Enable Travel instills the '#CanDo' spirit among the disabled, urges them to travel

Cox & Kings has rolled out a service through which it looks to make travel for people with disabilities easy. A three-minute film conceptualised by Vivek Kamat Films has been rolled out across digital for the service labelled 'Enable Travel'.

 

The film titled '#CanDo' is set to a 'life is waiting for you' track and shows people with disabilities waking up to the possibility of travelling. It features disabled heroes Deepa Malik (first Indian woman to win a medal in Paralympic Games), DP Singh (blade runner and Kargil war survivor), Preeti Monga, (owner, Silver Linings Foundation) and Divyanshu Ganatra (first person with a sight impairment to paraglide in India).

 

Four films conceptualised by Teen Bandar (Enable Travel's social agency) with each of their individual stories have also been released

 

Explaining the service, Debolin Sen, head, Enable travel, said, "Enable Travel is a product made by the disabled, for the disabled in India. The product comprises specially curated itineraries to accessible destinations, for inbound and domestic tourists with disabilities and encourages them to celebrate their love for travel with the same freedom, choice, and dignity as able-bodied people. Enable Travel intends making all areas of travel accessible and barrier free and the process of partnering important stakeholders like airlines, airports, road transport companies, sightseeing points, hotels, restaurants, entertainment, insurance companies is an on-going one."

 

On the market for disabled travel, he added, "Travelling, whether for business or pleasure is important for people with disabilities and this includes both international as well as domestic tourists. Many disabled international tourists who wish to travel to India are unable to do so due to lack of transportation for the disabled, accessible hotel rooms to stay in and accessible sightseeing points at tourist destinations. These are just some of the barriers they face in their quest to travel. According to the United Nations World Travel Organisation (UNWTO), more than 12 per cent of people from the UK who travel had a disability or a long-term health problem. Eleven per cent of Australian tourists who travel have some form of disability and finally, American adults with disabilities or reduced mobility spend an average of US $ 13.6 billion annually on travel. In India, the data from the 2011 Indian census shows that people with disabilities has increased at 2 per cent per year in the decade since 2001 and is about 26.8 million. This is 2.1 per cent of the country’s population. According to the census, 20.3 per cent of the Indian population are wheelchair bound, 18.8 per cent are vision impaired, 18.9 per cent are hearing impaired and 7.5 per cent are speech impaired. In the light of such statistics, we see a huge untapped opportunity.

 

On the idea behind the film, Sen said, "Disabled travellers in India face many barriers. Physical and most importantly attitudinal. Because of these they’ve never taken to travel, even though travelling is something they’ve always wished and longed for. Their dream is to live a life similar to that of the able-bodied and to have similar experiences. The brand’s philosophy mirrors this. Disability should not hamper the ability to travel, see the world and have similar experiences as able-bodied people. Out of this philosophy emerged the brand spirit of #CanDo and that everything in life is possible, if you only believe and tell yourself you can. Enable Travel’s core will always be #CanDo and all communication created will reflect the same. The launch film beautifully brings this spirit to life and attempts to engage, motivate, inspire and awaken the #CanDo spirit amongst the disabled in India and get them to travel."