Blog [with]tv

Disability Matters, 1st Edition

Written by: Connie Kuusisto

Just as "It Takes a Village" to raise children, it also takes a village to raise awareness about issues of disability.

"By uniting people with disabilities and those desiring to enjoy our social intercourse, share our cultural perspective, understand our political agenda, and address our broad general and specific consumer needs, we will achieve success."

This statement, borrowed from the powerful Mission Statement of [with]tv is also useful when referring to the community of bloggers discussing issues of disability. [with]tv is on a mission to unite people with disabilities....and everyone else. This blog has been created to support that mission and this blog, like every other blog, needs a village.

Having said that, we would like to introduce the following blogs to our blogroll titled "Disability Matters". Please visit, comment, link and enjoy one another as we celebrate life, with or with out a disability, and each other. Let us welcome these blogs, and their "bloggers", to our [with]tv Village.

The Six Knows of Preparing to Travel. Tips 1: Know Yourself

By Scott Rains,Senior Advisor, [with]tv and editor of the Rolling Rains Report

"Vacation" is a magic word. Use it in a conversation and people are likely to momentarily spirit off to their private bit of paradise; disappear to somewhere that exists between fantasy and the world-as-we-know-it. But even Harry Potter puts in long hours of preparation to work his magic. So, what's the magic formula for conjuring up a charmed vacation?

First, open up your own personal travel style for inspection. Add a pinch of experience from each of the Six Knows below and you will spice your formula with the wisdom of other travelers with disabilities. Stir it up with a friend or travel agent. Then get out there and see the world!

Know Yourself

Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Take it from me, it's not worth carting along on the road with you either.

First off, ask yourself: What would make this vacation a success for you? Try to answer that question even before you decide on a destination, a reservation, or a travel companion. Pare down to the non-negotiables. Are you looking for quiet rejuvenation -- or exhilaration? Do you have strict budget limits -- or room to splurge? Does success mean having sun, snow, a tropical rainstorm -- or are you content with whatever comes along? Do you have "must includes" for your trip such as a food, an event -- or a language?

Secondly, review your physical health. Do it with your physician if necessary. How is your physical strength? Your stamina? Your immune system? Are you in physical pain that would influence your travel plans? Are your medications working correctly and do you have enough to bring on the trip?

What about your mental health? How is your emotional resilience? What's the recent pattern of your moods? Are your dreams or fantasy life telling you something about how you might react to travel right now?

First published at Suite101.com

Photo is of a smiling Scott Rains.  He's wearing a casual white button down shirt.  Black background.  He sports a tidy salt&pepper beard and mustache.

Meet Columnist Bob Lazzari

Bob Lazzari is an award-winning sports columnist for Connecticut's Valley Times and NY Sports Day; he also contributes a daily sportscast to SportingNewsCT.com and is a member of the Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance. He will be editing Jamie Lazaroff's column on a regular basis while occasionally adding some material of his own.

How do you measure happiness?

Written by Scott Rains, Senior Advisor, [with]tv and editor of the Rolling Rains Report

It may sound absurd to put “measurement” and “happiness” together like that. What’s next? People saying, “I’ll take 2 pounds of happiness please?”

Actually, the travel industry is beginning to ask itself for a “happiness metric.” In an industry that successfully markets dreams and sells experience, quantifying the ineffable does not seem to be a goal beyond reach. Innovation is beginning to characterize an industry as it takes up the causes of ecological sustainability, equitable treatment of its employees, and inclusion of seniors and people with disabilities.

Thailand, drawing on concepts from Bhutan, seems to be taking the lead in exploring happiness as a new benchmark. The core concept is a complement to the economic measurement of Gross National Product. It is Gross National Happiness.

A conference on the topic was held in Bangkok, Thailand July 18 & 19, 2007. According to the organizers of this conference, “Happiness and Public Policy”:

Meet Columnist Rob Roy

Rob Roy is an Analyst for the Nielsen Company, a leading provider of marketing information and business media services, where he advises clients on new product innovation and execution strategies.  A native of Chicago, Rob received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

When not working, Rob likes to ride his bike, hang out at the beach with his dog, and spend time wondering what is Buzzing in the Workplace.

You can also visit Rob on his new blog: The Journey

Meet Columnist Jamie Lazaroff

Jamie Lazaroff is an aspiring sportscaster who has reported for television extensively for Special Olympics International and CT, covering events that include the Special Olympic World Games, for which he received a 1995 New England EMMY nomination. He has also co-hosted several cable television shows in Connecticut. In addition, Jamie was actively involved in the Special Olympics Global Messenger Program through which he trained other athletes for the Special Olympics and speaking engagements.

Jamie's Blog: A View Through Jamie's Eyes

Meet Columnist Michael A. Harris

Michael A. Harris is a prominent disability advocate and the founder and executive director of the Disabled Riders Coalition, the tri-state area's only disability advocacy organization focused solely on transportation issues. His work as an advocate has won him international recognition and he makes frequent appearances on local, national and international media. Michael also works as a freelance writer and photographer and has had his work published in amNewYork, Courier Life, Able News and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. He is currently employed part-time in the office of New York State Assemblyman Micah Z. Kellner. Michael is a recent graduate of Manhattanville College, where he majored in political science and journalism.

Meet Columnist Anna Bergholtz

Anna Bergholtz is a Swedish freelance journalist, motivational speaker and the first blind film critic of Sweden. Web Page (soon to be in English): http://www.annasvision.se/

Meet Columnist Connie Kuusisto

Connie Kuusisto has worked for over twenty years in the world of guide dogs and their blind partners, first as a Trainer/Instructor, then as Manager of Admissions at Guiding Eyes for the Blind, one of the premier guide dog training programs in the United States. She co-founded, with her husband Stephen Kuusisto, Kaleidoscope Connections, a resource for bringing people together to help promote disability awareness. Together they've worked with a wide range of businesses, including Sandals and Beaches resorts in Jamaica, where they've given workshops on customer service for people with disabilities.

You can visit Connie and Steve on their blog: Planet of the Blind. 

Travel Feeds the Experience Economy

Written by: Dr. Scott Rains, Rolling Rains Report

The travel industry knows that it is the quintessential purveyor of positive experience. Destination wedding travel sells the romantic experience. Adventure travel sells the adrenaline experience. Volunteer travel sells the engaged experience. Business travel sells the efficient experience.

What do you experience when the experience you paid for meets your expectations? Satisfaction? Happiness? A desire to do it again?

Good businesses pay attention to customer satisfaction. Focus groups, surveys, mystery shoppers, and common courtesy are all best practice aids to achieve customer satisfaction. Goals are set. Targets are achieved. Customer satisfaction is measured.

Why value customer satisfaction? Well, except for sand in your shoes, a couple extra inches around the waist, and a bunch of mementos, it is that sense of happiness attached to memories of a good trip that is the lasting “product”.

Thinking of experience as product is second nature to the travel and hospitality industry.

B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore wrote the book Experience Economy in 1999.

In it they classify businesses on a spectrum building on commodity markets and progressing through goods, services, experience, and on to transformation businesses. It’s not a big step for businesses in the travel sector to move from selling experience to selling transformation.

To the extent that the industry respects people with disabilities as valued customers, through the application of the seven principles of Universal Design, they will want the experience; they will buy the product. Research from the Open Doors Organization, among others, shows that people with disabilities have the desire, the means, and the time to travel. Given the scarcity of products tailored to people with disabilities the outcome of a well-executed itinerary is almost always transformative for travelers in a market segment hungry for quality travel experience.