World Disability Day Special The Travel Show

Danny Savage, BBC News, Teesside.

Now on BBC News, The Travel Show.

This week, we meet some people

taking on their own special travel

challenges. You are Hench, man!

You've been working out! I'm in the

USA to catch up with competitors

taking part taking part in a unique

international Championship. We find

out how this woman plans to take her

wheelchair into the skies. And we

join the blind backpacker on a

mission to visit every country in

the world.

I travel alone because

it's the biggest challenge I can

get.

We start in Washington, DC. This

place claims to be one of the most

accessible cities in the world,

which makes it a great place to

start our special programme marking

international disability Day. How

are you doing, brother? It's an

annual drive to raise awareness

about the issues faced by disabled

people across the globe. I have

never let using a wheelchair hold me

back in my sporting career or my TV

career but there's no doubt

travelling can be daunting, even the

great Lincoln memorial has its

issues, the lift's been vandalised.

You can go on a virtual tour. Not

quite sure what the great Abraham

Lincoln would have made a bit,

though. This week we'll meet

travellers who refuse to be

restricted by their physical

disabilities. First time heading

half an hour north to the university

of Maryland where a yearly sports

event has drawn disabled competitors

and spectators from all over the

world.

The Cure in Wounded Games has

adapted athletes compete across a

range of bodybuilding and

weightlifting challenges. Wesley

Hamilton has been working out for

just over two years. This is his

first time competing at the Games.

I

travel pretty far, I stay in Kansas

City, Missouri, further west, about

a three-hour flight.

Wesley ended up

in a wheelchair after a life

changing incident.

January, 2012I

was shot multiple times, which

caused me to have a spinal-cord

injury. It was traumatic because it

was actually a stranger who shot me,

I was walking back to my car, it put

me in a place of depression and at

that time I was 230 lb so I went

through a lot.

Tell me how you found

out about this.

Social media, man. I

was going on you Tube one day and I

saw the Walking Wounded Games video

form 2015 and I was emotional

because being in a wheelchair and

working out, I thought I was the

only one and it gave me a community.

Best of luck. Are you ready?

I'm

ready.

You look henge, man, you been

working out!

Eye of the tiger, man!

Most Parra sports categorised by

ability, but the Walking Wounded

Games are different. By modifying

the rules for each individual

athlete, they encourage people with

a range of capabilities to compete

together. It's called the Working

Wounded Games, so who is allowed to

compete in these dams?

Anybody that

has some kind of prominent adaptive

need that affects them physically.

So you're really inclusive and open

to everybody?

We really get excited

when we have first athletes,

first-time competitors.

This is the

calm before the storm. Everyone is

all chilled out and then the madness

begins when they start competing.

Come on! Come on, you're a beast,

come on! Up, up, up, up!

He did some extra rates there. I did

do some extra rates. Are you just

trying to show off?

I'm trying to

show off.

Are you saying it's too

easy now? Since sport people of all

abilities take part, Wesley

challenges me to a light workout.

I've got to use that skiing machine

to burn some calories and then I got

to tow this sled and then I got a

kettle bell I've got to lift up and

down and I got to keep doing that

for 12 minutes. It's going to be

sheer hell. Wesley, you know what

time it is, brother, I'm going to

give you a Travel Show whooping.

That's hard, really hard!

I see that

sled, broke, that's what you need!

Bowl down!

Have a unstructured me?

Right, it's your turn, do some work.

This is the first year the Games

have introduced a separate bracket

for their elite Spartan athletes,

and 118-year-old competitor is

gathering a lot of attention. So

tell me what you were trying to do?

We were trying to work out a way of

doing pullups because I'm not very

good at doing it yet.

Mainly because

of your right hand?

There was no

strength in it. When I was born all

my nerves got torn off.

Nora has

travelled here from Norway. It's her

first time in the United States and

just getting here has proved a

challenge.

It was really hard to

stem my fingerprints when coming to

the US.

You don't think about that.

They're pretty stringent and strict,

aren't they? Forefingers, two funds,

so what did you do?

I had to turn

around and I stood up for 15 minutes

because they couldn't scan it.

Nora

has never been able to complete a

pull up. Unless she can now figure

out a way she will finish last in

this round. This is going to be a

real challenge for her physically

and mentally. So there's another

lady next to Nora. She's got an arm

impairment and she can do the one

arm pullups and she has been

mentoring Nora and giving her

advice. That's what I love about

this place, it's a real community

atmosphere. Go, go, go, go, go!

Yeah! Two in a row! How many has she

done? So ten. For the first time in

her life, she manages not just one

pull up but 22. There's no letup,

though, it's then onto the rest of

the workout.

Relentless, relentless. Go, Nora,

go, Nora, yeah!

You're crying, you had tears, your

coach was hugging you, tell us about

the emotion, why were you so

emotional?

I don't know.

It's OK, take your

time.

Was that the first time you've been

able to do pullups?

Yeah, I haven't

even been close.

Its Norwegian

power.

Definitely.

Cheered on by a

crowd of international spectators,

the competitors push the limits of

their capabilities.

It weighs a ton!

Our first-place winner is Russ. --

wears.

Yeah!

CHEERING

In second place, all the way from

Norway, it's Nora!

CHEERING

Worth coming all the way from

Norway? Yeah.

Well done,

congratulations.

Thanks very much.

21 pullups, I expect 22 next time.

This event is about more than just

physical exercise and pumping iron,

it's in power in people with

impairments and it's also showing

that you don't have to be an elite

paralympian to compete and do great

things in sport, these people now

have a community, a sense of

belonging and for some of them, it's

become a life changing event.

