The Prime Minister's Air Travel Dementia Challenge Team

On Monday 30 November 2015, the Prime Minister's Air Travel Dementia Challenge team met in the House of Commons.

The group is very positive about the work and trying really hard to make things better for people with dementia.  The Civil Aviation Authority has written to all airports asking them about what they are currently doing for people with hidden disabilities.  Their role will be to monitor and manage the minimum standards, but the aim of the group is far more than minimum standards, it is aiming at achieving a high standard of care and support to people with disabilities, including dementia.

 We met with Robert Goodwill, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Transport arrived, he stayed and talked to the group about the work.  He was interested in the work and very positive, he has offered us support in the future.

And Gatwick have embraced this as an idea and are very engaged with trying to make things better for people with dementia and other hidden disabilities.  They are awesome!  So the future for people travelling is getting brighter, especially if you are going through Gatwick.  Travel though requires many organisations to work together, it starts with the travel agent and ends at the holiday resort, often across different legal jurisdictions and different cultural attitudes towards disability.  But it has to start somewhere.

 With so many different participants in the travel process, no doubt in the future things could go wrong, but if everyone is as positive and engaged in the process of travel as the Prime Ministers Group are, then hopefully things will not just be good, but will be great.  People with hidden disabilities also have a part to play, if no-one knows they need help, they won’t know to help them.  So if you are travelling and you may need some support, ask!  Hopefully you will be helped in a respectful and dignified manner and you can have a positive experience.