Disabling journeys: The tourism patterns of people with impairments in Australia

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an analysis of the tourism participation patterns of people with impairments in Australia. The research is based on a social approach to disability that places the lived experience of people with impairments at the centre of the research paradigm (Oliver, 1990; 1996). In short the social approach to disability conceptualises disability as a complex form of social oppression rather than the individual's fault stemming from impairment (Abberley, 1987). A social approach to disability investigates the disabling constraints and barriers produced by the social, economic, physical and cultural environments, and prevailing 'hostile social attitudes' (Barnes, 1996:43). The methodology employed for this paper involved the secondary data analysis of three national surveys (ABS, 1993; 1998; and BTR, 1998) and a survey undertaken by the author (Darcy, 1998). The analysis involves a range of techniques including frequencies, crosstabulations, chi -square, independent sample tTest, ANOVA and binary logistic regression analysis. The major areas of analysis of the data showed firstly, the relative level of travel undertaken by people with impairments. Secondly, this work demonstrated that people with impairments travel significantly less than the non -disabled. Thirdly, due to this lower level of travel people with impairments are proportionally under represented as members of the travelling public. Yet, the majority of people with impairments did not view their impairment as the reason for non -travel but other constraints and barriers that they encounter. These constraints and barriers vary significantly based on their access requirements (vision, hearing, mobility and communication). Lastly, the paper revealed the impact of the embodied ontology (Shakespeare & Watson, 2001) on tourism patterns. The paper concludes with a discussion of the complexity of understanding the social relations of tourism for people with impairments in Australia.