Developing social sustainable tourism for and with people with hidden disabilities: Reflections from Fyn, Denmark

Destinations across the globe are becoming increasingly aware of, and involved with, the issue of accessibility. As we generally live longer and awareness of disabilities increases, the number of people living with disabilities increases. The disability research often emphasises people with physical or vision-related disabilities and accentuates physical mobility issues whereas people with ‘hidden’ challenges (such as Dementia, Autism, Asperger’s and ADHD) and their needs and tourism-related challenges are often silenced in research and excluded in otherwise participatory tourism development processes. Investigating the more sensitive issues in the management and development of destinations, this chapter addresses the key topics of accessibility, inclusion, participation and social sustainability. We do so on the basis of research in Fyn, Denmark, in which we attempted to give voices to people with hidden disabilities and challenges and understand the latent opportunities, which may arise when including them in social sustainable destination development. In doing so, we applied collaborative design processes (co-design), through conversations, interviews and workshops, as this method allows for researchers to facilitate processes where the voices of the participants (co-designers) are listened to and engaged with (Duedahl & Liburd, 2019). Our research unfolds the paradoxes and problems that arise when trying to develop social sustainable destination development not for, but with the many different minorities that try to live, and travel, with hidden disabilities and how tourism businesses struggle to understand these different disabilities and convert this complex knowledge to inclusive facilities and practices.