blind. We are not talking about the lights and the sounds in the museum, we are not talking about easy language guides for people who are deaf or have learning disabilities. That whole idea, that accessibility in tourism is so much more, we are not there. Airlines have nothing. It has to start from the point, "Okay, I as a traveller with disability, want to travel", the thought. Now I go to Google and find a website, but I find no accessible content in travel, about the destination. Okay. I still figure it out, but then I have to find the transport, whether I travel by train or air or by bus. None of the intercity buses are accessible for wheelchair users. I mean, you give them a free discount, like, okay, have a free ticket. But what does a free ticket do, if they cannot get into the bus.

Sudha: Yeah, that's true.

Neha: We have the largest rail network in the world and it's not accessible for wheelchairs. Zero. Like what are we talking? And then when you go to accommodations, only four-star and above have one room which is wheelchair accessible. For other disabilities, we are not even talking or thinking. And they're also, for compliance sake, once I have got the shower panel removed while the guest checked in the hotel, because she could not go inside the shower area to take a shower, and this was a five-star property certified accessible.

Sudha: This is like so terrible, and I know that a lot of the global chains do that because of global compliance needs. And if they can cut corners in the Indian context, they will and they do. But I think so much needs to be done. This is like so shocking that we are keeping people away because they cannot access. Yeah, just at every point of the journey there are...