Carrie-Ann Lightley
Head of Marketing at Accessible, leading accessible travel writer and speaker
Digital, Media and Publishing
Carrie-Ann Lightley leads the marketing team at AccessAble, the UK’s largest provider of access information, and is one of the UK’s leading accessible travel bloggers.
Through her blog www.carrieannlightley.com she aims to encourage and inspire disabled people to travel, explore and discover new places. She started blogging in 2010, and has written accommodation reviews, city guides, collections of expert travel tips and personal posts about her life and work.
Carrie-Ann has responsibility for the management and development of the AccessAble brand. This includes the creation of inspirational, SEO relevant content and developing collaborative partnerships to increase the reach of our service.
In addition, Carrie-Ann has established the highly successful AccessAble Ambassadors (previously AccessAble Champions) network of freelance disabled content creators, which has grown to 30 members in 2022. Members of the network have worked on award-winning projects, with client feedback stating, “The success of this project depended on finding people who could tell their stories with intelligence, humour, charm, and courage, and every one of you delivered.”
Carrie-Ann leads on AccessAble’s work with tourism industry partners. In 2021 Carrie-Ann secured a partnership with Visit Scotland, working with them to create a pilot accessible itinerary to Glasgow. The itinerary will inspire and enable anyone with access needs to visit Glasgow, whilst giving them the crucial detail they need to work out if a place is going to be accessible to them.
Carrie-Ann is a member of England’s Inclusive Tourism Action Group and Manchester Airport’s Accessibility Forum. She’s a judge for the prestigious Catey Awards and Visit England’s Awards for Excellence.
“I’m thrilled, and so grateful, to be part of the Disability Power 100 for the fourth consecutive year. My dream when I started working in the accessible travel industry was simple; putting words on a page to connect people with places. 17 years later that passion still burns brightly, and in my role at AccessAble I have the privilege of working with so many talented disabled people to realise that dream. True power comes from collaboration, from ‘nothing about us without us’, and from authentic representation of our lived experiences.”
