Making Travel Accessible to the Neurodivergent Community

In this episode of DDA's Encouraging Abilities podcast, we chat with Angela Faminoff, owner of Travel With Ange travel agency based in Victoria, BC. A champion of the disability community, it's her mission to make sure everyone sees the world.

 

TRANSCRIPT

 

Making Travel Accessible to the Neurodivergent Community

 

00:05

Welcome back to another edition of DDA's Encouraging Abilities podcast. We've been doing the podcast for about a year now and this is podcast number 25. So a bit of a milestone, I think. I'm your host, DDA Communications Manager, Evan Kelly. Summer's here, or so they tell me. Here in Richmond, it's still hitting maybe 23 degrees, just barely. In any case, summer for many families means travel, hitting the road, the skies, even the oceans. Today our guest is Angela Faminoff.

 

00:35

owner operator of Travel with Ange. It's someone we've been wanting to talk to for some time now. Travel with Ange operates like any other travel agency. You can find her at TravelWithAnge.ca for any travel needs you might have. But what makes her business different is that her focus for many years has been on the diversability and neurodivergent communities. Travel for families with diverse abilities can be a challenge. Where to go that's adaptive or autism friendly or

 

01:04

simply accessible can be difficult. So, and she helps families navigate these places to find the best and most inclusive holiday fun. So nice to have you on the show, Ang. Hi, thank you so much, Evan, for having me. My pleasure. First off, I have to I have to ask this because your website mentions a love of Scotland. I too have a big connection there. What is yours? Well, oh, I absolutely love Scotland. We immigrated to Canada when I was three.

 

01:31

and so my Scottish roots run deep and very strong. I still have a lot of family living in Scotland and I don't know about you but when you hear the bagpipes I often get quite teary. Oh aye, I too get teary. My great grandmother was born and raised in Edinburgh. That's about the best Scottish brog that I can do there.

 

02:00

So I've definitely got family back there too. And actually I spent about 16 months there straight in, what year was that? It must've been around 2002. So I'm pretty familiar with the area. So- Oh, that is such a cool opportunity. Yeah, it's, you know, you can't replace that for sure. And that's why travel, I think you'll agree is so important when it comes to life. Oh yes. Yes, absolutely. Now you've, you're-

 

02:29

sort of resume on your online as has a lot to do with, you know, being involved in the disability community. So what got you interested in building a travel agency? I think the desire to work from home gives me the flexibility that I can travel with groups. So my desire is to set up groups, we go traveling, we go on cruises together, we go to resorts, we go wherever you want to go.

 

02:58

And so your focus is traveling with people with diverse needs? Absolutely. Um, I would be the host. Um, we would definitely need caregivers and you know, for safety reasons. So I'm not able to perform that role, but I would be the host. I would set it all up. Make sure everything's working at destination or on a cruise or whatnot, and just be there for, you know, any questions and just to get things running as smoothly as possible.

 

03:28

Well, that's great. So you become the de facto tour guide in a sense. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Well, that's really interesting. I actually didn't get that from your website. Oh, sorry. Yeah, no, that's I have some space booked on cruises and we're looking at land resorts and it just.

 

03:49

I would get as much joy out of traveling as the travelers would. So this is why I'm working from home so I can have this flexibility. Well, that sounds amazing. How long have you been doing this? About five years in the travel industry. Now, you didn't just fall into this. You've been involved in the disability community on many levels. Can you talk about that a little bit? Oh, for sure. Gosh, it goes back to...

 

04:17

grade seven, middle school. We actually had a program at our school that gave us the opportunity to volunteer at a day program. And I just fell in love with the amazing communities, narrow, divergent, diversities. And pretty much my entire working career, other than a stint at McDonald's when I was 16, has been involved with this.

 

04:46

amazing demographic. I went to high school, there was a specific program that gave us practicum experience. It's opened so many doors. When I was in high school and college, all my part-time jobs, I worked one-on-one in folks homes with a lot of the kiddos that I met in the preschool. Oh, my summer jobs back in the day. I grew up in Guelph, Ontario, and they had this camp called Rainbow Day Camp.

