Podcast Summary:
Discover a world where accessibility meets adventure! In this episode inspired by the Minnesota State Academy’s International Club, Jeff Thompson explores Seable Holidays, a unique travel company transforming vacations for blind and visually impaired travelers.
Students from MSAB’s International Club enlisted Seable Holidays for their trip to Italy and the feedback was totally awesome.
CEO Damiano La Rocca, along with team members Lucy and Daniel, share how Seable provides trained local sighted guides, personalized trip planning, and full support to make once-distant destinations like Sicily, Scotland, Thailand, and the Galapagos Islands completely accessible. Hear how travelers gain confidence, independence, and lifelong friendships while experiencing unforgettable holidays. Whether it’s a solo trip, a group getaway, or a school excursion, Seable proves that accessible travel is not just possible—it’s life-changing!
You can email Seable Holidays at:
Lucy@Seable.co.uk or Daniel@Seable.co.uk.
On the web at Seable.Co.UK
To find out more about the services provided at State Services for the Blind, and what they can do for you, contact Shane DeSantis at shane.desantis@state.mn.us or call Shane at 651-385-5205.
Thanks for listening!
Full Transcript:
{Music}
Lucy: When I first went on holiday with Seable, I wanted that feeling of travelling almost independently, kind of without my family and having to rely on them, but knowing that I would be supported as well.
Damiano: They would provide these sighted guided assistants between 10 to 12 hours a day, and obviously they are local to the area, so they have full knowledge about the local secrets, the history, and they are very passionate about their culture. They kind of make you feel like you’re not a tourist.
Daniel: What really endeared me to them is the positivity around what they do, basically. And yeah, that’s kind of how I’ve got involved and I’ve loved it. I’ve literally loved every minute of it.
Jeff: Welcome to Blind Abilities. I’m Jeff Thompson. Have you ever had the chance to visit Sicily, Italy, Scotland, the Galapagos Islands or any other distant location? So how does one being blind or low vision plan. Such a holiday. I’m talking about logistics like transportation, navigation and just what you don’t know and what could be right around the corner. But you don’t know that either. Honestly, that is what puzzles me all the time. Until I heard about Seable Holidays. That’s S e a b l e Holidays on the web at SeableCo.UK.. And, Seable Holidays will tailor your holiday to fit your needs with professional guides to give you as much support or as little support as you desire. And I’m pleased to have some of the team from Seable Holidays with me. Here in the studio we have Seable Holidays CEO Damiano La Rocca. Damiano, how are you doing?
Damiano: I’m very well. Thank you. And thank you for having us today.
Jeff: And we also have Lucy. Lucy, how are you doing?
Lucy: Hi, there. Yeah. I’m good. Thanks. Yeah, I’m excited to be here.
Jeff: And Daniel is along with us, too. Daniel, how are you doing?
Daniel: I’m doing good. Thank you for having me. Much appreciated.
Jeff: Thank you all for taking the time to be here on blind abilities. Now, Damiano, why don’t you give us an introduction to what is Seable Holidays in a nutshell?
Damiano: Yes. So Seable is a not for profit social enterprise that organizes holidays for blind and partially sighted people. In a nutshell, we have a big social mission where we involve blind and partially sighted people in every step of the way. So from having it in our board of directors, our staff members, planning the holidays, testing the holidays, and also training our local sighted guides in every destination where we can go on holiday.
Jeff: And when you talk about sighted guides, that means that if you’re on one of these holidays, you get access to a sighted guide.
Damiano: That is correct. So we are the only two operator that offer this sort of assistance like this. So we have sighted guides located in the destinations where we can take people on holiday. The main reason is because I’ve realised that bringing sighted guides from the UK, or from where the clients are from, would increase the price too much. So I’ve decided to look at local assistants and I will train them, and they would provide these sighted guides assistants between 10 to 12 hours a day. And obviously they are local to the area, so they have full knowledge about the local secrets, the history, and they are very passionate about their culture. They kind of make you feel like you’re not a tourist, but you know, they can show you their home.
Jeff: Yeah, I’m glad you mentioned that because I was watching the YouTube videos from your website, and I was really impressed that the sighted guides are actually from the locations that people will be taking these holidays to. So they do know the secrets. As you mentioned, all the sights and tourist attractions from their own home. That’s brilliant.
