After our son Aidan was born three months early, I didn’t think adventures would ever happen again for us. We were living overseas at the time, and we had dreams of a life travelling the world as a family of three. These dreams were dashed the minute I looked into the incubator and saw that beautiful little boy. I knew that I needed to take care of his needs, whatever the cost.

At five years old, Aidan was still nonverbal, not toilet trained, and he got his breakfast, lunch, and dinner via a feeding tube. We hardly left the house except for medical appointments and groceries. And then my husband got the call. We were going to London. Everyone thought we were nuts, they thought we were making a terrible mistake.

The move was challenging, no doubt—but the last thing I’d call it was a mistake. Within six months of moving to London, Aidan was talking (and with a British accent to boot). One year after the move, he was toilet trained, and after two, we were able to take his feeding tube out permanently. Where others thought Aidan would fail, he, in fact, succeeded. Even more than that, he blossomed into a true adventurer. Over the years, a long list of diagnoses came in—autism, ADHD, sensory processing disorder, among others. Still, we pushed Aidan outside of his comfort zone, eating gelato for the first time in Italy, hiking Glen Nevis in Scotland, and seeing the Mona Lisa in Paris. He was never happier than when he was “on an adventure.” (His words!)

Now, not every trip was perfect. We had bad days and good days like everyone else.

There’s no doubt in my mind that our travel adventures helped Aidan progress way past his therapists’ expectations—and, more importantly, brought us closer together as a family. And it broke my heart to realize that other families like mine felt that travel was out of reach for them. Every family—every child—deserves to discover the wonders of this world. In 2018, I founded TravelAble, a full service travel agency and disability travel advocacy business. We work hand-in-hand with clients to develop customized vacation experiences that meet traveler desires, expectations, accessibility needs, and budget! We would love you to join our community of travellers experiencing a world without limits.