Editor's note: This is part of a series on health and accessibility issues for holiday season travelers.

Adriana Mallozzi travels for business and for pleasure.

"I have cerebral palsy. I am a quadriplegic. I use a powered wheelchair, and I'm involved with a lot of different things," said Mallozzi, of Brookline, founder and chief executive officer of Woburn-based Puffin Innovations, which specializes in assistive technologies for people with limited mobility in their upper extremities.

"My initial device is a mouth-operated device that connects to mobile devices," Mallozzi said. "It allows someone to use a mobile phone, laptop, tablet, any computer, iPad, or whatever. It connects via Bluetooth, and we have an app that accompanies the hardware."

"It's completely wireless," Mallozzi added. "It has a battery, like a cellphone, so it wouldn't have to be tethered."

As an advocate for people with disabilities, Mallozzi has served on several boards and committees, and envisions a world where anyone can travel without boundaries.

But despite advances in accessibility, wheelchair users still report problems, including loss of or damage to their wheelchairs, mix-ups in reservations for renting accessible vehicles, even spending the night at an airport when accessible transportation didn't arrive as planned.

John Morris is the founder of Wheelchair Travel, now based in Boston, that is a resource of information Morris has gathered, including from his own experiences.

"I think any time you introduce a mobility device into your life or into a travel journey, there comes a need to investigate the accessibility of all the places where you will utilize that mobility device," he said. 

In fall of 2012, Morris suffered a car accident with severe burns to three of his limbs, leading to the amputation of his right hand, and both legs below the knee.

After a tortuous year of recovery, Morris, a lifelong traveler, journeyed to Los Angeles. The difficulties he encountered prompted him to gather information to share with other travelers with mobility limitations.

With Wheelchair Travel, Morris offers information on a broad range of topics, from lodgings, vehicle and equipment rentals, travel insurance, travel by train, air, and car, and more.

Morris said, "I encourage folks to research the accessibility of the destination they are planning to visit, and also, the venues associated with that destination," he said, such as hotels, airports, attractions, restaurants they want to visit.

Morris said, "Because, even though the [Americans with Disabilities Act] has existed in the U.S. for more than 30 years, there is still a lot of progress that needs to be made on accessibility, and challenges one might not expect if they've not gone outside their communities." 

Keeping a wheelchair safe while traveling can be a challenge.

"Even up to the gate of the plane, you are instructing people, 'This chair is the only way I can get around. This chair costs $40,000, please be careful,'" Mallozzi said.

She said wheelchair users recount stories of wheelchairs being completely destroyed, or lost. "Imagine if someone broke your legs. Because, that is exactly what would happen. You would be stuck. You wouldn't be going anywhere. I don't understand what the disconnect is."

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"You can never be over-prepared. Something always goes wrong," Mallozzi said. "We triple-check reservations. We inform them, 'Hey, we're coming, we have this device. We have that device. Make sure it's taken care of.'"

Mallozzi said one way is to wrap the wheelchair, and remove and store any protruding parts.

Mallozzi recalled an experience from one particular flight. "I was at a conference in Florida. I'm typically at the window. I have a window seat, but I could see the loading of the items." From her seat, Mallozzi said she watched, "They proceeded to start loading things on top of the chair, chucking car seats, strollers. I just watched, literally in horror."

Much of the time, Mallozzi said she travels with her manual wheelchair, using the powered wheelchair only for work-related travel, when she must travel with complete independence.

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The wheelchair sustained minimal damage, but reinforced feelings of frustration.

Morris has put a lot of thought into how his wheelchair will fit into an airplane's cargo hold.

"A lot of travelers have a lot of misunderstanding of the size of an airplane," Morris said. "My wheelchair sits at about 4 feet tall, from the floor to the top of the back rest." That's about 48 inches tall.

Morris said the Boeing 737, the world's most-used aircraft, has a 33-inch clearance in its cargo department. "When the airline's crew are handling these wheelchairs, you can't fit a square peg into a round hole. In order to get the chair taller than the door into the cargo, they have to flip the chair on its side."

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"Airlines have a responsibility to help disabled people understand the limitation of aircraft design, and ways to overcome it," Morris said. "When I fly, I'm able to make adjustments to the chair, to make sure it will fight into the cargo hold upright. That is how I'm able to prevent, more often than not, the extreme damage we hear of more often."

An assistive device can be brought aboard an airplane only if it fits certain space requirements, which generally means powered wheelchairs must be stored in the cargo hold.

The Department of Transportation requires that assistive devices, such as wheelchairs that have to be stored, must be returned to the passenger as quickly as possible to the door of the aircraft, unless the passenger arranges to pick it up at the baggage claim.

"Ground transportation is probably the most critical piece within the travel industry," Morris said. "I think it is where there are challenges even more than with air travel." 

When it comes to rental vehicles, Morris said, "If you need hand controls, you can make a request for that. Often times, those requests are not heeded. The traveler shows up at the airport and hears, 'We don't have a car with hand controls." 

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In March, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration enacted three new rules to improve auto accessibility for people with disabilities.

The first change allows rental car companies to temporarily disable a driver’s knee bolster air bag to install hand controls for people with disabilities. Should they deploy in a crash, knee bolster air bags could interfere with the safe use of physical hand controls.

The second modification permits the installation of rear-mounted transporters for wheelchairs and power scooters. These transporters may partially block the backup camera’s view and would not be allowed without this exemption.

The third change allows modifiers to lawfully raise the height of a vehicle’s roof to accommodate drivers and passengers with disabilities. 

In a press release, the administration said that the exemptions should allow motor vehicle dealers and repair businesses to improve the mobility of drivers and passengers with disabilities.

Services such as accessible taxis may vary depending on location, said Morris. "Those are available in big cities like Boston," said Morris, but they may not be as widely available in smaller cities. 

Morris said hidden costs are something he talks about a lot. "It's the hidden cost of disability. Everything becomes more expensive when you're encountering these barriers, and plans having to be changed."

"There have been quite a few instances where I arrived at an airport in the U.S., in an American city, and I couldn't get transportation. The taxi didn't show up, public transportation was shut down," Morris said. "I had to sleep in an airport until the morning when public transportation starts. The hotel I had booked, I had to pay for that, and I slept in a chair at an airport."

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As advocates for travelers with disabilities push for greater access, Morris said greater access can also have economic benefits for communities and the travel industry.

"Destinations that have an accessibility infrastructure are benefitting substantially from increased travel, and increased numbers of visitors," Morris said. "Would I rather go to St. Louis, a city that I love, where I can't get any transportation at night? Or, would I really rather travel to Chicago, or Boston, or New York City, where there are tons of accessible taxis, and transportation runs late into the night?"