Sai Padma shares her experiences of discrimination while flying

Dear Friends,

Ms. Sai Padma, a fellow lawyer practicing in Andhra Pradesh and a wheelchair user shares her experiences of flying. 

She counts series of problems encountered at every step from booking to airport to issues in the aircraft at her blog Lotusbeats.

http://lotusbeats.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/trying-to-fly-high-with-dignity-wings/

The Hindu : Arts / Magazine : Making our skies inclusive

Dear Friends,

Its the system of exclusive education prevalent in the country that is leading to non-acceptance of persons with disabilities in the mainstream says our dear friend Joe Chopra. here is the link to her article in The Hindu.

The Hindu : Arts / Magazine : Making our skies inclusive

regards

Subhash C Vashishth

Indigo refuses ticket to Visually Impaired passenger thinking he can't travel alone

Dear Friends,

This time, Tony Kurian, a 22 year old Visually Impaired student of TATA Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai faced discrimination from an airline which is known for its consumer friendly policies especially the persons with disabilities. 

Indigo is the only low-cost carrier that provides manual ramp to board the flight hence is popular among the persons with disabilities and the elderly.  Therefore, it is little surprising that they denied ticket to a visually impaired student on the pretext that he can not fly unless accompanied by an escort or a guide dog! Despite an apology, the student has been unable to book his tickets. 

It all boils down to one single issue, that is- the DGCA's CAR is not being implemented in its right earnest. The training issues are not being addressed by the airliners. What our colleague Joe Chopra in her article in The Hindu points out is equally true that due to our policies of exclusion in education - from where the right integration and acceptance begins- we are at this stage that people are required to be trained and sensitized on disability issues. Ms. Joe stresses that typical children who grow up in inclusive classrooms learn — at the very least — that disability is nothing to be afraid of. They learn that people may look different, yet can still be their friends. That a person who can't speak can still communicate. That you can't judge a book by its cover and that everyone has both strengths and weaknesses.

The incident further prove the fact that only 1 in 30 gets reported while others keep fighting/suffering in silence. We must create systems to check this menace and it can happen when we speak up for our rights and demand accountability from the service providers.

Here is the report from the DNA on this issue:

IndiGo suspends staff for refusing ticket to disabled

DNA India | YOGESH PAWAR | Feb 28, 2012

MUMBAI : Following DNA’s report on Sunday of how a visually-impaired Tata Institute of Social Sciences student Tony Kurian, 22, was repeatedly denied a flight ticket unless he agreed to be accompanied by an escort or a guide dog, IndiGo has suspended, with immediate effect, the outsourced call centre executives, who repeatedly refused to facilitate the tickets.

A statement from airline president Aditya Ghosh says IndiGo had spoken to Kurian and had assured him that “IndiGo, has no such policy that discourages visually challenged passengers from travelling with us or insisting that they are accompanied by escorts or guide dogs.”

“It is indeed a shocking incident and this kind of unacceptable behaviour calls for immediate action, including a training intervention.Hence, we have internally circulated an email reiterating the Directorate General of Civil Aviation guidelines (on disabled passengers) to our staff.”

Pointing out that IndiGo is the only airline that has a boarding ramp to allow wheelchairs and stretchers to be taken into the aircraft, the statement also mentions the ‘auto-step bus’ to assist them and senior citizens.

“We regret the inconvenience caused to Kurian, and hope he will see this experience as an aberration and not the rule at IndiGo,” the statement said.

Ghosh also mailed Kurian on Saturday apologising for the incident. But, the apology was in variance with the call centre staff who refused Kurian tickets three times. Irked such an “unacceptable behaviour”, the airline has taken strong action against the “errant” call centre executives by suspending them with immediate effect.

When DNA spoke to Kurian, he said he was glad that his stand was vindicated. “I want to thank the airline for such prompt and stern action.”

Source: DNA India

Here is the link to another media coverage of Indigo's denial to the visually impaired flyer in DNA Syndication. 

