Having vision and hearing loss, or difficulties learning, remembering or getting around needn’t stop us enjoying vacations to cultural places, either in our local cities or someone else’s.

Accessible Vacations is a problem-solving guide book on the most accessible museums, monuments and theaters for vacation visits or day-trips in twelve of the US’s most visited cities. It describes accessible outings, activities, courses and exhibitions you may want to try out, and places to go and see great shows or movies using a simple five-step plan.

Accessible Vacations is not exhaustive and won’t sell you a hotel room or flight. It also won’t tell you about diners in the local area, or the best souvenirs. It’s written in the hope of making your life easier and more interesting in your leisure time, or to help in getting a cultural education. It also gives you a realistic, accessible picture of what’s available in the US when you choose your destinations.

Whether it’s viewing paintings, watching musicals or walking trails, Accessible Vacations will show you that you can learn, find pleasure, develop personal interests, or build a life journey in the US’s biggest cities. You just need to know where to go to make these activities possible, or how cultural places can help support you as elderly and frail folk. If you are a museum or theater professional, it will also let you know the state of the art in the US, and which cities have the most accessible places.

Accessible Vacations is in two main sections:

•Section 1 includes ways you can get access to museums and theaters if you have problems with vision or hearing loss or difficulties with memory or learning, and includes information on: technologies, audio description, captions, special classes and performances, sign language, accessible mobile technologies.

•Section 2 has a chapter each for a dozen big, accessible US cities, with listings of facilities for museums and theaters using this book’s five-step plan. These cities were chosen because they are amongst the most visited in the US, they are spread throughout the country and they are the home of important cultural places that represent this country so well. They are also a mix of young and old cities, centres of the arts, different forms of art and centres of business. They include the east and west seaboards and the states of the north and south as well as the Mid-West.