One Man Helps the Disabled See the World

Traveling is one my favorite things to do. Whether it's the new sights and sounds, enjoying new restaurants and shops, meeting new people or just savoring the "newness" in and of itself, traveling feels fantastic for your mind and body. But obviously, not everyone can travel - and it is particularly difficult and intimidating if you are disabled.

Craig Grimes, who broke his back 12 years ago, has just made it easier by launching the first online booking travel site this week for disabled travelers - Accessible.travel.

His story is very inspiring - I love his outlook:

Mr. Grimes, who today is launching the world's first instant online booking engine for disabled travelers, has dedicated the past five years of his life to helping people with disabilities become more adventurous. From helping a quadriplegic woman from England attend her son's wedding in Barcelona, to showing Nicaraguan war victims how to navigate the streets of Matagalpa in a wheelchair, the British advocate has been helping disabled people around the world – through his various smaller travel Web pages and in person – to push their limits and challenge their comfort zones.

Immediately after being discharged from a British hospital after falling out of a tree and breaking his back 12 years ago, Grimes boarded a plane with a friend and spent two weeks traveling around Holland – his first test of life in a wheelchair.

"After an accident, you can either sink into depression, or get on with your life," Grimes says, adding that he was "more depressed before the accident." He's since traveled to 13 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

"I truly believe that travel is rehabilitation. I am living proof of it," he says.

Now, Grimes wants to help other people with disabilities experience the same.

> Read More at Christian Science Monitor


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