What Jeeja Ghosh means - Indian Express

Thats our friend Rahul Cherian from Inclusive Planet.  Well summarized perspective What Jeeja Ghosh means - Indian Express

Inclusion is when the disabled are confident to assert their rights

Jeeja Ghosh, a teacher with cerebral palsy, was ordered to be deplaned by a SpiceJet pilot, Utprabh Tiwari. In the discrimination that it so blatantly reveals, the act recalls an incident in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. On December 1, Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, was asked to surrender her seat on a bus to a white person, in accordance with the racial segregation law applicable to public transportation system. She refused and her arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which ended only when the US Supreme Court held that the law was unconstitutional. Unfortunately, the Jeeja Ghosh incident is nowhere near a similar tipping point in the Indian disability rights movement.

Disability rights activists have been campaigning for years for the government to take clear steps to recognise the full rights and freedoms of persons with disabilities (PWDs) and remove the attitudinal and environmental barriers that prevent their full and effective participation in society. However, progress has been painfully slow.

For the disability rights movement to succeed, government must be convinced that PWDs do indeed have the same rights and freedoms as everyone else. However, its actions appear to show that it has yet to make up its mind. The government has somewhere at the back of its mind realised that PWDs have different demands but is not wholly convinced of the legitimacy of these demands. A study of Article 15 of the Constitution highlights one of the possible reasons why it has not taken a stand. It states: "The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them." It is obvious that there is no apparent constitutional bar on discrimination on the grounds of disability. Admittedly, at the time the Constitution was drafted, disability rights were not the hot topic that they ares today. But bear in mind that the Constitution has been amended 96 times, including twice after India ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007, but no change has been made to prevent discrimination on the ground of disability. The constitutions of several countries, including Canada, South Africa and Sri Lanka, have specific non-discrimination provisions relating to persons with disabilities, but India has not followed suit. When the Constitution itself is unclear about where PWDs stand in relation to something as fundamental as non-discrimination, it is no wonder that the nation has not taken a definite stance on disability rights. This lack of clarity translates into actions in relation to PWDs.

Ghosh's incident is an example of the manifestation of this confusion. On May 1, 2008, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation issued a document as part of the Civil Aviation Requirements (CARs), titled the Carriage by Air of Persons with Disability and/or Persons with Reduced Mobility. One of its objectives was to establish "regulations for the protection of and provision of assistance to disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility travelling by air in order to protect them against any form of discrimination and to ensure that they receive all possible assistance with due respect and dignity". As per Clause 4.1 of the CAR, "no airline shall refuse to carry persons with disability or persons with reduced mobility". However the CAR does not prescribe the consequences of non-compliance by airlines. The CAR also requires all airlines to run sensitisation programmes for assisting passengers with disabilities. However, it is silent on the exact nature of sensitisation programmes, thereby leaving the scope of training to the discretion of individual airlines. As is evident from Jeeja Ghosh's experience, the training given, if any, is sorely inadequate. It can be safely assumed that if the pilot was properly sensitised on the requirements of PWDs and there were adverse consequences on non-compliance, airlines would comply with this document.

There are several other fundamental flaws with the CAR which stem from a lack of basic understanding of the very nature of disability. For example, it assumes that only persons with reduced mobility require assistance for air travel and does not provide for assistance to persons with hearing impairment, low vision, autism etc, who have no mobility problems.

This also shows the government's fallacious understanding that ramps and wheelchairs are the panacea to accessibility problems faced by persons with disabilities. One of the significant barriers that a visually impaired air passenger faces is that he or she cannot purchase a flight ticket online. This is because the ticketing website does not comply with internationally recognised, web accessibility guidelines intended to make them compatible with sound-based screen-reading computer software that persons with visual impairment use.

The remedy to the ills faced by persons with disabilities does not end with having inclusive laws and policies. It requires a shift in the thinking of society as a whole to the extent that society must accept PWDs as part of human diversity and humanity and as a result take steps to identify and eliminate all the barriers that they face.

