Try before you fly: Perspectives of parents and their children with disabilities on a natural environment teaching airport event. An exploratory study

Abstract

This exploratory study gathers perspectives of parents and children with disabilities following their attendance at ‘Try Before You Fly’, in a regional UK based airport. Many children with disabilities are unable to manage in unfamiliar settings such as an airport, and their parents may avoid exposure to such settings to reduce stress and anxiety and so avoid air travel. Try Before You Fly enabled disabled children and their families to practice all the steps of the airport experience, such as check-in, security departure lounge and access to a grounded aircraft, using an approach underpinned by behaviour analytic practices. Six months after the event, 21 parents and five children completed a questionnaire about the event. Results suggest that all respondents believed that the event increased their confidence levels about booking a holiday via air travel and that it should be an initiative offered at more airports.