Travel Trainer group to meet in Baltimore

The Association of Travel Instruction (ATI) will hold its 2010 annual conference in Baltimore beginning Friday, August 13, to Sunday, August 15, at the Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel.

The Association of Travel Instruction is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit corporation formed in 2001 to provide professional development opportunities to travel trainers and mobility specialists, who teach individuals with disabilities and seniors to use local public transportation services safely and independently.

ATI has run an annual continuing education conference for its members in each year of its existence. 

Demand for public transportation services by persons with disabilities and seniors has grown steadily since the 1990 passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. More disabled and aging persons use fixed-route transportation services today than ever before. However, the demand for complementary ADA paratransit services and other demand-responsive transportation systems also continues to rise, according to ATI officials.

The provision of travel training/travel instruction is one part of the array of services that comprise a broader “mobility management” plan. Successfully travel training disabled and aging persons who are able to use fixed-route transportation service is a win/win for the individual and the transportation provider.

The Call for Papers for ATI’s August 2010 conference in Baltimore may be found on the group’s Website home page, www.travelinstruction.org. The presentations delivered at the 2009 continuing education conference are available there as well.

To review presentations from ATI’s 2008 and 2007 conferences, please go to http://www.travelinstruction.org/ati_conference.html.

Interested persons can sign up to receive ATI’s free monthly e-newsletter, The Road Ahead, at http://www.travelinstruction.org/newsletter.html.

For information about affordable ATI membership rates and your choice of two convenient ways to join ATI, go to www.travelinstruction.org/ati_membership.html.