 

05:15

in the 80s. And this camp was way ahead of its time with inclusivity. And I was a camp counselor there for a number of years, number of summers. And I also took sign language courses in the evening. I guess overall I've worked, let's see, I've been an educational assistant, community support worker. I'm a former ASL, American Sign Language interpreter.

 

05:42

I've worked within the DeafBlind community, I'm on Pop Hard trains, because I was within the school system, and I actually drove a handy dart for a little while as well. And then so I basically wanted to take all of this and combine it with the travel industry.

 

06:01

And that's unbelievable. I mean, if you ever find yourself living on the lower mainland and need a job, come talk to us. You're what we need. Oh, thank you. And so, when you talk about groups, how big of groups do you actually travel with you? That would vary.

 

06:30

Well, actually, it could be any size. It just depends on the support we would have with our travelers because it depends on the traveler's support needs. Is there one caregiver that could travel with only one individual, or would one caregiver be able to have two or three travelers with them under their care? So it varies. We can go from a group of eight to a group of 20, 30.

 

07:00

you know, as long as there's availability in space and we can do it safely. My big thing is all about safety and the support. Yeah, let's go. So super fun. Yeah, absolutely. Now, you're talking about caregivers. Are these primarily families you're dealing with? Are these sort of like, you know, adults, clients who might be neurodivergent, who just have a have a caregiver and they've decided they want to do this on their own and they've got their caregiver and they've got you. So.

 

07:29

Yes, both. Yeah, families is one aspect, but yeah, my dream is to go with groups of adults wherever they desire to go and just have fun together because, to be honest, I really feel that this demographic has been underserved. Oh, absolutely agree. Yeah, yeah, and I'm here to change that.

 

07:53

Which sort of leads me to the next question. I mean, we're like, I'm pretty involved in, you know, sort of what's happening news and stuff in this in this sector in terms of, you know, what's happening with people with disabilities, whether it's physical or cognitive, you know, how have you seen this sector of the travel industry grow over the past, say, 10 years? I say it is definitely growing. We've got a lot of awareness and acceptance out there. It's becoming

 

08:22

quite prevalent. You know, whether it be Autism Acceptance Month, you know, Down Syndrome Month, Special Olympics, you know, I think the more that's out in our media, the more that people are becoming aware. And everyone has the right to travel. Absolutely. And you know, and one of the things is that in many of these podcasts, I keep sort of pressing the idea that, you know, disability...

 

08:49

is going to touch everybody at some point in your life whether you know someone or whether you You know you all of a sudden realize that You've got a disability because you're older or something isn't working the way it should and that could be physical that can be cognitive I mean, it's gonna affect all of us. We need to start looking at this in a universal fashion. Yeah everywhere 100% yeah, and you know we see lots of stories

 

09:15

uh... these days i'm really coming across our uh... social media feeds is his stories about wheel wheelchairs and airplanes that's a you know plan example of where people are not being looked after uh... yeah definitely that is so frustrating uh... you had mentioned early in one of our conversations that delta is trying to make a big change and i know air canada had stuff in the works with regards to accept ability

 

09:44

um and inclusion i don't know if it's to the same degree um but you know it just blows my mind with with technology and all the engineering that it's taken this long to figure out how to you know bring someone on an airplane in their chair yeah you know and securely tie it down exactly where's the consideration and it's not just that i mean it's

 

10:12

You know, there's a strong advocate on Twitter and she talks about how her, you know, sometimes people's wheelchairs are just basically thrown around, you know, they're just not taking the care. And people don't understand how expensive these items can be. Oh my gosh. Oh my goodness. My goodness. Like, they're tens of thousands of dollars. Yeah, they're like a car. Custom made. Yeah. And they're an extension of who you are.

 

10:38

And it's so frustrating. I've heard and read so many stories of damage. Even one of the persons sitting on the aircraft, looking out the window and seeing their wheelchair being poorly mistreated. Yeah, it's unbelievable. Yeah. So we have to raise that awareness that these are these aren't just seats. These are extensions, as you said, of that person. Yeah, you know. Absolutely. So anyway.

 

11:01

Back to traveling around and hopping around the world. How do you go about finding the best vacation for a family that's got special needs? Let's see. Well, I am certified as an autism travel professional. So I have access to multiple resources with travel directories, including destinations, theme parks, activities, restaurants even.