Damiano: Yes, that’s basically our unique selling point.
Jeff: Yeah. Lucy, what brought you to Seable holidays?
Lucy: Yeah. So it was, um. It’s actually ten years ago. I was part of a charity called Victor, so I’m visually impaired myself. I was a part of a charity. Victor. They were doing a holiday to Sicily with Seable holidays. So I actually, firstly was a customer of Seable. And obviously from that point, I absolutely loved the service that was provided. I loved the holiday, I love the people, the local guides that we met. And then I kind of just kind of became involved with Seable and, you know, got really inspired to travel more. And then over the years, you know, I knew that Seable were looking to start a team of visually impaired people working at Seable. And I was pretty much the start of that, really, you know, in, in house the IT member. So it’s about three years ago, I started working then at Seable holidays and just loved hearing about how the holidays are planned and all the kind of organization part of it. So. Yeah. So I guess there was a customer and now part of the team, which is amazing.
Jeff: Were you nervous when you first applied?
Lucy: Oh my God, yes. For the first holiday I did when I was 19 years old. So I’d never really met that many visually impaired people before. I’d been to mainstream school with just sighted people, so I was super nervous. I didn’t really know what to expect, but yeah, I think my confidence just grew literally from that moment of doing that holiday, um, to kind of where I am today. So. So yeah, it’s amazing really, what it’s done for me and the impact it’s had.
Jeff: Yeah, I read that in the feedback that people left that their confidence really grows. That’s awesome. Daniel.
Daniel: Hello.
Jeff: What brought you to Seable Holidays?
Daniel: Uh, so basically my eyesight has deteriorated quite a bit in the last five years, but I’m a bit older, so I actually worked in construction for 25 years, or actually more than that. So I then enrolled with a another charity called the Thomas Pocklington Trust. And I’m an intern through their scheme with Siebel. But what really endeared me to them is the positivity around what they do, basically. And yeah, that’s kind of where how I’ve got involved and I’ve loved it. I’ve literally loved every minute of it. Until this time last year, I’d never even engaged with somebody else with a visual impairment. So now I’m speaking to them on a daily basis. I’ve kind of absorbed as much as I can basically and not look back.
Jeff: What big thing is that? Positivity. I understand I’m visually impaired myself. Explain that positivity part.
Daniel: Yeah. I mean, for me, just my initial kind of why. I suppose it’s probably part of why I’ve stayed away from like getting involved with anything to do with sight loss, even though I’ve been visually impaired all my life, is because a lot of it is more negative, I would say, as in the kind of counselling side of it, and I’m quite a positive person. And for me everything about suitable holiday is positive. The advantages for your wellbeing of going on holiday. And yeah, I just love it. I think everything about it is great.
Jeff: That’s great. Damiano. It’s a business. Yes, I understand that, but where did the passion come for you to reach out to the blind and visually impaired community, to offer such an opportunity for them to travel successfully and rise above society’s limited expectations that they would have of them. And obviously, like Daniel just said, it builds confidence and stuff. What sparked all this in you?
Damiano: Oh thank you. That’s very nicely put. So when I was at university I was already inclined towards tourism and accessible tourism or sustainable tourism. I was doing my dissertation on it and I’ve decided to look at Sicily, which is where I’m from, and how accessible tourism could improve the offer and the economy of a place. And then I looked more into what my father was doing at the time, which was scuba diving for wheelchair users and blind people. And he had a little charity, set up where he would teach people to basically overcome their challenges by trying scuba diving. And one girl, Benny, she approached them and asked to learn how to scuba dive. So together they developed the techniques to teach someone who is blind how to scuba dive. And she went on and then got a Guinness World Record in deep sea diving. And this was amazing on his own. But then from that, then she decided to start looking into jobs, sports and kind of opened up a lot of other opportunities. So I witnessed that and I thought, you know, maybe there is more people that want to try scuba diving, and some of them will have the same effects and kind of improve their lives just by trying one activity. So I started with a scuba diving holiday in Sicily to start with, and then I met my first client, and it was an 80 year old man that just arrived in Sicily. He didn’t want to do scuba diving, he just wanted to relax. And then I realized there that there was a need for the local sighted guide assistance to be available throughout the day, and that kind of got me going to set myself a challenge to create this service.
