Traveling creates experiences that will last a lifetime. Everyone wants to travel, including people with a disability or age-related difficulties and their families.

Ron and Kay Wilmers have a dream to make travel to our national parks something everyone can enjoy, even if they have a disability or age-related difficulty. After Ron was injured in an auto accident, he quickly realized it was difficult to find the information he needed to head out on a trip before leaving home. From the setup of hotel rooms to the accessibility of restrooms, this information is imperative for anyone with a disability to know before arriving at a destination.

Ron and Kay decided to explore this area of travel and lack of much-needed information. With their experiences of traveling the national parks, they created The Disabled Traveler. This nonprofit website assembles accessibility information in the National Park System. Accessibility, for those with disabilities or age-related difficulties, at our national parks is one of the best kept travel secrets. And the audience for this information is huge: The U.S. Census bureau reports there are 54 million Americans with disabilities, the largest minority group in the United States, and an estimated population with age related difficulties at 85 million.

The mission of the TDT is to open up travel to people with disabilities and age-related difficulties to help them explore the scenic places in United States. The website provides specific information on each location. TDT does not evaluate or criticize each park site, but instead, with the parks' permission, provides information with detailed photographs showcasing the varying degrees of accessibility.

Being able to enjoy traveling is important to most people — family, friends, kids, and grandkids will have experiences lasting them a lifetime. However, there are millions of people not traveling for fear of the unknown. Many of these people with "disabilities” and other "age-related difficulties" feel accessibility is not an option and end up staying home instead of traveling.

The personnel at the parks go out of their way to provide whatever they can to assist and help people enjoy their visit. However, most potential travelers in this group have not been able to get the advance information to determine if a park they want to visit meets their functional needs. It puts them in a whole new world when they can obtain vital information concerning their individual needs before leaving home.

The TDT website currently showcases information on five parks and is working to raise funds to help increase the number of parks covered. Plans are already underway with parks across the country to have their destinations featured on the web site beyond 2016. 

Visitors to the site can view high-resolution photos from covered parks, from the walkways to the restrooms and everything in-between. These details allow everyone to judge for themselves what locations are accessible to them based on their mobility. Photography is the universal language that will be help travelers from around the globe.

The information on the TDT is life-changing. As one visitor to the said, Thank you soooo much for this website. We travel a lot with our disabled daughter and this makes planning so much easier! -- Lisa

Learn more about the TDT on their website at www.thedisabledtraveler.org/nps/ or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/disabledtravel/ . TDT is a nonprofit 501(c) 3 corporation and all donations are tax deductible. Donations can be made via PayPal or YouCaring through their website.