Carrie-Ann Lightley
Blogger and Travel Writer, CarrieAnnLightley.com and Marketing Manager, AccessAble
Carrie-Ann Lightley is one of the UK’s leading accessible travel bloggers, a freelance travel writer, and she’s also the marketing manager for national disability organisation AccessAble.
Through her blog www.CarrieAnnLightley.com she aims to encourage and inspire disabled people to travel to, 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.
Her work at AccessAble promotes independence for everyone, regardless of impairment, using technology and information to live the life they choose. Carrie-Ann has led an initiative to launch a group of AccessAble Champions made up of bloggers and vloggers who are ambassadors for AccessAble.
Carrie-Ann leads on AccessAble’s work with tourism industry partners, and in 2019/20 has been responsible for integrating detailed accessibility information into the websites of Destination Management Organisations including Visit Blackpool and Welcome to Yorkshire, resulting in more accessibility information reaching more disabled people.
Carrie-Ann has written for The Guardian, The Huffington Post, The Sun and TripAdvisor, as well as other websites, magazines and industry publications. She has taken part in films for ITV News to highlight the importance of accessible train travel, and the BBC’s Rip off Britain, to showcase accessible adventure holidays.
She’s a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Young Disabled People, England’s Inclusive Tourism Action Group and Manchester Airport’s Accessibility Forum. In addition, Carrie-Ann is a Trailblazer Tourism Ambassador for Muscular Dystrophy UK and judge for the prestigious Catey Awards.
“‘Inspirational’ is an overused word in disability circles, but I do want to inspire. Not for living my life, not for working hard despite the barriers I face, but to inspire others to travel, no matter what their impairment. To know that although accessible travel can be challenging, stressful, and sometimes disastrous, it can also be freeing, empowering, and absolutely wonderful.”