From the BBC:
“Air Canada accused of forcing man with cerebral palsy to
drag himself off plane”
(Photo of Rodney Hodgins in Las Vegas)
Canadian officials have launched a probe after a man in a
wheelchair said he was forced to drag himself out of an Air Canada plane
because he was not offered assistance. Rodney and Deanna Hodgins, a Canadian
couple, said the incident happened on a flight from Vancouver to Las Vegas in
August. Ms Hodgins has accused the airline of failing her husband "in
every sense". The BBC has reached out to Air Canada for comment.
Ms Hodgins detailed the incident in an interview with the
BBC. She said her husband, who has spastic cerebral palsy and who uses a
motorised wheelchair, was not offered any help by Air Canada crew to get off
the plane. Usually, airlines provide an aisle chair to help passengers with
limited mobility exit the plane safely, after all the other passengers have
left. But Ms Hodgins said that no such assistance was offered, and that a crew
member had told the couple that Mr Hodgins needed to get to the front of the
plane by himself. "They made it very clear that they wanted us to get off
the plane because they had to turn it around," Ms Hodgins said. "We
thought it was a joke at first, but after we were flabbergasted," she
said. She said that eight cleaning crew members, two flight attendants, and the
captain and co-captain watched as she tried to help her husband exit the plane.
"I was so mad at watching him fight to drag his uncooperative body so
slowly and painfully," she said, adding that he suffered muscle spasms as
he tried to make his way toward the cockpit.
"It took us struggling, in front of a dozen people, as
some looked away and others looked on with shame, to get him off that
plane," Ms Hodgins said. She added that her husband suffered for days from
pain while they were in Las Vegas. The couple had travelled there to celebrate
their first wedding anniversary. The incident has been covered widely in
Canadian media, and Ms Hodgins said the airline has since apologised to the
couple. "An apology is great and we do appreciate that," she said,
but added that "Rodney really wants change, so it's not over for him, and
it's certainly not over for us." "We just want to make sure that this
really never happens again."
In a statement to the CBC, Air Canada said it uses a
third-party wheelchair assistance specialist in Las Vegas. "Following our
investigation into how this serious service lapse occurred, we will be
evaluating other Mobility Assistance service partners in Las Vegas," the
airline said. The Canadian Transportation Agency confirmed to the BBC that it
is investigating the incident. It added that airlines are required to assist
passengers with limited mobility, including when they are boarding or getting
off an aircraft. Ms Hodgins said her husband's rights "were trampled
on" in the aftermath of the incident. "Rodney is the most beautiful
human on the planet, and did not deserve this at all." But she added she
was grateful for the outpouring of support from fellow Canadians since their
story became public.
Accessibility advocates have long called for better rules to
ease travel for people who require wheelchairs or other assistance, including
allowing them to sit on their own chair during the flight. Others have called
out airlines for taking poor care of their wheelchairs, with some being damaged
during travel.
According to data by the US Department of Transportation,
airlines mishandled 871 wheelchairs and scooters, amounting to 1.6 for every
100, in the month of January, which is the most recent month data is available.
^ These kinds of horrible incidents are sadly becoming the
norm for the Disabled - because the
Airlines and the Airports don’t seem to care about the Disabled.
I have travelled Domestically and Internationally with someone
who used a wheelchair and while we were lucky to not have to have them crawl on
the floor to deplane we have had lots of issues and long waits. ^
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