Accessible travel blogger Cory Lee addresses the misconceptions about travelers with disabilities

Cory Lee's travels have taken him to 39 countries and all seven continents. He’s also a power wheelchair user, who has made it his life’s work to help others with disabilities see the world, thanks, in part, to his blog Curb Free With Cory Lee.

Diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at age 2, Lee took memorable trips as a child to Disney World and the Bahamas — which only fueled his wanderlust.

“Before I had ever really traveled internationally, I just assumed that so much of the world would be inaccessible for wheelchair users,” Lee tells Yahoo Life. “But then when I actually got out there and started traveling, I realized, you know, like a lot of the world is actually even better [in terms of accessibility] than some places in the United States.”

Now, Lee travels more than 100 days a year. Some favorite destinations include national parks like the Great Smoky Mountains, Florida’s Key West, and Australia, the last of which inspired him to start his blog. He even checked Antarctica off his travel list, just shy of his 30th birthday.

“I think that growing up as a wheelchair user and traveling and realizing that a lot of the world is accessible, it's really made me want to show others just how much I can do as a wheelchair user and how much other wheelchair users can do,” Lee says. “I think there's this huge misconception that wheelchair users are just staying at home, that they don't have the money to spend on travel, or can't travel anywhere because the world's inaccessible. I really want to just shatter that perception completely and just show what's possible and how much we can do.”

One recent trip that was beyond Lee’s expectations was his adventure in Morocco in 2018. A tour company, which specializes in accessible trips in the country, asked Lee to host a group trip. It sold out in six hours.

“My favorite memory was probably being in the Sahara desert. We stayed in a tent overnight, out on the sand,” he recalls. “The tour company that we went with, Morocco Accessible Travel Consultants, built an adaptive camel saddle…So I was able to sit on the camel comfortably, and not fall off. It was such a cool experience that I always wanted to do, but never thought it would be in Morocco.”

Since that trip, Lee has done an annual group trip with Curb Free, which included adventures to places such as Costa Rica and Iceland.

“We are going to Chile and Patagonia in South America very soon,” he says.

Lee, who was born the same year that the U.S. passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, explains that while travel is certainly an option for people with disabilities, the world has a long way to go to make things truly available. For one thing, he can’t use the bathroom on an airplane.

“I have to start dehydrating myself and stop eating about two days before I take a flight just to be able to [fly on an airplane],” Lee explains.

The pandemic has also proven to be a challenge, as Lee is immunocompromised. However, while COVID-19 has altered his travel plans, he says that it has also helped him get creative in how he sees more of the world.

“I’ve been doing more road trips,” he shares. “I even went to an alpaca farm in North Carolina, which I probably wouldn’t have done if there was no pandemic. But it was one of my favorite trips of the last few years.”

Lee also has advice for people with disabilities who are hoping to become more confident travelers: “If you want to try traveling, but don’t want to go around the world on your first trip, plan locally,” he says. “Plan a staycation somewhere nearby. It will teach you what to look for when you travel later on. It will teach you how to book an accessible hotel room, what questions to ask, how to navigate public transportation."

He adds: "Starting locally can build up your confidence so that you can hopefully travel internationally.”

– Video produced by Kat Vasquez.

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