Zach Anner, Funny Man with CP, Lands Travel Show on Oprah's OWN Network

Zach Anner, the self-described lady’s man with the “sexiest of all palsies,” has earned his own travel show on Oprah’s new network OWN.  Anner, from Austin, Texas, won one of two top spots in Oprah’s online, American Idol- type contest, and will now host “a travel show for people who never thought they could travel.”

This is good news for the 11 million people with disabilities who spend $13.6 billion annually in the US on travel (according to a GCDD 2010 MAD Magazine article), but even better news for those people with disabilities who have always wanted to travel but couldn’t find accessible travel plans.

“I want to show people how they can get around on a budget cause I have some problems myself getting around, but not everybody has one of these things,” Anner said, referring to his power wheelchair. “So it’s a show for everybody that just shows them that you can see a place as long as you have the right attitude and then when things go wrong you just adapt and have fun with it.”

Oprah initially had some concern about Zach’s endurance because television is physically difficult, but she said after she spent time with him, “the wheelchair doesn’t come first.”

Read about Zach’s triumph at DisabilityScoop.com and see his audition video that got over 9 million views. 

“I guess I’m going to need a map and some travel brochures because we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Zach said.

Let us know your travel stories…maybe they’ll be fuel for Zach’s new show!