Making the skies accessible: Israir and ALUT in an exciting collaboration

Flying on vacation is an exciting experience for most of us, but this is not always true in the case of children on the autistic spectrum and adults. 

More often than not, the whole family gives up on a trip, so as not to put the child through the unpleasant experience they are going through. This is not surprising, the airport can be crowded and noisy, with queues and announcements. 

These days, a unique collaboration was signed between ALUT and Israir designed to make the flight experience accessible for those who have difficulty. In this framework, a "flight preparation kit" was developed, which includes two short social stories and an explanatory page for parents about how to use the stories. The stories present challenges that may arise and coping methods that can help.

In addition, the story organizes the sequence of steps of the activity in order to increase the sense of control and security. Assessments are available on the website of Israir and ALUT and include a story of preparation for boarding the plane and a story of preparation for the flight itself, step by step and breaking down the experience into stages, for example: arrival at the airport, meeting with flight attendants and flight attendants, the check-in process and more. 

Hila Hermolin-Ronen, Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Israir: "As part of Israir's commitment to constantly improving service and providing touristic solutions for diverse populations, in recent years we have been promoting accessible tourism aimed at a segment of people with various disabilities. The war sharpened the need and raised the importance of the issue. We are prepared to allow the population of customers with disabilities to go on vacations in a variety of destinations. We instructed the relevant employees to be attentive to the special needs and to adapt the vacation to each need. The flight experience begins with the reservation team of the flight and the hotel at the call center and the accessibility team, handled by the field on the ground and in the air until landing. Last year we teamed up with an Israeli startup TRAVAXY which maps the hotel rooms in different hotels around the world according to adjusted criteria, which helps us choose the right vacation for customers with disabilities".

Usherat Mord, director of the Ishrair control center and accessibility coordinator: "The Israir group joined the 'Shwah Pituach' project years ago from Joint Israel and works continuously to promote accessible tourism products to alleviate concerns, facilitate and encourage people with disabilities to go on vacation. As part of the project, we teamed up with ALUT and developed together With their professional staff, flight preparation booklets are available for free download on the Israir website. Preparation stories can help children and special families prepare for an activity or experience even if they are unfamiliar. The story presents challenges that may arise and ways of coping that can help and organize the sequence of the activity. A sense of control and confidence."

Ratem Gal Mishal, responsible for accessibility at ALUT: "The unique project of making flights accessible is the product of a fruitful collaboration between the Israir company, the 'Shwah Pituach' project and the knowledge development division at ALUT. The initiative is part of a broad ALUT project that deals with the development of accessible environments and services for autistic people, based on research, collaborations with people from the autistic community and their families, innovation, professional development and concern for the community's quality of life. Today, there are many initiatives to make travel and flights accessible, but they are usually for people with physical disabilities. Autistic people can use different methods of accessibility, ones that take into account their neurological differences. Among other things, by using preparation stories."