There is also a good business case for airlines to treat their passengers well. On every flight that I have taken over the last three-four years, there are at least three of us who require assistance. In one instance, on a flight from Chennai to Delhi, there were 14 PWDs. Given this large traffic of PWDs, I wonder why no airline has launched a customised frequent-flyer programme for PWDs, after taking necessary steps to ensure the best assistance and accommodation infrastructure. Imagine that an airline provides movies with audio descriptions to blind passengers as part of in-flight entertainment, or curbside assistance so that we can travel independently. I, for one, would fly only that airline because I could really do with curbside assistance.

The first step to achieve true inclusion in all spheres, including aviation, is that the government must explicitly and unequivocally recognise the rights of persons with disabilities and have a dialogue with PWDs with the object of revising all laws and policies to ensure that they are disability-compliant. Strict disability-compliant laws, covering both public and private sector, will ensure that PWDs have the confidence to exercise their rights, knowing that violations will be dealt with swiftly and severely. As more PWDs come out and interact with society at large, attitudes will automatically change and businesses will see the financial benefit in customising products and services beyond that which is mandated by law. This will be the tipping point in the disability rights movement and perhaps Jeeja Ghosh is the catalyst that signals the beginning of India's transformation.

And now it is Jet Connect discriminating against persons with disabilities

Dear Friends,

Anjlee Agarwal, Samarthyam

The incidences do not stop. On 20th Feb 2012, Anjlee Agrawal faced similar discrimination- this times at the hands of Jet Connect while travelling from Delih to Raipur which went unreport. This confirms that most cases go unreported and while some odd ones surface, the airliners are conveniently happy issuing a public apology and promising that they will take action. However, "the status quo" is maintained- things continue to remain so!

Here are the details of the incidence in her own words:

"Followed by the incident of Jeeja with Spice Jet, the very next day I was harrassed by Jet Connect on 20th Feb. flight 9W 2211 from Delhi to Raipur. At Delhi airport. I was asked by the boarding pass issuer, if "I am fit to fly". When I asked him, "what do you mean", he stared at me and asked me to sign an indeminity bond. When I refused to do that, he said, "its our rule and you canot fly without signing this". I had to sign it, as I could not afford to miss the flight.

At Raipur airport:  Inspite of airlines crew assurance of getting an aisle chair on board, the flight supervisor, Niranjan Sen at Raipur pressurised me to be bodily lifted by four male loaders with the excuse that while deboarding at Raipur- they do not have aisle chairs in smaller cities. Hence I was "ordered" to be bodily lifted till the gate of the aircraft and then transferred to the big wheechair and then carried down the steps.

2. On my protest to the above, he threatened me that they will not de-board me instead will take me back to Delhi as the flight was going back to Delhi and in midst of all this commotion, flight attendants asked passengers to board the flight, before I de-boarded.

3. I kept fighting for making an aisle chair available and I refused to both- "bodily lifting and carried back to Delhi".

4. Meanwhile junior supervisor, started harrassing me by saying that I have not put a request for wheelchair while booking the tickets. When I said that I did made a wheelchair request at The Delhi airport and also while booking tickets, he said that "wheelchairs users cannot book tickets through web booking". This came as a bigger shock to me because I did book tickets online and with wheelchair request.

5. The fight continued for 35 minutes and when they found that I will not give up, a "Jet airways" aisle chair appeared. With ruthlessness and extreme rudeness, I was transferred into the aisle chair and "literally thrown down" the steps, as if they are all trying to get rid of me.

I think, it is quite obvious that what airlines do is book tickets, make money, and treat disabled passengers as "noonincoops" to be loaded by loaders, as if we are "sack of vegetables".

There is no rule, no training and no courtesy for disabled passengers. Private airlines make us sign an ideminity bond, wherein its clearly written that Airlines will not take any responsibility of the passenger.

Now, it is time for the entire disability sector to join hands and stand up aganinst the "airlines" and ask them to come up with uniform and dignified policy/guidelines for disabled passengers and SHOULD pay heavy price for violation.

