A Special Request to Deaf Travelers and Tour Operators from the Belgian Center for Equal Opportunities

I am working for the Belgian Center for Equal Opportunities and we defend individual cases here for persons with a disability.

Recently we have received a complaint of a person who is deaf and would like to travel in group with an organization to the Middle East. The trip is guided but there are also some moments where the participants might spend some hours alone in a city for example. The travel organization refused his participation because they say that it will be impossible for him to talk to the people of the region -and therefore declare it unsafe. They suggest he takes an assistant with him for the whole trip on his own expenses. The plaintiff refuses to do so because he wants to be independent and go by himself just like everyone else.

My question toward you is the following: 

Would you have any good examples/real stories of persons who travelled in group with an organization and that were deaf or hard of hearing?

We really need to overcome and counter the stereotypes and prejudices that the organization has in our country and a good example would be the perfect way to do it.

Thank you very much for reading this email and for your answer.

Kind regards,

An-Sofie Leenknecht

An-Sofie.Leenknecht@cntr.be

Dienst Discriminatie -  Dienst 2L

Centrum voor gelijkheid van kansen en voor racismebestrijding

Koningsstraat 138

1000 BRUSSEL

Tel: 02 212 31 49

Fax: 02 212 30 30