Who Are We? 

Seable is the only multi-award winning social enterprise tour operator to offer assisted, active and tailored holidays to the visually impaired. We strive to create accessible holidays that improve independence, inclusion and wellbeing. 

Why we need your help 

Your generosity will enable us to recover and rebuild post-pandemic to safely continue our work delivering high quality, accessible and affordable holidays for the visually impaired community. 

The impact of Covid-19 has been extremely tough on the visually-impaired community. There are over 350,000 blind people in the UK, of which two-thirds have become less independent and isolated since the start of the pandemic. Now that it’s safe for us to operate again, we are determined to help counteract and overcome these issues.

With rising costs of living, it is now more important than ever to keep Seable holidays affordable. Your kind donations will help to bring down these costs for those in need of extra support.

For each holiday destination we train local guides to become chaperones to help our clients throughout their trip. Chaperones provide company, guidance and all round assistance. Without our chaperones, Seable simply cannot exist.

During the pandemic we were unfortunately unable to provide further work for our chaperones. Your donations will allow us to rebuild our team, relaunch our destinations and help cover the cost of training which would otherwise make the overall holiday costs unaffordable.

Our Work

The holiday activities that we organise are designed around the principles of wellbeing. We offer individual opportunities to increase confidence, learn new skills and make lifelong friends. Our wonderful clients are involved every step of the way giving them the opportunity to take a lead in planning activities.

Through our trips, customers find the confidence to go abroad independently, often for the very first time. For some it’s the thrill of trying a new sport, meeting new people and participating in life-changing adventures. For others it's simply the freedom to enjoy a fully tailored and stress-free break. We believe that the joys of a holiday should be accessible to everyone. 

Through our work we raise awareness of issues around sight loss to the wider public. We encourage organisations to offer accessible services, activities, and volunteering opportunities.

Our Story

Twenty years ago, our founder’s father, Carmelo, was hit by a drunk driver. While in hospital, he befriended a young man named Martino who had suffered a similar accident. As Carmelo recovered the use of his legs, Martino sadly did not. During their conversations in hospital Martino expressed his desire to try scuba diving. At that time accessible scuba diving was not available in Sicily. Being an experienced diver, Carmelo took it upon himself to teach Martino, who went on to receive a Guinness World Record as the first paraplegic man to dive 59 metres.

Together Carmelo and Martino started a charity that focuses on rehabilitation through accessible sports. They have helped many people over the years, including visually impaired Benedetta Spampinato, who has since achieved a World Record for deep sea diving. This work inspired our founder, Damiano La Rocca, to explore the topic of accessible tourism. He discovered that holidays for the visually impaired were not widely catered for and set out to change this.

Whilst studying at London Metropolitan University Damiano became involved with Accelerator, the University's incubator, which offers students guidance for turning their ideas into business. Damiano used the mentoring he received to start Seable Holidays. 

Damiano is now a member of the Office for the Disability Issues for the Disability Regional Stakeholder Network and a member of the Accessible European Network of Accessible Tourism. His work has been recognised by various organisations for its award-winning services, delivering and scaling social impact with ground-breaking support to the visually impaired. These include:

• Postcode Lottery Social Investment award 2021
• School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) Scale up Award 2019 
• Design for All Winner in 2016
• UnLtd SEE Change award winner in 2013, 2014 and 2016
• People’s Choice Award - Nacue Varsity Competition sponsored by Lloyds Bank in 2015

Social Impact report

Seable carries out social impact reports to identify changes in our clients wellbeing as a consequence of their Seable holiday: 

• 100% of people travelling alone for the first time returned with increased confidence and independence
• 60% made new friends 
• 40% started a new hobby, joined a sport team and started living more independently 

The results have shown that participants felt able to achieve important personal goals and returned home with increased confidence in themselves. Most importantly, they feel part of an empowered community. 

Popular Rewards

The Perfect Christmas Gift £100: Want to surprise your friend or family member with a great gift? Support the campaign by donating £100 and you can get a holiday voucher for the value of £50. You can also donate the voucher to your local visually impaired charity. You can buy multiple vouchers too. 

Corporate sponsor £5000: Your company will be sponsoring a group of 3 visually impaired people to go on a training holiday for one week. One of your employees will participate as a volunteer during the trip. They will receive the training to become a chaperone and support with the descriptions, activities and guiding. You can also donate this reward to your local visually impaired charity. We will create a great marketing campaign with great videos and photo albums that can be branded with your company logo. 

Please either make a donation to our cause, buy one of our unique rewards or you could even fundraise for us by clicking the ‘Start fundraising’ button. (All fundraisers can offer their supporters our selection of rewards and all money raised contributes to our total figure).