{"id":1320,"date":"2018-04-11T00:13:05","date_gmt":"2018-04-11T04:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/?p=1320"},"modified":"2018-05-14T21:09:30","modified_gmt":"2018-05-15T01:09:30","slug":"airlines-making-wheelchair-users-terrified-flying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spintheglobe.net\/dir\/2018\/04\/11\/airlines-making-wheelchair-users-terrified-flying\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Airlines: You\u2019re Making Wheelchair Users Terrified of Flying"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was 16 years old when I took my first plane ride. It wasn\u2019t anything scary or special, but I\u2019ve spent my life since with a moderate fear of flying. It\u2019s just a control issue, and it\u2019s pretty common; roughly 13 percent of Americans are afraid of taking to the sky. However, now that I\u2019m a full-time wheelchair user, giving you my money to potentially destroy my mobility equipment, injure my body, and ignore my legal and human rights has become a necessary evil. In fact, the way you regard passengers with physical disabilities has terrified some of us so much that we refuse to fly at all.<\/p>\n

As much as I\u2019d love to drive a car or ride a train to everywhere I want to go, that\u2019s just not possible in my line of work. Travel is my job, but it\u2019s also my passion and my addiction. I\u2019m privileged to have the ability to see the parts of the world that are wheelchair accessible, but I despise the fact that I have to turn over my freedom, my independence, and my body over to you in order to do that. I\u2019m not sure you understand what this feels like for us, so I\u2019ll try to explain it in a way that\u2019s more relatable for you.<\/p>\n

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The dreaded aisle wheelchair<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Imagine that you\u2019re going on a family vacation to Hawaii with your spouse and children. You arrive at the airport, check your bags, get your boarding passes, and go to your gate. You haven\u2019t had anything to drink or eat for the last 12 hours so you don\u2019t have to use the lavatory on the plane, so you\u2019re pretty hungry. You get to board first so that you have more time to get situated, but also so dozens of strangers don\u2019t stare at you while getting rolled down the aisle strapped to a chair like Hannibal Lecter. Once you get to your seat, the flight attendants duct tape you to your seat\u2014because you can\u2019t get up or go anywhere for the duration of the flight.<\/p>\n

Several hours later, you\u2019re sure it\u2019s all worth it because you\u2019re in Hawaii! You gather all your things, round up the spouse and kids, and head towards the door of the plane. That\u2019s when a member of the ground crew slams you in the kneecaps with a two-by-four. Repeatedly, to the point where both of your legs are broken. This is the point where you discover that your vacation is over before it starts. This is what it\u2019s like for a wheelchair user to arrive at their destination only to discover that their wheelchair or scooter has been damaged to the point of being unusable. These are our\u00a0<\/em>legs. And you keep breaking them.<\/p>\n

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Airplane lavatories are usually a no-go<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But this scenario isn\u2019t over yet. Surely the person who broke your legs will be arrested or held accountable in some way. First, understand that unless you go to the media, no one will ever know that your legs got broken on an airplane because you don\u2019t keep track of injuries like that. Second, you and the airport will blame each other for your broken legs. Third, IF your complaints are found to have merit, you will likely be compensated with only a travel voucher for a future flight or frequent flier miles, and the airline you flew on probably won\u2019t even get fined. Fourth, you can\u2019t sue for damages.<\/p>\n

Based on the way your current system works, our freedom, our independence, our legs<\/em>, mean less to you than suitcases filled with clothes and toothbrushes\u2014things that can easily be replaced. You track those. You know exactly how many get lost. You know exactly how many get damaged. Thanks to your lobby groups, you keep delaying legislation that will require you to track damage and loss of wheelchairs so we can finally get an accurate picture of how serious this problem is. The fact that you don\u2019t want the world to know those numbers tells me you\u2019re worried.<\/p>\n

The fear of wheelchair users when it comes to flying doesn\u2019t stop at equipment damage<\/a>. We\u2019re terrified of being injured by poorly trained airport personnel trying to \u201chelp\u201d us transfer to the aircraft seats. We\u2019re terrified of having an accident on the plane because there are no aisle chairs on board most US domestic flights, or no accessible lavatories we can use even if we could get to them. And there\u2019s more. Here are some quotes from real wheelchair users who want you to know why they\u2019re afraid of flying.<\/p>\n