Traveling With ALL Your Senses
Dear Rudy,
I want to thank you for the story you did on travel for people with
disabilities. There's a common misconception that people with impairments
either can't travel or choose not to because their disability would be too
limiting. This couldn't be further from the truth.
My boyfriend Dex has been blind since he was seven. We've taken several
trips together over the past two years, and I must say, the best travel
experiences I've had have been the trips I took with him. He taught me how
to travel with ALL my senses, not just focus on what there is to see.
We recently spent a long weekend in New York * our first adventure in the
Big Apple. Yes, there's a lot to see. But the sounds, smells and tastes of
the city are equally memorable. There is nothing like the cacophony of
Manhattan at rush hour, a sound tapestry of stop-and-surge traffic and
voices with every possible accent. There is nothing like the smell of
chestnuts roasting on a street-corner cart or that weird, unsettling subway
odor. And there is nothing like the chewy goodness of the bagels we tasted
in New York. Hands down, they were the best we've ever had.
Dex showed me a New York I would have missed without him. Strangely enough,
his disability imposed a richness on our adventure that would have been
absent without it.
Thanks again for your story, and recognizing that travel is something we all
benefit from * not just unimpaired, able-bodied people.
Tessa
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