Travelling tips for kids with disabilities

With prior planning, travelling as a family with kids who have disabilities can be incredibly fun and rewarding. It may be easy to be discouraged by the thought of navigating airports and meeting your child’s medical and behavioural needs while on the go, but it’s possible, writes disability expert Lisa Simmons on the Family Travel Forum.

“Most parents will tell you that successful family travelling takes planning,” writes Simmons, “Travelling with a special needs child takes even more preparation, but is sure to create wonderful family memories for everyone.”

Here’s some tips from multiple experts on how to ensure your next family adventure is fun, fulfilling and low stress.

1. Check with your pediatrician

Make sure your child’s doctor gives the green light for travel and that you’re aware of any necessary vaccines or other precautions for going abroad. If you get the go ahead, work with your child’s pediatrician to compile a document that lists your child’s medical history, physician’s phone number, current medications and prescription copies, and phone numbers of any necessary medical supply company. You may want all of this information in one place in case of an emergency.

If your child suffers from anxiety, check with your doctor about any helpful supplements. Ask about the likelihood of your child dealing with motion sickness, or ear issues due to elevation changes and what medications may help.

2. Prepare for your flight

When you book your ticket, be sure to let the airline know if you have any special needs. Remind the airline of these requests at the ticket counter and check in at the gate early to board first. Check out the Canadian Transportation Agency guide for travellers with disabilities, which includes subjects such as mobility aids, boarding, ground transit and moving around the terminal. The guide also includes a step-by-step reservation checklist for people with disabilities. The CTA also details airline accessibility requirements in Canada. When possible, fly direct or try to choose a flight that works best for your child’s schedule.

3. Pack smart

Check as many bags as possible, you don’t want to be burdened with bags walking to and from your gate. Be sure to pack any needed toileting items, a spare change of clothes, your child’s medication with their prescriptions, and the emergency health document you prepared with your doctor in your carry-on bag. Before you go, make sure all devices are charged and any favorite games, songs or shows are downloaded to keep your child engaged. Snacks and water are a great idea to prevent meltdowns! On the day of the flight, be sure to dress your child in comfortable, easy to remove layers.

4. Get your child excited

Many neurodivergent children can be overwhelmed by new stimulation, activity and schedule changes, all of which are part of travelling. Prepare your child for the unexpected and get them excited about flying with social stories about common travel tasks such as getting through airline security and boarding the plane. Autism Little Learners is a good source for social stories on a range of travel topics including wearing a mask on the plane and how to calm one’s body.

5. Protect your equipment

Unfortunately, mobility devices are frequently damaged or lost by airlines. If your child requires a mobility device, you’ll need to take precautions. If you're checking a wheelchair, consider removing any parts of the wheelchair that could be damaged — joystick, headrest, knee supports, etc. Consider supplying bubble wrap to protect your chair. You can also store removable parts in a bag and ask the flight attendant to store the tote in the closet on the plane. For other tips on protecting mobility devices while flying check out Have a Wheelchair will Travel.

6. Consider purchasing travel insurance

Plan for the unexpected with travel insurance. If you or your child gets sick before or during your trip, travel insurance may reimburse non-refundable expenses, allowing you to postpone your trip for another day. You should also know that your Canadian government health insurance plan may not fully cover you when travelling abroad, which is why travel insurance with emergency medical coverage is essential.

Allianz Global Assistance offers benefits such as emergency medical coverage, and reimbursement of certain nonrefundable expenses if your trip is cancelled or delayed.

As a world leader in travel protection, we help Canadians and visitors to Canada answer the call of adventure with confidence every year. Let us be there for you too.

This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Travel insurance is underwritten by CUMIS General Insurance Company, a member of The Co-operators Group of Companies, administered by Allianz Global Assistance, which is a registered business name of AZGA Service Canada Inc.

Join our Community of Travellers!

Get great travel tips, updates and news straight to your inbox with our monthly eNewsletter.

Thank you for signing up to our eNewsletter

Apologies, we are currently unable to handle your request. Please try again.

Warning - The E-Mail Address configured for this form is either unverified or invalid. Please verify the E-Mail Address and try again later.

A verification E-Mail was sent to the following E-Mail addresses:

Kindly check the corresponding inbox for a verification E-Mail and verify it.

Warning - Please add an email field in the form to proceed without any errors

Warning - The page URL seems to be incorrect. Kindly check the URL and try again.

Warning - We are unable to send an OTP to your Email address. Please contact our customer service.

E-mail

Error Invalid

Error Mandatory field

Click the "Submit" button to sign up for this eNewsletter - you can unsubscribe at any time.

Warning! Your mobileNumber field is not set up with the right component. Please use Textfield component with phone number validation, in order to avoid any errors when transporting data to Adobe Campaign

Enter the text from the box. 60 seconds remaining. Can't read the text?

Enter Label

Error Mandatory field

An error occurred. Please try again.

Sorry, that does not match the text in the box. Please try again.

Warning - This form has 100 fields, which is over the maximum allowed field count: 75. Form submissions will fail if this page is published.

Warning - The technical field name is duplicated in more than one location. This will cause information loss when delivering the form submission. Please remove the duplicated field or rename its field name.

Warning! Please upload a file with the correct file type to proceed.