Anjlee Agarwal
Executive Director & Access Consultant
SAMARTHYAM
National Centre for Accessible Environments"
 

Jeeja Ghosh, a prominent Indian disability right activist discriminated by Spicejet Pilot

Ms. Jeeja Ghosh,
Head -Advocacy and Disabilities Studies,
IICP, Kolkata, India

Dear Friends,

Jeeja Ghosh, a celebrated disability rights activist became a new victim of the discrimination by a pilot of Spice Jet. Shocking, unexpected and very unfortunate incidence for a frequent flier like her!

In the instant case Jeeja was offloaded from a Spice Jet flight from Kolkata to Goa because the Pilot refused to fly with Jeeja onboard since he believed that she was not fit enough to travel on her own and ordered her to be deplaned. 42 year old Jeeja, Head- Advocacy and Disability Studies at the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy, Kolkata, was to fly to Goa on 19 February 2012 to attend a Conference on "Mainstreaming the Differently Abled"  and deliver a lecture on bringing the persons with disabilities into the mainstream! More at link: NDTV Articles; Sunday-Guardian; Times of India etc.

Here is an awareness raising Video prepared by IICP 

 

NDTV covered the story and is available at below links: 

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=ACXF8mNPiX4
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=gv0ryxjLGWk

Of late, this has become a usual practice for the airlines to mistreat passengers with disability and when one case in hundreds is picked up by media, just issue a public apology. They can't get away like this anymore. If it is against the airliner's policy to discriminate against the passengers with disabilities, stern exemplary action must be taken and duly publicized to regain the trust of the passengers. We find every third day the crews and pilots alerting the security guys for unruly passengers and getting them arrested. Let there be news of arrest / stern disciplinary action against the pilot/crew for unruly behavior/ refusal to fly and any other case of discrimination with the passengers, especially those with disabilities.

As per Section 4 of the DGCA's Civil Aviation Requirement on the Carriage by air of persons with disabilities and those with reduced mobility, which is reproduced below, refusal to fly in the instant case is utterly illegal, arbitrary and without any justification.

"4. Requirements

No airline shall refuse to carry persons with disability or persons with reduced mobility and their assistive aids/devices, escorts and guide dogs including their presence in the cabin, provided such persons or their representatives, at the time of booking and /or check-in for travel, inform the airlines of their requirement. The airlines shall incorporate appropriate provisions in the online form for booking tickets so that all the required facilities are made available to the passengers with disabilities at the time of check-in."

Similarly, the CAR also makes it mandatory to train the crews every three years on awareness raising about disability issues. However, this doesn't seem to be followed by the airliners in right spirit.

4.4     All airlines and airport management shall run program for their staff engaged in passenger handling e.g. cabin crew / commercial staff including floor walkers and counter staff etc. for sensitization and developing awareness for assisting passengers with disabilities. The training program shall be conducted at the time of initial training and a refresher shall be conducted every 3 years on the subject. Only such persons who have current course shall be assigned to handling disabled persons. The training program should interalia, include assisting disabled persons in filling up travel documents as may be required while providing assistance in flight.

Advice to Spice Jet and other similarly placed airliners

It’s the loss of credibility for the airliner at the end of the day and it is in their interest to be concerned on these alarming trends. Therefore, this is the right time that the airliner not only take stern action against the Pilot for bringing this disrepute to them and for defying settled law with impunity but also take preventive & corrective measures by introducing “Disability Sensitization Training” for the staff including the crews & pilots. This is mandates by the DGCA’s CAR as well a requirement under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities which India has signed and ratified. Please be aware that the training should be by competent professionals/organizations working with Persons with Disabilities and not just by any trainer who may be routinely training the staff on other general issues.

For Other Passengers with disabilities

It will be good for you to know your rights before you fly. A crisp version of what the DGCA’s CAR referred above provides to you has been prepared by our friend Shivani Gupta (AccessAbility) and is available here “Air Travel- Know your Rights”. Read the CAR in detail at “DGCA's Civil Aviation Requirements on Carriage by Air of Persons with Disabilities”.

For Jeeja, and fellow activists

There is a need of sustained effort to combat these rising cases of discrimination in most sectors of public life – be it education and employment or in mobility and transportation – road, rail, sea and air.

