Why are we doing this?
As stated above I have a neuromuscular disorder called Charcot Marie Tooth (CMT) which in Australia affects around 1 in 2500 people.
CMT is a condition that leads to muscle wasting and weakness. It starts at the extremities of the body, the lower legs and hands, and works its way in on a slow, relentless, and debilitating march damaging the nerve tissue that allows muscles to work properly. To date, there is no treatment or cure for CMT.
Truth be told though, I don't think about my condition all that much. Of course, it's always there in the background, threatening to upend me in a Woolies car park, send me back home when I can't navigate a steep flight of stairs or path, or struggle to fill in an unexpected form legibly. But it doesn't define me. I have the same hopes, dreams and aspirations as anybody else and a determination to pursue them.
One of my long-term ambitions is to drive around Australia on a big lap. With a wheelchair lurking somewhere over the horizon, my wonderfully supportive partner Kathy and I have decided to make the 6-month trip sooner rather than later in our camper wagon. So it was with some excitement that I sat down to begin planning the trip of a lifetime late last year.
Needing to take my mobility issues into account, my excitement was dulled very quickly when I realised the lack of practical information out there on traveling with a disability.
In Australia, approximately 4.4 million of us are living with disability, including half of the population aged over 65. Three-quarters of those or 3.3 million people are physically disabled in some way and slightly less than half of those travel for pleasure regularly. Add family members, travel companions, and visitors from overseas into these numbers and the disabled travel market in Australia can be worth as much as 8 billion dollars annually.
Surely, with those kinds of numbers, someone by now would have developed a platform that allowed disabled people to exchange their experiences, rate and review hotels and attractions, and plan their trips using accurate and up-to-date information on accessibility at tourism-based venues.
It appears not!
So Wobbly Boots was created. Kathy and I will be blogging on wobblyboots.com.au chronicling our adventures as we explore this great brown land of ours, including reviews, advice, and practical information on accommodation, attractions, and traveling with a disability in general. Of course, the list won't be exhaustive; there's only so much ground we can cover in 6 months after all, but it'll be a solid platform to build on.
