“This is a great place to be weird,” Amy Boyle Collins, founder of Beignet Fest, digs in over blackened shrimp po’boys. Born and raised in New Orleans, Collins had created a mobile sensory-safe space at her festival, which draws 30,000 people annually, because her autistic son, like one in thirty-two Americans also on the spectrum, needed it. “Creating safe spaces democratizes the chaos; you can participate or step out. Anything goes here.”
But if you want to really understand New Orleans, look no further than the second line tradition. Originally, jazz funeral processions in the city had a “first line” in which musicians played sombre music towards someone’s burial and the “second line” then played jubilant music on the way back; turning grief into celebration.
Mark Raymond took me to one on a Sunday, the We Are 1 Social Aid and Pleasure Club Band led a river of people through streets that had been underwater during Hurricane Katrina. “The city keeps getting knocked down and keeps getting back up,” Raymond said. “Something disabled people know intimately.”
After his 2016 diving accident, Raymond founded the Split Second Foundation, an organization that provides comprehensive care, resources, and advocacy for people impacted by disability and aging. Through Split Second Fitness and Split Second Cares, the foundation now serves hundreds of people with spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, stroke, multiple sclerosis, and other neurological conditions, offering everything from adaptive fitness training to mental health services and equipment support. His life is now dedicated to showing them that their very own second line is still possible.
Before the parade ended, Raymond excused himself to get to his volunteer position at a local spinal hospital, where he visits newly injured people. As I watched him roll away, I thought about what we’d discussed earlier at Loretta’s. He was right: Change in New Orleans is inevitable. But it doesn’t happen by accident; it happens because people like him have all the ingredients to create the recipe for change, and in a city built by outsiders, where resilience is cultural currency, you evidently can’t stop progress any more than you can stop a second line.
Where to stay
If you like your boutique hotels with a bit of theatre Maison Métier (formerly Maison de la Luz) is your spot. Set on Carondelet Street, it feels like stepping into a beautifully curated Parisian atelier, with restored architectural details and a global art collection. Accessible rooms, thoughtful in-room touches, and a private concierge service make it an ideal base for wheelchair users navigating the city. There’s also priority dining access to the hotel’s fabled hidden bar, Salon Salon, reachable through a discreet door in the lobby.
Where to eat and drink
Start with Mardi Gras School of Cooking, where you’ll whisk, stir, and flambé your way through the city’s classics—gumbo, étouffée, and Bananas Foster—in an accessible hands-on setting that feels more like joining a family kitchen than attending a class. For a neighborhood favorite, Loretta’s Pralines on Rampart Street is a must. The late Loretta Harrison was the first African American woman to open a praline company in New Orleans, and her stuffed beignets are reason enough to reroute your day. At night, slip into the Peacock Room inside the Kimpton Hotel Fontenot, where cocktails come with a side of live jazz often courtesy of the city’s “Songbird,” Robin Barnes. For classic New Orleans dining, the Court of Two Sisters offers a Creole courtyard brunch, while Copper Vine pairs modern Louisiana small plates with 30 wines on tap inside one of the city’s oldest restaurant buildings. And for something with a little heat and theatre, book into Trixie Minx’s Burlesque Ballroom at The Jazz Playhouse or end your evening under candlelight at Vampire Apothecary, where dinner comes with tarot and tea-leaf readings
What to do
The National WWII Museum is an unmissable stop: vast, beautifully curated, and now working with Wheel the World on accessibility assessments across the city — a major moment in inclusive tourism. For pure spectacle, Mardi Gras World reveals how the city’s legendary floats come alive; Vue Orleans delivers 360-degree views and smart interactive storytelling; and New Orleans Secrets tours takes you inside haunted buildings after dark for a paranormal experience with real atmospheric bite. On the cultural side, explore Storyville and Treme with a historian-led tour that weaves jazz, voodoo, and the city’s African American heritage; blend your own perfume at Tijon; or spend an afternoon wandering the New Orleans Botanical Garden at City Park.