 

11:29

and you know shops like certain cities are making a real effort to become you know very neurodivergent friendly you know it's just kind of it's amazing actually I mean I know one city Mesa Arizona I haven't had the chance to go yet but would love to take a group there and it's like the city has done so much training and so many different factors

 

11:59

of their industry. Yeah, you know, like things like that are like amazing. So yeah, I have access to a variety of resources. And basically, it's finding out what works for that particular family or that particular individual.

 

12:18

Now, with that in mind, are there sort of areas you kind of like to avoid? I want to make sure that, you know, I understand that anywhere is good for someone to go, but like are there places that you want to sort of steer families away from because they might not be as accessible or as autism friendly, for example? Yeah, definitely. Again, that would be sitting down, figuring out exactly where they want to go.

 

12:48

me doing the research, finding out, you know, making some calls, talking to suppliers, you know, just getting a feel. I have a, you know, network of thousands of colleagues that, you know, we go back and forth and we share information and very candid information, like, don't go there. You know, so, you know, you know, like, why give suppliers the business if they're not going to treat people?

 

13:18

the way they should be treated. Oh, exactly. Now, places like Disneyland, Legoland, a number of the big sort of destination places, they always seem to be upping their inclusion game and making things a lot more autism friendly, which is great. What are you hearing from clients from these locations? Well, actually, I just had a family come back from Legoland in California, and they had a blast.

 

13:48

no issues whatsoever. So I think the fact that the training that comes it's from an outside education source, they will go into Legoland and Disney and whatnot and they will certify them as autism friendly. So it's not it's not just you know Legoland saying oh yeah you know we've done a little bit of this and that so you know they have to go through CRITA or Rigmaral to receive that training.

 

14:16

uh... and i mean that certification and that includes training on uh... you know all staff so it is just a where there and like i know um... one resort uh... beaches you know fandals and beaches beaches had four resorts now and it's the family friendly one where sandalwood just adult right uh... but the the uh... all their staff members

 

14:46

of training with autism. And it goes and it's more intense with the camp counselors, the water staff, but the server in the restaurant has also been certified. So everyone is on board with the whole autism community. Do you find there are certain countries that are doing better at that?

 

15:15

what about canada how are we doing for our sort of vacation destinations yeah again to be honest a lot of people travel away from canada truce it just as far as theme parks go you know we don't have the same uh... opportunity however uh...

 

15:38

I would like I'm in the process of putting together a trip to Banff and have reached out to a variety of suppliers there. You know, here's my situation, here's what I want to do, here's my group of travelers. So it's just a matter of finding the right partners to work with. And most people are like, wow, you know, like, this is really cool. You know, what can we do? So

 

16:06

That's great. I mean, as long as people are coming in with the right attitude, you're going to that's more leading towards success, right? Yeah. I'm wondering. Oh, sorry. No, go ahead. No, I just I I'm just curious. I should actually look into Canada's wonderland and I want. Yeah. I wonder what their accessibility is. I'm going to look into that. Yeah. We've got some homework to do. Exactly. Sorry to put you on the spot.

 

16:34

Yeah, no, that's good. That's a good word. What about cruise lines these days? Yeah, definitely this is forefront for them is accessibility. And I know Royal Caribbean, they're very autistic friendly. And they've done some training and they offer programs. And then majority of cruise lines are all about...

 

17:03

meeting the guest needs. So you know, you can get when it comes to, you know, boarding the ship, or disembarking the ship, you know, they there'll be something set up that you will have assistance so that you can forego all the lines and, you know, just meet the needs of their guests. So and then that's also where I come in and I

 

17:30

you know, touch base with the airline. And, you know, there's a note on their file that one of the travelers is on the spectrum. So it's just a little, you know, note for them when they meet the family that go, oh, okay. And they just have that little bit of extra patience or kindness, you know what I mean? Yep.

 

17:49

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And like, and to that, we're seeing a lot of I've been seeing a lot of stories about airlines helping families with kids who have autism to do practice runs for boarding and they some airports even have like a sort of a pseudo plane place sort of set up so they can go in and take a look. And are we are we seeing that here so much in Canada? Or is that something like even the cruise industry can look into or? Well, actually, it's interesting you mentioned that.

