Ministry of Culture, National Heritage, and Sport research on Tourism activity of people with disabilities reveals that in 2018 in at least one tourism trip, the percentage of people with disabilities was only 23%. This is not only due to a shortage of the necessary equipment and infrastructure, but also of readily available information on accessibility of tourist trails. In Poland there is an increasing number of social tourism initiatives and respite care programs. These spheres are developing independently of each other, instead of the services being placed together.
The project aims to make mountain tourism more available to people with disabilities, and to cause it to be treated as a form of respite care.
We will give project participants and volunteers training on tasks in the project, and also provide mentoring for people with disabilities, parents, and carers. Together with volunteers and instructors, people with disabilities will gather information about accessible mountain trails in the Sudetes mountains (approximately 300 km; description. photographs), and there will be internships in administration and promotion of the project. We will involve carers in self-advocacy measures intended for local authorities (respite care) and on a public forum during regional and national events (social tourism). We will organize ten meetings of entities active in social tourism and respite care, and study visits in which they participate.
Sixteen adults with disabilities, eight carers for children with disabilities, forty volunteers, and ten people from local authorities (role in networking) will participate.
The project will mean greater opportunity for people with disabilities to make independent use of social tourism. A website will be created providing information about fifteen mountain trails to make it easier for entities that provide respite care to include mountain tourism.