【Kalakal (2025)】

Going on Kalakal (2025)vacation can pose a unique challenge for people with physical disabilities. Hotels and other accommodations aren't always clear about how accessible they are and the adaptive equipment needed to participate in certain activities can be expensive or difficult to obtain.

This is where the online travel marketplace Wheel the World comes in. The website connects people all over the world who have physical disabilities with customizable tour packages, depending on the person's needs.

Almost 14 percent of Americans have a physical disability affecting their mobility, according to the CDC. In 2015, 26 million U.S. travelers with disabilities took a total of 73 million trips, according to the 2015 market study by Open Doors, a nonprofit that publishes research on the disability travel market. Yet, many trips and destinations aren't disability-friendly.

---

You May Also Like

---

---

Today Wheel the World offers customers over 30 accessible destinations in the U.S. and abroad, Alvaro Silberstein, the company's founder, says.

This also includes accommodations while traveling, such as hotels, apartments, motels, and trip activities.

They've served almost 900 people with physical disabilities, their family, and friends.

Wheel the World travelers in Atacama Desert, South America. Credit: Wheel the world

Travelers can sign up for trips to destinations such as New York City, Hawaii, Paris, London, Machu Picchu, and even safaris in Kruger National Park in South Africa or Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.

Trip packages can include adaptive equipment such as amphibious wheelchairs, which can be used on the beach, in a pool, and in the ocean, and adaptive kayaks, which can help those with various physical disabilities to kayak.

Mashable Trend Report Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means. Sign up for Mashable’s weekly Trend Report newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Silberstein says there are some trips that are appropriate for people who are blind, though Wheel the World focuses on people with mobility issues.

In the future, they plan to include trips for people with hearing loss, and people with emotional disabilities, Silberstein says.

Customers can fill out a form on Wheel the World's website, detailing where they wish to go and the type of accommodations they require.

A Wheel the World traveler uses an amphibious wheelchair on Easter Island, Chile. Credit: Wheel the world

Silberstein, who has gotten around in wheelchair since a drunk driver hit him when he was was 18, founded Wheel the World with his friend Camilo Navarro. The duo filmed Silberstein touring Torres del Paine in Chile in a trekking wheelchair, covering about 30 miles of terrain in five days. After they published these videos, Silberstein and Navarro were flooded with requests from strangers who wanted to duplicate the trip.

SEE ALSO: He's legally blind, so he makes self-driving car sensors to 'see'

One of the biggest barriers for travelers with physical disabilities is finding information about accessible trips, Silberstein says, a gap Wheel the World aims to close.

Silberstein's team checks the accessibility of accommodations themselves, evaluating things such as door widths, bed heights, if elevators are present and functioning, and bathrooms' accessibility.

Wheel the World partners with tour operators and hotels to provide travelers with physical disabilities and their families with accessible trips.

In 2018, Wheel the World partnered with Peak DMC, a tour operator that is a division of Intrepid Group. Intrepid Group's website claims they are "the world’s largest adventure travel company."

Silberstein convinced Peak DMC to focus on accessibility by emphasizing the number of people with physical disabilities globally.

Wheel the World is working to expand tours in Europe -- currently their website lists London and Paris as the only destinations on the continent, but their eventual goal is much loftier.

"We want to allow millions of people to travel to thousands of destinations," Silberstein says.

Topics Social Good

• Tech
• Entertainment
• Digital Culture
• Shopping
• Science
• Social Good
• Deals
• Life

• AMD Radeon RX 550 + Intel Pentium G4560
• 6 episodes to watch before 'Legends of Tomorrow' returns
• Zika cases expected to soar in Asia
• Amazon reportedly plans to open real
• SpaceX's Starlink will provide free satellite internet to families in Texas school district
• Social media companies suspend Geofeedia's access after reported police tracking
• JFK: the man, the myth, the bag full of drugs
• Browns wide receiver trolls the NFL with robotic touchdown celebration
• 'The Last of Us' Season 2, episode 5: The spores are here!
• Tiny kitten wears tube sock sweater after surviving Hurricane Matthew

• Why the author of ‘Fight Club’ is writing a coloring book for adults
• You can explore the garage where Google was born on Street View
• Tim Kaine does the Donald Trump impression you've been waiting for
• In an 'audacious' move, Australia's banks are taking the fight to Apple
• 'Armageddon'
• Black Lives Matter mothers movingly endorse Clinton
• Yes, Donald Trump basically called for Russia to hack Hillary Clinton
• Cat brings home live bat, absolute chaos ensues
• Dyson spent over 10 years developing the 360 eye robot vacuum. How does it rank?
• How to cope when the country is debating whether to believe Christine Blasey Ford

• NYT Connections hints and answers for May 2: Tips to solve 'Connections' #691.
• JFK: the man, the myth, the bag full of drugs
• Karl Becker explains how he became a national hero at the presidential debate
• Samsung to permanently stop production of Galaxy Note7
• Today's Hurdle hints and answers for April 29, 2025
• Climate activists shut down 5 tar sands oil pipelines
• Smoking Samsung Note7 video should make you take the recall seriously
• NYC pharmacy introduces 7% 'man tax' for male customers
• Asus VivoWatch 6 AERO measures blood pressure and ECG
• A breast cancer survivor is using stunning body art to reclaim her body

• Best rope light deal: Save 25% on Lepro N1 AI Smart RGB LED Strip Lights
• Regular guy Donald Trump calls himself a 'blue
• Fifth grade love note proves that love is not dead
• Even orangutans get excited over a really good magic trick
• The Amazon Book Sale is coming April 23 through 28
• Is this the greatest editor's note in the history of editor's notes?
• Sounds like even Ramsay Bolton hates Donald Trump
• A Trump supporter quoted Beyoncé on CNN because this election can't get any weirder
• Best Garmin deal: Save over $100 on Garmin Forerunner 955
• North Carolina flooding is so severe that rescuers need sonar to locate cars, victims