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The story of Amy Piper’s disability, started in her early 40s with ovarian cancer that led to multiple hernia surgeries, weakened muscles, and less stamina. It caused her to put off knee replacements too long, leaving her with knee damage from arthritis.
Amy uses a walker with a seat for most activities, and a wheelchair for longer distances such as airports. She thinks it’s important to note, “Often, it isn’t a single disease or disability that causes issues.”
A freelance writer, blogger, and photographer, Amy is also the author of two books, Secret Michigan: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure and 100 Things to Do in Lansing before you die. She knows a lot about Michigan as she grew up there in the town of Holt, where she still lives today.
Despite her limitations, Amy has visited 47 countries and 44 states. Her goal for 2025 is to visit the last six states.
Has travel writing been your only career?
I spent 37 years in Information Technology (IT) as a trainer and program project manager. I traveled the world on long-term assignments, like six months in Seoul, another in Argentina, three months in Madrid, and another month in India. In 2008, I worked on six continents.
As a trainer, I wrote instructional materials, so writing was always in the job, as was travelling, but the two never intersected. I thought I needed to figure out a way to continue to travel once I retired. I learned about travel writing and pursued some training. By the time I retired, I’d had a chapter published in a collaborative work and one sole-author book. I’ve written another, Secret Michigan: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure, and have contracts to write two more.
Were you a frequent traveler growing up?
I grew up in a family that valued travel. But, in the 1960s, my parents, with five kids and a single income, could only manage one two-week road trip a year. My parents’ idea of international travel was to load five kids into an Oldsmobile Delta 88 and drive. We visited every province in Canada that borders the United States and a couple of others. We camped and typically avoided big cities. We visited a lot of national parks in the United States.
I have a gift for language and majored in Spanish Literature and Linguistics in college. I also studied French and Chinese, so I would do what I could to explore Quebec and Mexico. As high school seniors, other kids were going to Cedar Point for their Senior Trip. My high school French teacher convinced my parents to let me take a bus to Quebec City for Spring Break with a friend. I look back on it now and can’t believe that I did that at 17 with another 17-year-old girl.
What is your favorite place to visit?
This is a difficult question. It’s a bit like asking my favorite child. I loved Argentina due to the people and their warmth. I loved my trip to Tanzania for the animals and watching the wildlife.
If you have mobility issues, my home state of Michigan is a great place to visit. I love that many state parks have track wheelchairs so that you can easily get out and see nature.
Do you have a special travel memory?
There are so many, and a lot of them revolve around food, as I write a lot about travel through the lens of food. I’ve eaten Belgian waffles in Belgium and drank a Singapore Sling at the Raffles Hotel, where it was invented. I remember a cooked duck hanging in a restaurant window in Hong Kong, and before I could get a picture, the cook pulled it down and chopped it up for someone’s dinner.
I’ve been very fortunate to have traveled and serendipitously been at the right place and time. I was in New Zealand on Guy Fawkes Day and saw the fireworks.
I was in a business meeting in a conference room (in Herndon, Virginia), and everyone was talking about looking out the window at a particular time and watching the clock. This is what was happening,
“The space shuttle Discovery, NASA’s fleet leader and the world’s most-flown spacecraft, arrived in Washington, D.C. Tuesday (April 17), where it will go on permanent display at the Smithsonian later this week.
While I gave up a lot of family time to travel, they’ve also traveled with me, and the experiences have been unforgettable.
What place do you wish was more accessible?
I understand the difficulty of historic places, but after a recent trip to Italy, I was reminded of the difficulty of travelling there for those with mobility difficulties. There are steps everywhere, making it very difficult. I can do some steps, but for example, one Air B&B indicated that they had an elevator. Yet, you had to walk down two sets of 12 steps to get into the building and use the elevator.
One bathroom had several tall steps to the shower, with no handrail and marble-type steps. Fortunately, the apartment offered another room that only had one step down to the ensuite bedroom and bath, so I opted for that one.
Do you feel there has been progress in the accessibility of hotels and attractions?
In some areas. It is still difficult for someone like me who has some mobility. For example, if I ask for an accessible shower, in many hotels that room is at the end of a long hallway. They assume everyone who needs it is in a wheelchair. Even though I find it dangerous to try and step over the tub to get into the shower, I oftentimes find myself just opting for a room near the elevator.
Hotels sometimes have bumps or lifts between the bedroom and bathroom, causing a tripping hazard for someone who doesn’t walk well. I’m sure that makes it difficult for those in wheelchairs.
Another place that still needs vast improvement is airports and their wheelchair attendants. I’ve missed flights because of the delays incurred by attendants not being available or not listening. When I ask the ticket counter check-in agent to call for a wheelchair, they frequently wait until the end of our interaction to call. So, I’m left standing longer than safe, even when I start the conversation with ‘I can’t stand long.’
Any tips about making travelling with disabilities easier?
I suggest calling ahead to confirm the details. Request what you need politely. You may not always receive it but understand that everyone has different needs, and organizations will typically accommodate requests when possible. If they can’t, you have the option to find another place.
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