Next up, you are of this beautiful

piece of performance art

commissioned as part of London's

cultural Olympiad back in 2012. Now

the artist is setting her sights on

what could be another world first.

We travelled to her home in Devon in

the UK to meet her.

The artwork is

all about communicating the fact

that a wheelchair is my freedom.

Access is at the heart, that is the

reason for making the artwork, so

following on from the underwater

wheelchair, a natural extension was

to think how I could create even

more unexpected imagery. Still a

little bit under wraps in terms of

the actual physicality of it, I am

actually going on a journey to find

out if I can fly. The flight

training in France was the hardest

thing I have ever chosen to do. My

instructor from day three was

thinking that I would not be able to

manage. I knew I had motor

co-ordination issues, but I haven't

realised that there is neurological

issues that affect my hands and my

perception as well. I think my hands

are straight but they are actually

like this, and that is really

critical. There is ways around it,

you just learn and train your brain,

now I can't imagine how I didn't

know that. We find barriers, whether

they are physical ones within me or

attitudes about the right way to

fly, and then we find ways to

negotiate around them, and I really

think that is hopefully a parallel

with travel and accessibility as

well will stop that is that

organisations need to think outside

the box and they can open up their

venues and their environments. I

really hope that I will be flying a

wheelchair by next summer if not

four. -- if not before.

The Travel Show, your essential

guide to wherever you're headed.

Always good to have a buddy!

Finally, this week, we had to Israel

to meet a man who has clocked up

more than 120 countries on his

travels. But what is even more

remarkable is that he has done all

of this without being able to see.

To find out how he experiences the

world, we caught up with him in a

city known for being both holy and

hectic, Jerusalem.

I see a place with my senses, I see

a place by the sounds, smells,

textures. The hustle and bustle,

people shouting come up I this, by

this, come look at this. I feel the

atmosphere in the energy, the buzz.

My name is Tony Giles, I am from

England, I am totally blind and

severely deaf in both ears and I am

travelling around the world, trying

to visit every country. I am in the

old city! Israel is country 124. I

was born with my eye condition, I

don't have any vision apart from

some light sensitivity. And I have

gradually gone deaf as I have got

older, I am now 80% severely deaf in

both ears, but I use digital hearing

aids. Sorry. I travel alone because

it is the biggest challenge I can

get. And travelling by myself...

Excuse me. I get to interact with

people. If I travel with someone,

particularly someone cited, they

would be doing all the work, they

would be doing the guiding and I

wouldn't get to touch as many things

and find as many things I do by

myself. Today I'm going to catch a

bus into the old city, and go to the

Western Wall.

Western Wall? OK, I

will help you.

Let me hold your arm

like that.

Where are you from?

England. I was lucky that the bus

travel was nearby waiting, it was

very easy to get on the bus. I got

it. Let go. New Orleans was the

first place to buy myself. A foreign

city by myself. Didn't know where I

was going, I just froze, an event of

a couple of deep rats and said to

myself, Tony, this is what you want.

-- deep breaths. If you wanted, go

home. I took some more deep breaths,

turned down the street and the rest

is history.

This is your stop. You

can take...

All right, thank you.

I'm good.

Just rang to get my bearings, work

out which way the traffic is going,

and I can't censor any sunlight, any

sun at all. You have to be patient,

you get lots of time. It is very

difficult if you're looking for

something specific when you can't

see, busy obviously can't pinpoint

it.

Excuse me.

You might get ten people walk past,

and somebody will stop and ask if

you are lost or you need help, then

you interact with them. Excuse me,

which way? Straight in front of me?

No?

You want help?

Yeah.

I like this. I like the atmosphere

and the smell, and it's all close an

impact, and it feels authentic. --

close and packed.

I am going to the Western Wall, and

on the way I'm going to hopefully

explore some of the other stuff, the

stages of the cross that Jesus

walked.

Good morning.

How are you?

You want to see my shop, souvenir?

I

will have a quick look. What do you

sell? PLAYS FLUTE.

You are very

good. This is for copy. Ten shekels.

Five, is that another five?

Thank

you.

Once a week, I have a blog, I

document my journey and my travels,

I want to share it with the world

and trained inspire people to

believe in ourselves, they can

overcome whatever their challenges

are. And I add pictures that I take.

Originally I did it because I

thought it would be funny, someone

seeing a blind person take photos.

But it is an extra way of sharing, I

can show my family and friends, I

want to share it with everyone.

Thank you.

Over here. Over here.

Thank you. A

motorbike coming through, not very

clever. Hello. Looking for the

station of the cross.

This way, this

way.

This is the station of the

croc? Cross.

This is where Christ...

Here is

where he put his hand. Up to the

right.

Oh, OK, thank you. Apparently

I am at one of the stages of the

cross, where Jesus put his hand on

the wall and lent against the wall.

Sort of a defined handprints. Very

smooth. Also quite rigid, quite

bumpy. It is a lovely texture. Some

barrier here... Is this the way in?

It is for woman's... It is not men.

They have separated male and female,

trying to take me into the male

section. Taking me up to the wall.

There are notes in it. Massive

blocks. Very smooth. The texture,

the shapes of the wall, the bricks,

it is the historical and spiritual

point of view of visiting. Tony at

the Western Wall.

Next week, we will continue

following Tony on his travels as he

crosses into the Palestinian

territories to explore the holy town

of Bethlehem. So join us for that if

you can. And don't forget, you can

keep up-to-date by following us on

social media, all the details should

be rolling across your screen is

right now. But until next time, from

me and all the Travel Show team here

in Maryland, it is goodbye.