Jeff: Wow. I’m glad you had that live experience to see that there is a need for Seable holidays for the blind and visually impaired. Lucy, you have a unique perspective in your position to be able to meet the customers, the blind and visually impaired customers before they take the Seable holiday, and then when you’re following up and getting feedback from them. What impact do you notice the most about the blind and visually impaired customers experiencing a Seable holiday?
Lucy: Yeah. So, you know, over the years I’ve seen obviously I’ve got lots of friends that that still travel with Seable holidays. And personally I’ve seen, you know, how confidence grows. And then with the customers that we have now. So we you know, that part of my job is holiday planning and booking people on their holidays, and a big aspect of what we do is obtaining feedback at the end of our trips, and it’s amazing to see the journey really, from the moment they first speak to me about planning the holiday, to see if it is kind of for them to kind of after the holiday, when I speak to them and do obtain their feedback and how the confidence has really grown and how, you know, they’re inspired to maybe start a new hobby, or they’ve been on a group holiday and made some friends that they’re going to stay connected with. So yeah, we truly see, you know, how Seable holidays has such a direct impact on people and how it really can change lives? You know, we’ve got customers that have never, never been able to travel outside of the UK or they’ve never felt that they’ve been able to. And then we’ve been able to provide that service. And then we’ve got people that want to just make friends. It’s as simple as that. Be it be around like minded people and just have that support. So yeah, it’s amazing to see people that come back every single year and you know, they love our services and what we do. And now we want a VIP team. And you know, there’s job offers that that we can offer people as well. So yeah, it’s amazing. It’s really amazing to see that. And in myself personally as well. You know, I never thought I’d be able to do such an amazing job like this. So yeah, it’s amazing to see. Yeah.
Jeff: Well that’s really neat that you’re able to see that impact, that see what holidays is having on people and yourself. I mean, there’s some people who, you know, getting outside, going around the block, around the neighborhood, that’s a challenge in itself. But to think that you would leave a country and go do a holiday in another country, a foreign land, and just through the support that Siebel Holidays offers to this person, helps them develop confidence that transfers into daily life when they come back and give you the feedback that that’s really something, that’s really something. What you’re doing now, you mentioned the group travels. That’s where ten or so many people that may not know each other, go on the same excursion, the same holiday. And like you said, some people have situations where they don’t get to meet other blind or visually impaired people. So that’s really neat to be able to experience that type of holiday.
Lucy: Exactly, exactly. And lots of people, you know, when I first went on holiday with Seable, I wanted that feeling of traveling almost independently, kind of without my family and having to rely on them, but knowing that I would be supported as well. So that’s why I can really kind of relate to a lot of our customers that, you know, they want to travel to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia without having to rely on family and friends. Kind of they’re going on their own, but as a part of a group and knowing that you’ve got those local guides and sighted guides to assist you, it’s truly amazing, actually.
Jeff: Yeah, yeah. Sometimes with family, you end up doing five things that you didn’t want to do because the whole family wants to do with this other things. But I see the agendas on some of these trips, like to Scotland, you go to the castle, you go to the whisky tour. You get to see so many different things. And Minnesota State Academy for the blind took some students and you guys provided support for them, and they went to Italy and they got to go to the Tactile Museum, the world’s largest tactile museum. And they were raving about all the things that they did to. So that’s awesome.
Damiano: Yeah, I it was actually me. They were, they were um, with me for that week. I, I really loved that experience. And it was amazing that they came from that far, because it’s quite a journey to come from Minnesota to Sicily. So we were really happy and proud to welcome the school. And I think we are planning a next trip, uh, with them, uh, not next year or maybe the one after.
Jeff: Oh. That’s awesome. Yeah, that’s really great that you guys reach out. And groups, organizations can do such a group activity and plan it out. And you guys handle all the planning for them to have a successful trip and be able to come out of it with smiles.