 

18:20

That has been a dream of mine to do in Victoria for the last three, four years. It's just been this passion project. And so in April of this year, we pulled it together and I partnered with autism, autism BC air Canada. We, the three of us, um, spearheaded our inaugural, we called it YYJ autism aviation day, YYJ being Victoria.

 

18:46

So, and then the Canucks Autism Network partnered with us. Oh, great. And they are absolutely amazing. Yeah. Because they host airport tours in Vancouver quite often. And they also have, if you go online and look at the Vancouver airport, there's a great number of resources for traveling on the spectrum.

 

19:11

So I just wanted to basically, you know, emulate that here in Victoria. So we had, let's see, Autism BC Air Canada brought a plane in. The airport authority and security, basically the day started off, families showed up, went through our registration. They had to go get a boarding pass.

 

19:35

and the flight was called CAN7777, so you know, Kanakauch is the network. It was awesome. And then they had to go through security and then they had to wait, which is real life, and actually the plane was delayed, so it was a longer wait. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And then they got to board the plane and we were on the plane for about 45 minutes. We had a snack,

 

20:03

We went through the safety drills, just chatted. It actually, there were many tears through the day because it was just such an amazing event. And, you know, I'm just getting some thoughts talking about it because it was so wonderful. And we limited the number of participants because it was our first time. And we could have tripled.

 

20:29

like the waitlist. Yeah, you know, so it just shows the need out there. So this will be a definitely an annual event. And then we also had suppliers. After we all you know, got off the plane, we went and had like a little reception and we had cupcakes and snacks and all the suppliers had their table set up and they were fun things for the kids to take home. And so we had beaches, we had Air Canada vacations.

 

20:59

Royal Caribbean and also Huntington Beach in California is embarking on, I'm working closely with them and we're embarking on setting up travel, you know, vacations to Huntington Beach because it's nice and close and there's so much to do and they even have an adapted surf school.

 

21:23

in Huntington Beach. So, you know, it's just reaching out and finding the right connection to the right suppliers and then you want to stick with them and build up your program and just keep going back. And then my dream is say we go to Huntington Beach and we go, you know, once or twice a year, we'll let, you know, connect with day programs down there and meet some friends. And then every time we go back, we visit with our friends and we go and play volleyball on the beach or, you know, just...

 

21:50

Things like that. It just builds a much, much bigger network. Exactly. You know, and it's all based on fun. Now, I hate to ask this kind of question because you do travel with the groups. Is there an added cost for that? Like, how does that work for your own business model? For me, no. I would be, you know, with the groups, I would be covered. What the additional cost would be is bringing the support person.

 

22:20

Yeah, so the I mean, the but I mind you, when you do book a group, you do get a group rate. Right. So it's better than, you know, someone just booking by themselves. So yeah, there would have to be funds available for the caregiver or support person to come along. Is there I mean, if it's if it's just a couple of people and their caregivers, is there still some sort of a cut rate, given the situation or airlines and cruisers like,

 

22:50

Yeah, well, airlines, mind you, support people can travel for a discounted rate. Okay. You know, yeah, depending on, yeah, depending on the level of cognitive awareness. Yeah, yeah. So, no, and then the thing is, again, that's where I try, I reach out and just say, so here's our situation, what can you do for us? You know, like whether it be the resort or the hotel.

 

23:18

You know, or when we're there, can you throw in some, you know, fun activities or an excursion for us? You know, yeah, so I like I'm a huge advocate, as you can tell for, you know, the diversability and neurodiversity. Huge advocate from day one, you know, even my kids when they were little, I mean, they're in their 20s now, but I seeked out a preschool in Coquitlam. We were living

 

23:47

this preschool was known to be inclusive and I would guess maybe half the kids had some sort of disability. So my kids just, it's their norm. They just like, oh, look at that, you know, so and so, you know, can't see, or so and so, you know, is in a wheelchair and, you know, we're friends with some of the families to this day. So it's just, I think, and that's just making it a society norm.