In light of suo moto action by the learned Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Mr. Prasanna Pincha, there is no point now to file a writ petition against the Spice Jet as the High Court might reject the petition citing that a court of competent jurisdiction has already issued show cause to Spice Jet. However, nothing stops you from filing detailed Public Interest Litigation citing previous cases also wherein despite sufficient noise around, there was no action taken by the DGCA or the Airliner against the erring crew members or the Pilots. You will find reference to several of such cases in India on this blog at http://dignifiedflyingfordisabled.blogspot.in/. So now look sincerely at the following course of action:  

• File a PIL in Supreme Court of India to address the systemic issues and seek monitoring of implementation of DGCA's CAR - suggest creating a monitoring committee comprising of DGCA reps, two reps from airliners, two/three reps from disability organizations, one rep from Office of CCPD. Alternatively, all the airliners can be tasked with a monthly reporting to DGCA / CCPD /uploading on respective websites, on the actions taken to implement the CAR and open a feedback window on the website for effective monitoring.

• File a consumer case for exemplary compensation in the Consumer Disputes Forum citing the mental agony, trauma, harassment, loss of time, leading to non-attendance at the National Consultation on Inclusive Education at Goa etc. for an amount not less than 5 crore.

• Training and sensitization of staff/crew/pilots has been the most neglected area despite this being mandated by the CAR. Mostly they try to complete this formality by internal training conducted by people who may not every know abc of disability and many of them never conduct such a training! I strongly suggest that this be conducted by disability organizations like IICP-Kolkata, Svayam-Delhi, AADI-Delhi, Vidyasagar-Chennai, ADAPT-Mumbai and several others spread across length and breadth of the nation depending on the regions where training is to be conducted. Standardization of the Course curriculum for training on disability sensitization should also be considered on priority. 

Do it quickly since there is sufficient noise that been created by activists and the supportive media well wishers at this moment. Sustained advocacy and not an adhoc hungama is the answer.

I am pained at what happened and this was very unfortunate and deplorable. You have all our support in this hour and we need to put things across loud and clear to ensure that the guilty pays through his/its nose and this serves as a reminder to the defying airliners about what is in store for them if a similar thing ever happens here on!

regards,

Subhash Chandra Vashishth
Advocate Disability Rights

Access Rights of the Disabled routinely denied by airliners and railways

Dear friends,

Several things in India, including the access rights of disabled are so routinely denied that quite a few have just stopped even questioning them. Be it non availability of para transit systems to reach the nearest accessible bus shelter/city bus service/ accessible Metro or absence/inaccessibility of the pedestrian walkways to even venture out on the roads to reach the public transport bays/platforms.

The disability law that requires access at all public places including the modes of transports is almost 16 years old, but doesn’t seem to bother the airline operators (despite the Civil Aviation Requirements on carriage of persons with reduced mobility binding on them!) nor the Indian Railways which faces several Public Interest Litigation Petitions in various High Courts. The most recent being heard in the Mumbai High Court that is hearing a matter on inaccessibility of Railway platforms and Coaches that was widely covered by media. Click here to look at what the Honorable  Court had to say on the same.

Now our Hon’ble Minister for Social Justice realizes that even the airline operators are routinely defying the law and had to take this initiative. We commend it and hope the Minister, Civil Aviation takes the right steps to “Let the Law Prevail”!

Make ramps compulsory in all airlines, demands Social Justice Minister

NEW DELHI: Union Social Justice Minister Mukul Wasnik has asked Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh to make ramps compulsory in all airlines to facilitate boarding by physically challenged persons.

The request, in a letter to Singh, came after Wasnik saw a person lifting a disabled to help him board the plane because there was no ramp to help the wheelchair. The minister also expressed concern at the insufficient availability of Ambulifts in airports.

Wasnik asked Singh to advise all airline operators to provide access to their aircraft through ramps instead of stairs. The Persons with Disabilities Act requires the air transport sector to adopt measures to ease the access to the disabled to aircrafts, airports and toilets.

The absence of Ambulifts in most airports makes the operators provide stairs for passengers to embark, requiring those on wheelchairs to be physically lifted.