Jennifer’s Op Ed: Airline accessibility is an equal rights issue

The MediaNews Group recently printed Jennifer’s Op Ed – “Why Congress must pick up where the ADA got grounded with airline accessibility” – in the May 24 issue of the Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun newspaper. The Op Ed only appeared in the print edition so we are sharing the text of it here so it can be shared and further urge Congress to act on this important issue of improving air travel for people with disabilities.

Why Congress must pick up where the ADA got grounded with airline accessibility

By Jennifer Digmann

The Americans with Disabilities Act that was signed into law in 1990 never took flight for all Americans who are living with disabilities.

That’s because the ADA does not apply to air travel.

Congress is on the cusp of addressing legislation that could change all of this and break down barriers to air travel accessibility. Federal legislators need to include the Air Carrier Access Amendments Act (H.R.1267/S.545) in the 2023 FAA Reauthorization to make air travel safer for people with disabilities.

Travel sounds fun and exciting, right? But can you imagine traveling via airplane knowing that upon arrival, both of your legs could be broken?

Your way of navigating from one point to another. Both legs. Broken.

Travel suddenly doesn’t sound quite as fun anymore. Ask yourself: would you still take the trip knowing this potential risk?

This is the critical question that I and many other Americans living with disabilities must answer every single time we take a flight and are required to check our assistive devices – such as wheelchairs, scooters and walkers – at the gate.

I have secondary progressive multiple sclerosis and no longer can use my legs. I use a power wheelchair for my mobility and, consequently, for my independence. I consider my power wheelchair my de facto legs.

But I, as well as any other person who uses a wheelchair or other assistive device, have to surrender it before I can board the airplane. Airline ground crew members who are pressured by the pending time crunch quickly transfer those of us who can walk into an oversized wheelchair or strap those of us who can’t walk into an aisle chair that measures a mere 14 inches wide.

They then whisk away our collective modes of independence so they can speedily stow the assistive devices with the rest of the passengers’ luggage in the airplane’s underbelly.

Those of us with physical disabilities are left at the gate to uncomfortably sit in our airport-issued chairs and desperately wait for the airline staff to roll us down the bridge and transfer us into our airplane seats. All the while we pray in a pleading sort of silence that the ground crew will take great care as they load our assistive devices into the cargo hold.

“Just don’t break our legs.”

In a recent Paralyzed Veterans of America survey of over 1,000 passengers with disabilities related to air travel, 16 percent said they had been dropped and 23 percent said they had been injured while using an aisle chair to board and deplane. Of those who travel by air with a wheelchair or scooter, almost 60 percent reported their device had been damaged and almost 56 percent had experienced delays in its return.

The reality is that passengers report persistent challenges holding airlines accountable for what they are required to do, including returning passengers’ assistive devices in the same condition they received them and compensating passengers for loss or damage.

This. This is why I, along with my husband, Dan (who also has MS), are pushing for our legislators to cosponsor the Air Carrier Access Act. This would:

• Ensure new airplanes are designed to accommodate the needs of people with disabilities by requiring airlines to meet defined accessibility standards addressing safe and effective boarding and deplaning, seating accommodations, and better stowage options for assistive devices.

• Require removal of access barriers on existing airplanes to the extent that it is readily achievable.

• Improve enforcement by bringing standards in line with those of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

This last point adds another question to the travel conundrum to ask yourself: can you imagine traveling via airplane knowing that the second you leave the terminal to board the plane you couldn’t use the restroom until after you arrive at your destination of choice?

That six-hour direct flight to San Francisco or wherever you wanted to go suddenly doesn’t sound quite as fun anymore, huh?

Such a situation sounds so unfair, yet it still is seen as OK for airplanes to not provide for even basic accessibility for passengers with disabilities – particularly those who use a wheelchair – such as access to lavatories and an accessible path of travel on the plane.

People with disabilities deserve to have equal access to travel for work and pleasure, to be able to see their loved ones, and attend important events. This is why we are urging our U.S. Legislators – Congressman John Moolenaar, Senator Gary Peters and Senator Debbie Stabenow – to include the Air Carrier Access Amendments Act in the 2023 FAA Reauthorization.

This is about more than just airplanes. This is an equal rights issue.