 

24:17

you know, and that hopefully has a ripple effect with my kids. They share that, you know, their experience with others and, you know, call people out if they see something that isn't appropriate. And yeah, you still might be a little bit of the outlier. So when you're in, in your in, not to sound negative, but I mean, in your mind, how is inclusion getting better? How much further do we need to go? I think it's definitely getting better. I think

 

24:46

But boy, we sure have a long way to go. I think it's getting better with what we were talking about earlier with the media covering more events. You look at the Special Olympics just now, the World Games, and I'm just so impressed with the coverage that our athletes received. But back in the day, that wouldn't have happened. Yeah, exactly.

 

25:16

saw on our Facebook feed that we won something like 120 medals at the Special Olympics in Berlin. That was unbelievable. That's incredible. Unbelievable. Yeah. That's such great work. Yeah, so I know and I think that every little bit that's in the media in a positive light makes people go, oh wow, that's really cool, you know.

 

25:41

And they're treated like athletes as they are. Yeah, professional athletes. Exactly. You know? Yeah. So, yeah. Well, Angela, what's... I think that's super cool. Absolutely. What's the best way for people to find you? I guess my website would be good because then from there we have links to my Instagram and Facebook. My Instagram was hacked.

 

26:06

last year. So I am on Instagram. It's not travel with and is travel. There's an F on your website. No on my Instagram, but the website would be www dot travel with and dot ca. Now I just I didn't ask you this earlier, like you really do focus on the the disability and neurodiverse community.

 

26:34

Can anybody just call you for travel? Oh, thanks. Yeah. I'm definitely a full service, full service, um, travel agency. Um, you know, we were talking about Scotland earlier. I have a trip planned, you know, next, uh, August for Scotland and Ireland. And it includes the, you know, royal.

 

26:54

edinburgh military tech you know i've seen all that's all been amazing it incredible gold yeah the funniest thing just a completely nothing to do with this conversation is on the on the royal mile in edinburgh right in the sort of the heart of the entire there's a store called bag pipes galore and okay i think that was funny that made me laugh bagpipes galore

 

27:24

It's crazy. I could go on and on about that. Oh yeah. Yeah. We'll have to talk offline about that. Also, um, you know, someone can, what's that me? You know, my cell numbers on there. I'd love to do virtual chat. And when, when I'm meeting families or adults, I find, you know,

 

27:46

Bring the kids on the meeting because I want to get their perspective of what their dream is for their holiday. You know, so I've done that with families. And so my phone number is 250-885-5417. Yeah, shoot me a text, call me, let's connect with WhatsApp and yeah, just start, you know, talking travel and what are your dreams and let's put it together. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah.

 

28:15

Anything else to add? I think we covered a lot of stuff there. Let's see. Oh, my mission statement, your mission statement, which is on my business card and my website is short and sweet. Everyone is welcome and included in my world of travel. Perfect. That is my my passion, my my dream. So

 

28:42

Yeah, give me a show and oh, oh, oh, I did start within the last couple of months. I did start a new travel club. Oh, it's called Angus Kindred travel crew. And there's information on the website and it's just, again, putting groups together and let's go and. You know.

 

29:06

Oh goodness, I just get so excited and passionate about this. Good. We need more people like you. Yeah. I just, um, I think let's, you know, if we can travel together as our, as our crew, you know, we can get t-shirts, we can get, you know, lanyards, you know, just go and have fun and embrace travel, embrace each other and just go for it.

 

29:34

Absolutely. I'm here to advocate and make your you know, your travel as smooth as possible and we're to help We're here to help get the word out Yes. Oh, yes. Thank you so much And I really really appreciate this Evan that you take the time to reach out and invite me no problem And we can certainly do this again if you know the more issues or more possibilities pop up for sure

 

29:59

Okay, okay. Well, I'm very grateful and thank you and to all the listeners. Thank you. And I look forward to chatting with you and meeting you soon. All right, so you have been listening to DDA's Encouraging Abilities podcast. Our guest today has been Angela Fominoff, owner operator of Travel with Ange, local travel agency in Victoria that focuses on helping neurodivergent community get out and see the world. Angela, again, thank you so much for joining us today.

 

30:28

Thank you. You take care. Thanks for tuning in again to our little podcast. I'm your host, Evan Kelly. We'll see you next time.