President & CEO
United Spinal Association
Today, the future of air travel stands at several crossroads. One set of paths, I’m sure you are well aware, concerns what direction airline industry will take to address its environmental footprint and sustainability. Another relates to the direction the airlines will take to solve the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing labor shortages have posed to their just-in-time management systems. The general public may be less aware that people with disabilities are forging a new path for the airline industry: making air travel accessible for all once and for all, a concern that well precedes the former two crises.
If you think flying during the pandemic is a pain, try flying with a wheelchair on top of it all. Whenever people with disabilities take to the skies, we not only worry about broken wheelchairs, but also, tragically, broken skin and bones and other life threatening risks. For us, the whole air travel experience is fraught with potential dangers to our bodies and mobility devices, as well as personal indignities, from start to finish.
I have disembarked from flights only to see that my wheelchair was broken, ruining my trip plans and setting me on a completely different kind of journey as I seek out the correct service providers to perform urgent repairs. I know I am not alone. Thanks to the advocacy of organizations like United Spinal Association, we have access to highly revealing data about our experiences. According to the US Department of Transportation, just since December 2018, over 20,000 wheelchairs have been reported “lost, damaged or completely destroyed. In January of this year, the percentage of wheelchairs and scooters that were damaged in transit stood at twice that of baggage. Wheelchair users are 3.3 million strong in the United States, and we deserve better.
Let’s face it, coming home from a trip only to be stuck at home or in our beds until we complete the convoluted process of repairing—or even replacing—our wheelchairs is a truly a dark irony. It is not just a matter of time wasted or aggravation. Wheelchairs are not only close to being irreplaceable due to their cost, they also are custom fit to their users’ bodies and needs, preventing dangerous pressure sores (injuries) that are themselves incredibly costly to treat. A broken wheelchair can not only jeopardize our participation in our pastimes but also threaten our very livelihoods—what trip is worth that?
So, the moment we relinquish our wheelchairs as cargo to the airlines is an anxious one—what follows can often be no less reassuring.
From the time when we are called to board to when we are finally seated, the standard processes and expectations to which people with mobility disabilities are subject range from suboptimal (having to transfer to a tiny aisle chair and be manhandled by poorly-trained personnel in order to board) to downright inhuman (not being able to go to the bathroom on board the aircraft).
Accessible bathrooms are not yet required on single-aisle aircraft—though a proposed rule released in March 2022 by the DOT may remedy that. Although they are mandated on double-aisle planes constructed after 1990, I have regularly experienced inadequate facilities on larger aircraft, as well. Our right to equal treatment with respect to restrooms is worth more than the corners that are cut to fit a few extra passengers on board.
Inadequate staffing levels and training plague the portion of the trip when we are transferred to an aisle chair, causing massive delays and injuries in the process. We put so much trust in the people transferring us, and if you have ever had that trust broken to the core by being mishandled or even dropped (as I have), you know how little immediate recourse you have. The aisle chairs themselves are often badly maintained to the point of causing further mistrust, and if they are missing straps, that presents yet another serious injury risk. Moreover, we are often abandoned on the plane waiting ages for transfer, with oblivious flight attendants admonishing us for remaining on board. What should be a simple, in-and-out process can end up being another minefield for people with mobility disabilities.
We ask ourselves how much longer will this continue. The Air Carriers Access Act (ACAA) of 1986 enacted into law policies of nondiscrimination, accessibility and assistance for people with disabilities, but clearly, it was not enough. Fortunately, there has been support for reform in Congress, which included some improvements in 2018, and the Biden administration is signaling they may be on board with some of these issues. At a public hearing held by the DOT on air travel wheelchair damages, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg recently announced that they are working on a new rule “that would make damaging or delaying wheelchairs a violation subject to fines, improve training for airline employees that handle wheelchairs and do a lot more.” This month, DOT is also receiving comments on a rule making bathrooms accessible on single-aisle aircraft.
We can find even more hope in a bill now before Congress, the Air Carriers Access Amendments Act of 2021, introduced by two of our Congressional champions, Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Representative Jim Langevin (D-RI 2nd). It will give our community much needed leverage to sue and receive potential monetary damages to remedy accessibility violations or damage to our equipment, bolster ACAA enforcement and the imposition of civil penalties on airlines that flout accessibility requirements, and create defined accessibility and improved safety standards for air travel. Support for the Air Carriers Access Amendments Act is a central pillar of our upcoming Roll on Capitol Hill.
When we fall victim to the negligence of airlines that do not value people with disabilities, we pay far more than full price. Airlines have adopted diversity statements and policies around inclusion wholesale—let’s hold them to their word and let them know that we will not settle for anything else other than tangible, full-scale change. Progressive legislation and regulations are on the horizon, but as with all well-intentioned and emancipatory policies meant for people with disabilities, it will be up to us to make sure they are enforced. Speak up—and find your way to add your voice and your story to United Spinal’s efforts. Add your voice – TAKE ACTION here to support the Air Carrier Access Amendments Act.
