His Deaf Friends Had Bad Travel Experiences, so He Did Something About It

Imagine being a deaf American who has traveled to the Leaning Tower of Pisa only to be told you can’t enter without a hearing person present. Consider how humiliating and patronizing and stressful this could feel. Unfortunately, several deaf and hard of hearing Americans traveling abroad have reported encountering such barriers, borne out of inaccessible environments, and cultural biases about what deaf and hard of hearing people can and can’t do safely.

Terry Giansanti, founder of the deaf-owned tour operator Hands On Travel (formerly called Hands On Italia), is trying to make deaf travel less friction filled. Since 2002, his company has organized more than 350 tours for small groups as well as private trips, led by local deaf guides in more than 60 countries with more than 4,000 deaf customers whose primary language is American Sign Language.

Giansanti was inspired to start Hands On Travel when he was living in Italy more than two decades ago. After graduating from Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. (the world’s only bilingual ASL–English university), he moved to Rome to work at the 2001 Deaflympics. And when fellow deaf American friends complained of negative travel experiences during the games, he had an idea of how to do better.

I spoke to Giansanti in September 2024, while he was leading a group tour of the Balkans—Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro, and Macedonia—with 15 deaf Americans. It was evening in darkened Zagreb, Croatia’s capital, on his end, and a sunny afternoon in northern Virginia on mine.

Why did you decide to leave behind America for Rome? And where in the U.S. are you from, exactly?

I was born and raised in Maryland and grew up in Greenbelt, mostly. I have Italian roots from my grandfather’s side. While in college, I went backpacking across Europe twice, and it aroused an interest in me to experience living in Europe after graduation. So I took the jump. Expected to stay a couple years, but that turned into 25 years (and counting).

What’s Hands On Travel’s origin story?

During the 2001 Deaflympics in Italy, many of my friends came to visit Rome. As an American living in Rome, I wanted them to enjoy the city and be impressed with what it had to offer. Unfortunately, some mentioned their bad experiences during their time in Rome and when I asked them to explain—they gave reasons that made me reply, “Oh no, you should have done this, not that” and so forth.

It made me realize that there was a lack of accessible information for deaf people at that time and inspired me to set up a business in order to provide that access and knowledge to them in direct communication, given that ASL is my mother language and also the mother language of almost all of our participants.

Can you give an example of a bad experience a friend shared with you?

It was a long time ago but it was mostly about going to the wrong place to eat, staying at the wrong location, missing some important sights, going to the wrong area, that kind of stuff.

Recently a deaf American influencer’s post went viral when she was denied entry into the Leaning Tower of Pisa without a hearing person accompanying her. Has that been your experience? How do you handle such issues?

Deaf people face stereotyping, discrimination, and oppression in many places all over the world, in addition to lack of clarity and communication. It can be stressful and embarrassing.

Since they have paid money to travel, it is our job to act as a sponge in these situations, to remove that unpleasant friction from their shoulders and take it onto our shoulders. That way, they don’t have to experience negative energy while traveling. It still happens because it’s impossible to 100 percent filter out, but our goal is to reduce that percentage down as much as humanly possible.

How would you describe the state of deaf travel today? What is it like to be a deaf traveler in 2024, and how is it different from previous years?

Things have improved a lot since we first started in 2002. Part of it is obviously thanks to technology. In 2002, we didn’t even have smartphones. There is more access to information nowadays so it is somewhat easier for deaf people to travel independently equipped with tools they need to have a successful trip.

What do you mean by somewhat easier?

It’s not 100 percent easy, never will be. Travel cannot be 100 percent easy for anybody—not only deaf people; that’s just not possible. Travel involves lots of variables outside of people’s control, so it requires adaptability and thinking outside of the box. For deaf people, it’s even harder due to the lack of visual cues or visual communication in many popular tourist destinations.

What would you like to see change to make it easier for deaf people to travel?

America needs to establish a national disability ID card that every disabled person can get in order to “prove” their disability. [Ed. note: Some countries, such as India, Israel, and Japan, have national disability identification cards. Also, the European Union (EU) is close to adopting a disability card that would apply to all member states within the EU.] Deafness in particular is not a very visual disability. Worldwide, in order to get reduced or free admission to tourist attractions they often request ID card as proof of disability, and that’s something Americans don’t yet have. That would make things a lot easier for deaf people in many places worldwide.

Courtesy of Hands On Travel

Many deaf people are also starving for more resources to help them plan their travel abroad. Deaf-friendly destinations. Deaf-friendly experiences. Local deaf guides. Deaf social events. Deaf-centered sights.

What makes your company unique from other deaf-owned tour operators?

First, I believe that we are the first American deaf-owned and deaf-run tour operator that operates, organizes, designs, and runs our own tours with full communication access, small group sizes, and unique travel experiences.

Now, there are more deaf-owned tour operators in the field, which is a good thing because it ensures that deaf people are empowering each other in the travel industry, which is a huge industry worldwide nowadays.

But we feel that we’ve proven over 22 years in business that we continue to be at the forefront of the deaf-owned tour operator industry due to our accumulated experience, customer service, and unique offerings. And that, with us, people know what they’re getting from their investment into their travel, which is our full effort, energy, and attention to them in small group sizes, which ensures everybody stays involved.