Damiano: Yeah, obviously a goal which is making everyone happy 100%. And we work really hard for this. So we look at the details, really the activities, are they already accessible or do they need a little bit of work to become accessible? So places like the Tactile Museum, it’s a great place to visit, you know, good job that we found it. But then what about the city tours? How do we make those accessible? So in some places, for example, where there isn’t a tactile museum, we buy the models of the major monuments, and when we are in front of the monument, we let people touch the models. In some cities we have our partners, for example, in Italy that they create tactile maps, and in Germany as well tactile maps of the city, so people can understand the layout of the city and where they are now, where they’re going to go later. And the same with everything in place, the accommodation we contact, accommodation before we inform them of the group’s needs and we do an orientation on the first day. So once you get to the hotel, we’ll show you the room where the plug sockets are, where the towels are, if they are in random places, and how to navigate the room if needed. And then a little orientation of the hotel, how to get to the breakfast area, how to get to the pool. We do it for everyone, but you know, some people would like to do that independently. Some people still would like us to just pick them up in their in their bedroom. And we, you know, we do both.
Jeff: Yeah. I suppose some people want more support and some people may want less. So that’s a little bit about your introduction to them to find out. So you can set up the plan.
Damiano: Yes.
Daniel: Yeah. I mean that’s the beauty of our tailored holidays. It can be as bespoke as you want it to be and as personal as you want it to be on it. So yeah, absolutely.
Jeff: I like that. Tailored holidays. I mean, we all know that one size does not fit all. So yeah tailored holidays I like that. That’s brilliant Damiano I know it’s hard work, but at what point did you realize that Seable holidays was going to work?
Damiano: To be fair, I still don’t know if it is. It’s still kind of a challenge every year, but it’s growing so. And we are getting recognized, which is a good thing. At the beginning, I decided to have control of the training of the new guide. So I decided to attend every holiday. So I was the leading tour guide on pretty much all of the holidays. And I realized how much this was needed because we were getting obviously the requests. And I’ve started approaching not for profit charities and schools saying, look, this is what we can do. Would you like to attend? And everyone has been really happy about the news of this service because there wasn’t much available. There still isn’t actually much available for the community now. And the other offers are either, you know, they’re different, but they might not do the same level of attention and details that we provide, or their prices are too high, or they generalize the offer. They say it’s for disabled people and they include blind people when actually it isn’t. So we try and fight this to make sure that, you know, people don’t get let down by other companies, and we try and tell that come to us because really, this is what you should be doing. And once you try, you’ll realize that these are great holidays and, you know, you might want to come back. And that’s why we’re now accessing the US a little bit more. It wasn’t on my radar for the past few years, but since after Covid we have received a lot of requests from the US. And I didn’t realize that even in the US there is very little offer.
Jeff: Hmm. Yeah, I’ve been to England three times for two week stints, but I have friends in two areas, in Birmingham and Teignmouth, my wife wants to go to Scotland and I’m thinking but we don’t have that support the same way. And she saw that you guys have a holiday that goes there and I’m like, aha, now that’s a way of doing it because it’s a big difference. If you just drop into, Let’s say you drop into Birmingham. And what are you going to do? Go to the hotel and then try and explore yourself and stuff. You know, you might be upset with the accessibility of certain things. So having Seable holidays in certain areas, it just makes it wide open. And I would vouch to say, yeah, if you have support like that, then especially transportation explanations and tour guides almost. Yeah, that’s really good. So what areas have you provided holidays to?
Damiano: Obviously Italy. We have a big selection. Sicily, Rome, Naples, Bologna and these are all available for tailored and group holidays. Then we do skiing holidays in the north of Italy as well. We do that once or twice a year. We go to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. We did a safari this year, which was amazing. I can’t wait to actually launch it again because it was surprisingly extremely good. We are going to Ecuador and Galapagos. In November we had Romania, Disney in Paris, and we just went to Sweden. And then this year we also launched Scotland Aviemore, which is in the north of Scotland. But in England we do have Edinburgh and London as well and we keep adding destinations every year. We are trying really hard to add more and more destinations every year.
Jeff: You said the Galapagos Islands?
Damiano: Yeah.
Daniel: Yeah.
Jeff: Wow.
Damiano: We’re going Ecuador and Galapagos. It’s a very big trip, but 17 days. Wow. In November.
Jeff: Survival of the fittest.
Daniel: Yes.
Damiano: In our group holidays, we have 1 to 2 guiding. And in the large group holidays like these ones, we would bring stuff from the UK as well as using local sighted guides. And the idea is that we can manage the 1 to 2 have enough support during check in because we change accommodation every few days. And then also we train the local guides so that when we finish the trip, we would have trained guides that then they can have individuals or couples or families, people that don’t want to join a group, but they want to go independently.
