For many people, traveling is a way to explore new places, see family and friends, or enjoy a relaxing getaway. For disabled people like Lucy Robinson, they are lucky if they can travel at all. Robinson relies on care funded by the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. She says it’s difficult to get approval to travel outside the UK with her caregivers. She has missed work events and vacations.
Chelsea Pettitt wants to return to Spain on a vacation. The 25-year-old has cerebral palsy and lives in supportive housing. Her parents, Barbara and Alison Pettitt, said they were told by a social worker that she was no longer eligible for care abroad as she now lived in supportive housing.
These rules put up an invisible wall around disabled people’s lives. Even when they want to travel, the system stops them from doing so. This leads to missing important events, opportunities, and time with family.
Another example of this is seen in the US with Electronic Visit Verification, or EVV. EVV requires home healthcare workers to electronically clock in and out at certain locations to show they’re providing care. For many disabled people, this location is their home. If they travel, even within the U.S., their caregivers often can’t document their shift correctly. The system then marks the care as not following the rules, and payment might be refused.
Disabled Americans say EVV keeps them stuck. They talk about vacations ending early, trips being called off, and family visits put on hold because their caregivers can’t clock in from a hotel, a relative’s house, or a different state. Some have been told they have to stay close to home. Others feel watched, tracked, and penalized for trying to live a normal life.
EVV apps often use GPS and geofencing to establish a firm digital boundary around a client’s home, and home healthcare workers can clock in or out only within a small radius or they’re flagged as noncompliant. Melissa Harville, who provides care for her partner Kevin Hoover, said in 2021 she could go as far as the metal building on their property or the end of the driveway before the app warns she’s in the wrong place.
Before November 2020, when the home healthcare agency began using AuthentiCare, they were active. She could take Hoover to therapy, to the grocery store, and to visit friends without worrying about whether her location would jeopardize her pay or his care.
People argue that EVV, much like the UK’s travel rules, makes care a barrier. Rather than helping disabled people be part of society, these systems limit where they can go and for how long. Caregivers should be able to support people wherever they are.
For too many disabled people, this message feels all too familiar: your freedom stops where the system finds it convenient. They want what most travelers want. They want to visit new places and see loved ones. Instead, they are fighting to get permission to travel.
Sources:
Eubanks , Virginia, and Alexandra Mateescu. “We Don’t Deserve This’: New App Places US Caregivers under Digital Surveillance.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 28 July 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/28/digital-surveillance-caregivers-artificial-intelligence
Ryan, Frances, and Patrick Butler. “‘I Want to Live’: The Disabled People Unable to Go Abroad Because of Care Funding Refusal.” The Guardian, The Guardian, 2 Sept. 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/02/i-want-to-live-the-disabled-people-unable-to-go-abroad-because-of-care-funding-refusal.