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PawdCast 10 – International Travel

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A Guide dog in Harness

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On this episode of the PawdCast, Aleeha and Meaghan first discuss some of the month’s service animal news. First up, a woman was kicked off a flight due to the presence of her emotional support squirrel. Second, Congress passed the FAA Reauthorization bill, which has some interesting implications for future air travel with service animals.

Sponsoring our show this month is On the Go, a business run by Julie Johnson, which sells handmade nylon service dog gear and other useful items.

Next, we enter a new segment for the show, one all about advocacy. This month is all about hotels, so be sure to give that a listen.

Finally, we have the first of two interviews about international travel, this one from Texas resident Holly McKnight. She discusses her experiences with traveling overseas, as well as navigating on a cruise.

If you like what we’re up to or have any feedback for us, send an email to pawdcast@iaccessibility.net.

The PawdCast 4: Traveling With a Service Animal

by
A Guide dog in Harness

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On this episode of the PawdCast, Aleeha, Matt, Lauren, and Meaghan discuss ways to travel with a service animal on many different forms of transportation. Resources discussed during the episode include:

While it is not legally required that you notify a carrier of your disability or your service animal, we’ve compiled a list of contact phone numbers for common US air, bus, and train carriers so that you may notify them of your specific needs or address any concerns that may come up. An effort has been made to provide disability specific contacts, where applicable.

  • Southwest Airlines: 1-800-435-9792
  • Delta Airlines: 404-209-3434
  • American Airlines: 800-433-7300
  • United Airlines: 800-864-8331
  • Jet Blue: 1-800-538-2583
  • Frontier Airlines: 801-401-9004
  • Allegiant Air: 801-401-9004
  • Greyhound Lines: 800-752-4841
  • MegaBus: 1-877-462-6342
  • Amtrack: 1-800-872-7245

We would like to thank Andre Louis for making the track that is currently used as our intro and outdo theme.

 

Getting Around Unfamiliar places.

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Around Me app icon dropped gps pin over blue circles

This week I will be traveling to the CSUN 2017 AT conference, and it occurs to me that it would be a good thing to get a few apps that can help me find things in San Diego, so lets look at two of these kinds of apps that can really help you in these types of situations.

BlindSquare

BlindSuare is a blindness specific app that utilizes the power of GPS and Foursquare to let users find places near them. Foursquare is an app that lets users check in and name places. You get points for each check in, and you can even make points of interest that may not be in Google Maps, or on Apple Maps. BlindSquare is on iOS. BlindSquare has a mode that lets you see what is around you by moving your phone. The good thing is that it works with Foursquare, so all of the user points of interests that have been made will show up in the app.

Blindsquare will also let you see what town you are flying over. You ca learn more about this by visiting Blind Bargains and it is on one of their podcast episodes.

BlindSquare is $39.99, and also has in app purchases. Unfortunately, BlindSquare is only for iOS and is not currently available for Android.

Around Me

Around me is a free app on iOS and Android, and is $2.99 as an in app purchase to remove ads. With AroundMe, you can select a category like hotels or restaurants and the app will give you a list of the closest points of interest in that category. Alternatively, you can select the visualization button and pick between list, map and live view. Live view is a really neat feature, because it lets the user move the device they are using around and items will float in to view. This uses the camera, and does utilize explore by touch for VoiceOver on iOS. Unfortunately, Live View is not available on Android devices, but more map options are available.

Nearby Explorer for Android

Nearby Explorer by the American Printing House for the Blind is another app for Android and iOS also assists users in this area, but will run you around $80 and will not be covered in this article.

Conclusion

While BlindSquare is a grea5 option for users, it is quite expensive, and will only be on the iOS platform. If you are on Android you can look at Nearby Explorer, but this will also run $80, so while AroundMe doesn’t have the live view feature, it does allow you to see what is in your general area.

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