Jeff: Oh that’s awesome. Lucy, as someone who’s blind, visually impaired, getting a job is, you know, quite an accomplishment. But what’s your biggest reward from working with Seable holidays?
Lucy: There are a few things, really, because I would say because before Seable, I’ve had a few other jobs and I really did struggle for them to kind of understand my visual impairment and kind of getting my needs met essentially. So working at Seable, you know, being surrounded by people that just understand immediately and me not having to explain things and just a general level of understanding of visual impairment and the level of support, um, you know, is far greater than any place I’ve ever worked before. So it’s just that that feeling of knowing I’m supported and knowing that people understand. And also, I would say it’s the idea that, you know, my job now I get to see the customers that that travel kind of have that feeling that I had when I was 19 that that, you know, that they’re able to travel independently and explore the world. So seeing that happen, you know, it’s so rewarding for me. So yeah, it’s just an incredible place to work. And it’s really fulfilling to see my customers experience what I also experienced as well.
Jeff: Oh that’s great. Daniel, what impact has this been on you?
Daniel: So lately, I think it’s that it is that like sense of community. And just seeing the joy that it brings to people is the biggest impact for me. And I think as well, when I’m initially talking, because I generally handle most of the initial calls, like with new customers, and it’s just that they can relate to me as well because of my visual impairment. So a lot of the things they’re telling me, you know, I’ve had in my personal life and it’s just the relatability of it all and the Yeah. Connection that you build with these people is great. And then obviously, once they’re back from their holidays, taking their feedback from them as well, and to know that you’ve helped provide them with a great service. It’s just yeah, it’s just really nice. Really nice.
Jeff: Yeah. Well, after hearing the students that got back from Minnesota State Academy and their excitement for being able to do what they did with Siebel at the helm, I’m really excited that other groups and other organizations and other people, individuals get Ahold of you. How can they get Ahold of Seable Holidays?
Damiano: So our website is Seable.co.uk, which is spelled S for sugar, E for echo, A for Alpha, B for Bravo Alpha Lima, E for echo.co, UK. We can be contacted by email and the emails are Lucy@Seable.co.uk or Daniel@Seable.co.uk. We also have a landline number that people can call us on. The number is, I guess, for Americans. 00442033756947.
Jeff: Well, thank you very much. I really enjoyed looking at the website, and I actually looked at a bunch of other articles. Accessible travel had some articles on it. National geographic and you’ve won so many awards and you just won one for disability this year 2025.
Damiano: Yes, that’s our greatest achievement this year. It’s based on the fact that we are basically, um, working towards total accessibility in the workplace. So when we have posted the jobs, uh, online, they were accessible, the interview process was accessible, the training and onboarding and the work that we do internally, which was a great achievement because we were up against some really big players. So I didn’t really think we were going to win. It was actually quite a shock and surprise by all of us, but, uh, we did win at the end. So I guess, uh, some something is right in what we’re doing.
Jeff: Well, I like what you mentioned in some of the conversations that I found out about by, you know, going to YouTube and some interviews that I saw, like on RNIB, you said because of the size of your company, you’re able to respond to the feedback immediately and adjust and accommodate. So the next people that come along get the best service that you can provide.
Damiano: Yes.
Jeff: Damiano. Lucy, Daniel, thank you all for what you’re doing and what service you’re providing to the community. And I hope everyone checks out Seable Holidays and find out what Seable Holidays can do for you.
Daniel: Thank you for having us. Much appreciated.
Damiano: Thank you Jeff. Thank you.
Lucy: Thank you so much. Thank you.
Jeff: Such a great time talking to Damiano, Lucy and Daniel from Seable holidays. Be sure to click on the links in the show notes. Send them an email, give them a call and make sure your next holiday is successful and accessible with Seeable holidays.
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Jeff: For more podcasts with The Blindness Perspective, check us out on the web at BlindAbilities.com. Download the free Blind Abilities app from the App Store. That’s two words Blind Abilities. And if you want to leave some feedback, give us some suggestions. Give us a call at (612) 367-6093. We’d love to hear from you. I want to thank you for listening. And until next time, bye-bye.
Outro Voices: When we share-
What we see
-Through each other’s eyes…
[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]
…We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities