An Activist with Disability Harassed by Security at Hyderabad Airport

At most international airports, for eg. Bangkok, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Seol, etc, flyers with disabilities are scanned along with their wheelchairs/ assistive devices. However, our security forces at the Airports in India continue to ask flyers with disabilities to strip, take off their orthosis/prosthesis in the name of frisking for security threats. 

The activist harassed this time is  none other than a specialist MD doctor at GTB hospital - the largest government hospital in East Delhi. He made all attempts to explain to the rigid security agencies the  difference between artificial limb, prosthesis and orthosis but they did not budge unless they were threatened that in case the flight was missed, the concerned airlines and the security staff would be responsible to organise the travel expenses. And the trick worked as soon the passenger was scanned and certified "Harmless". But not before leaving a bad taste and uncertainty of detainment in the name of security.

Though, the security concerns are not to be undermined, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and DGCA need to put Standard Operating Procedures in place to ensure that such issues are handled with  utmost sensitivity. 

Let there be use of technology with training of security personnel  besides SOPs so that there is no repeat of such sporadic incidences bringing not only bad name to the establishment but also infringing on the dignity, respect and fundamental rights of persons with disabilities.

Times of India

DU professor with disability harassed at Hyderabad airport

TNN | Feb 25, 2014, 06.42 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Yet another disabled passenger was harassed at the airport on Friday. Satendra Singh, who was travelling from Hyderabad to Delhi, was asked by security at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport to remove his leg brace during frisking. Singh, who teaches at the University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi University, has post-polio residual paralysis and uses a knee-foot-ankle-orthosis (KFAO) also called a caliper or brace, for support. 

The confrontation with security officials — the latest in a string of such encounters between differently-abled passengers and airport officials — lasted about 20 minutes before the officials capitulated. "They wanted me to remove the caliper and run it through the x-ray machine," says Singh, "In my case that's quite difficult as it goes up to the thigh. I would've had to remove my trousers to take the caliper off. It was humiliating. I wanted them to carry out an Explosive Trace Detector (ETD) test and was willing to let them frisk me." 

Singh, ironically, was returning from a conference on "Evidence in Global Disability and Health" in Hyderabad. Employees of the airline were also called but a senior officer finally permitted a ETD. Singh also had to explain that what he uses isn't a prosthetic limb but an orthosis into which he has to place his leg for support. 

"We are merely implementing guidelines issued by the Bureau Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). Our officers have been trained and briefed on how to deal with differently-abled passengers and we make sure nobody is harassed unnecessarily," said Hemendra Kumar, spokesperson, CISF. Singh, however, adds that he flies within India frequently but has never had to face this before. 

Aviation security officials say people with medical implants won't face any trouble and simply need to show a medial certificate. However, there is no standard rule for those with external aides and a doctor's certificate may not be enough to clear security. 

"The screening officer has to be satisfied that the external aides are for genuine use. For this, profiling is done and if the screening officer is not satisfied, he or she may ask for the aides to be taken off and screened. In the 1980s, a Delhi-Srinagar flight was hijacked by a person who hid weapons inside his plaster and carried a doctor's certificate for the same to clear security. We cannot take chances as a medical certificate can be easily obtained. We regret the inconvenience caused to anyone," said an official.

The Hindu

Harassed at Hyderabad airport, says disability activist

After having felt “harassed and humiliated” by security personnel at the Hyderabad airport this past Sunday, disability rights activist Satendra Singh, who has post-polio residual paralysis, has urged the Civil Aviation Ministry and Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities to ensure that persons with disability (PwD) are treated with dignity at airports and on flights.

Dr. Singh said he was shocked when a CISF official asked him to remove the callipers he uses for walking. “I explained gently that I cannot remove it and suggested that they could carryout an Explosives Trace Detector Test (ETD). The official refused and became adamant. I even explained the anatomy of the callipers but all in vain. Even the aircraft officials explained their helplessness citing security issues,” explained the doctor.

“I was invited to speak at the International Conference on Evidence in Global Disability and Health’ jointly organised by London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Public Health Foundation of India at Hyderabad and was shocked by the lack of empathy of the security staff at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport,” said Dr. Singh, who works at the University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital.

The physician added that this is not the first time that PwDs have been humiliated. “I was the last one to board my flight and was distraught after being humiliated at the airport. I have now written to the senior officials asking for their intervention.”

Railways initiates Braille Signage in Purushottam Express - a step towards inclusive transport

Here is a good news coming from Indian Railways which has made its one train Delhi- Puri superfast Purushottam Express accessible to the visually impaired by installing braille signages in the AC Three Tier Coach as announced in the Rail Budget 2013014.

The credit goes to its research unit called RDSO (Research Designs & Standandards Organisation) and NGOs working on Blindness. A good beginning and we hope this is replicated in all new coaches of various classes and not just select few.

Here is the coverage from The Times of India:

Purushottam Express to have 1st braille-embedded coach
PTI | Feb 16, 2014, 10.51AM IST

NEW DELHI: Purushottam Express is slated to become the first train in the country to have a Braille- embedded AC coach for visually-challenged passengers. 

In a first of its kind, Railways has manufactured an AC three-tier coach with Braille signages to be operational by end of this month in the Delhi-Puri superfast Purshottam Express as part of its social commitment to make trains and stations more friendly towards specially-abled passengers. 

At present, coaches are provided with signages, instructions, seat numbers, etc, which are mostly in the form of vinyl stickers or metallic plates and have no Braille characters and cannot be read by visually-impaired passengers. 

The first coach with Braille signages, manufactured at Integrated Coach Factory in Chennai is ready and stationed here to be rolled out with Purshottam Express, said a senior Railway Ministry official. 

The AC coach is equipped with Braille-embedded signages on berths, toilets, wash basins and doors as well. 

He said the visually-impaired friendly AC coach was made with the inputs received from Research Designs and Standards Organisation, Railways' research arm, and consultation with blind associations. 

Expected to be a major step for facilitation of visually- impaired passengers during journey in trains, Railways plans to equip more AC and non-AC coaches with Braille-embedded signages. 

It costs about Rs 40,000 to make a coach visually- challenged friendly as Braille printing are superimposed on the stickers which can be used by both a person with normal vision as well as a visually impaired person. 

With embedded pictures or characters, there would not be any defacing even on repeated contacts or rubbing. 

It was announced in the Rail Budget of 2013-14, that Braille stickers will be introduced for visually-challenged passengers.

Source: Times of India

Munich Airport Sets New Accessibility Benchmark | The News

    Munich Airport Sets New Accessibility Benchmark | The News

Munich is the first German airport, which has such a technically highly equipped sanitary facility for passengers with reduced mobility.

Munich International is the first German airport to offer a changing place for adults with severe mobility limitations.

The 14 square foot (approximately 4 square metres) fully accessible changing place is equipped with an accessible toilet, a height adjustable bed with side rails and an overhead hoist to help passengers with restricted mobility. The special equipment allows the user easily to reach from the wheelchair to the bed or to the toilet. 

Located in the departures hall of Terminal 1B, the changing place is conveniently placed in close proximity of two accessible showers. Access to the facility is managed by the nearby Airport Service Centre.

Munich follows London Gatwick airport, first to open two changing places for adults with mobility limitations in 2012. 

Gatwick facilities include toilets that self-flush and also help wash and dry the person. There is also a bed that lowers to ground level and adjustable wash basins, with all of these incorporated in a wash room with full shower facilities.

Munich PRM Mobility Service manager Marion Linkert has been spearheading the changing place project which makes Munich International the country’s leading accessible airport.  

Source: Reduced Mobility Rights

Munich Airport Sets New Accessibility Benchmark | The News

US Airways fined 1.2 million for disability discrimination

Dear Colleagues,

In a recent development the US Department of Transportation has fined US Airways $1.2 million for failure to provide wheelchair assistance to passengers with disabilities in Philadelphia and Charlotte, NC.  This fine is one of the largest ever assessed in a disability case by the Department.

I had shared in my last post titled "Fellow passenger's leave aircraft in protest as Captain offloads blind traveller with guide dog" wherein showing solidarity with the blind passenger with a seeing dog, the entire group of travellers had left the aircraft in protest in the instant case.  

According to the US Transportation department’s regulations under the Air Carrier Access Act, airlines are required to provide free, prompt wheelchair assistance when requested by passengers with disabilities. That includes helping passengers move between gates and make connections to other flights. 

Michelle Mohr, a spokeswoman for US Airways said in a telephonic interview to Forbes that the airline is committed to serving passengers with disabilities and had implemented many improvements to its disability assistance program since 2011 and 2012 complaints. 

These improvements included: new airport signage and handheld devices, tablets, dispatching software that allow employees to track the need and wait times of customers and availability of personal and wheelchairs, a new toll free number, more customer assistance reps and managers and easier website access and an upgraded reservation system to ensure that requests are automatically transferred if a customer's itinerary changes.

News Sources: Forbes.com titled US Airways Fined $1.2 Million for failure to provide wheelchair assistance to passengers with disabilities 

"Air Access" designed by British Designers Priestmangoode can potentially change how wheelchairs users fly

Priestmangoode: air access designs of the year 2013 shortlist

The 'designs of the year 2013' exhibition opened at London's design museum on March 20th, 2013 presenting the more than  90 nominations of this year's contest, divided into seven categories: architecture, digital, fashion, furniture, graphics, product and transport. 

One of the selected shortlisted projects was 'air access' by British transport designers priestmangoode, a concept which transforms air travel for passengers with reduced mobility (PRMs) with particular benefits for long haul trips on wide body planes. 

Facilitating an easier transition between gate to aircraft, 'air access' is composed of two components: a detachable wheelchair which passengers are assisted into at their departure gate, transporting them onto and off the airliner; and a fixed-frame aisle seat which is already on board in which the wheelchair is seamlessly mated via 360-degree pivoting wheels, sliding sideways into the infrastructure and locked in place. 

The result is a regular airline seat. upon arrival, 'air access' is simply unlocked and slid out into the aisle and the passenger is wheeled off the plane and transferred to their own / or airport wheelchair, or zimmer frame.

This is how the seat in locked position looks like! (source: Designboom)

This is how the seat looks when removed for mobility! (Source Designboom)

Called ‘Air Access’, this seat could potentially be installed into all aisle seats on an aircraft. And that would mean that::

• There would be more seating available for passengers with disabilities, and mobility-impaired passengers would get to sit with their traveling companions in larger groups, particularly on wide-body planes.
• Using the toilet becomes infinitely easier, because all you’ll need is assistance to unlock the seat and be wheeled up the aisle.
• The seat pad is removable, so passengers with a spinal cord injury and other conditions can sit on their own specifically designed cushion for maximum comfort during the flight.
• Because it integrates seamlessly into the plane’s interior, anyone can sit in the seat when it’s not being used by a passenger with a disability.

Air Access is comprised of two elements: a detachable wheelchair into which passengers are assisted at their departure gate so they can be easily transported on and off the aircraft, and a fixed-frame aisle seat already on board. The wheelchair has 360-degree, pivoting wheels so it slides easily into place and locks securely. It looks just like a regular airline seat. At the end of your flight, the wheelchair unlocks from the frame, and you exit the aircraft as effortlessly as you boarded.

See the video of Air Access here. http://vimeo.com/48791724

News & Image Sources:

(a) Preistmangoode makes air travel easier for passengers with reduced mobility on Designboom.com 

(b) Wheelchair Travelers on Airlines May Get Better ‘Air Access’!

Fellow passenger's leave aircraft in protest as Captain offloads blind traveller with guide dog

Dear Colleagues,

An interesting article from philadelphia.cbslocal.com &  rawstory.com on an unusual solidarity shown by fellow passengers agaisnt the highhandedness of the Aircraft Captain to offload a blind passengers travelling with a guide dog in USA. In the end, the aircraft did not fly as all the passengers walked out in protest and refused to fly unless the Blind traveller with his seeing dog was taken in. The passengers were then driven to their destination by a bus. Incident is being investigated.

Airline passengers refuse to fly after a blind man and his guide dog are removed from the plane

By Travis Gettys

Thursday, November 14, 2013 13:53 EST

Airline passengers rallied around a blind man Wednesday night after he and his guide dog were removed from the plane.

Albert Rizzi and his seeing eye dog tried to board a US Airways express flight from Philadelphia International Airport to Long Island, but passengers said flight attendants would not allow him to bring the animal onto the plane unless it could travel under a seat.

The flight was delayed for about an hour and a half on the tarmac, and the dog became restless, and other passengers said a flight attendant ordered Rizzi and his guide dog off the plane.

“The lady comes back and gets very insistent, and I said, ‘Look, I don’t understand what you want me to do,’” Rizzi said. “’He’s as best as he can, he’s where he needs to be,’ and I hear nobody else moving, and as I’m walking to the front, I’m like, wait a second, why am I the only one getting off?”

The rest of the passengers banded together and said they refused to fly unless the man and his dog were permitted back onto the plane.

“Blind man and his dog just got kicked off @USAirways after we’ve been on the tarmac an hour, bc dog wiggled a bit. Whole plane outraged,” one passenger tweeted from the flight.

Another passenger said the flight attendant gave Rizzi about one minute to calm his dog before removing him.

“He tried to do whatever he could, and she went back to the front of the plane,” the passenger said. “We were taxiing like we were going to take off, and at that point in time, we’re about to take off, and all the sudden the captain gets on the PA and says we have to head back to the terminal … We were all kind of raised our voices and said this is a real problem. So the captain winds up coming out of the cockpit, and he basically asked us all to leave the aircraft.”

US Airways officials say Rizzi was verbally abusive to the flight attendant and that crew safety was a factor in removing the blind man and his dog from the plane.

The other passengers were boarded onto a bus and driven to Long Island, where they arrived about 2:30 a.m. The airline is investigating the incident.

Source: http://www.rawstory.com

Blind Man, Guide Dog Kicked Off Flight In Philadelphia

November 14, 2013 9:58 AM

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — An investigation is underway after a blind man says he was thrown off a plane in Philadelphia along with his service dog.

Albert Rizzi and his seeing eye dog were on a US Airways express flight from Philadelphia International Airport to Long Island Wednesday night.

Passengers claim the airline would not allow Rizzi to bring his dog on the plane, unless it could travel under the seat.

After a delay on the tarmac, the dog apparently became agitated, and that is when passengers claim a flight attendant kicked Rizzi and the dog off the plane.

“What I’m concerned about is that there are tremendous number of individuals in the disabled community who might not have the stamina, the strength, the confidence to stand up for their rights and speak out against these types of ridiculous perceived rules,” Rizzi said.

The incident triggered an unusual show of solidarity from other airline passengers. One passenger Tweeted: “blind man and his dog just got kicked off @USAirways after we’ve been on the tarmac an hour, bc dog wiggled a bit. Whole plane outraged.”

For its part, a spokesperson for US Airways released a statement that confirmed that “on flight 4384 from Philadelphia to Islip, Long Island a customer with a seeing eye dog was asked to keep his dog near his feet when the dog was walking up and down the aisle. The protocol for service animals is to keep them at foot of the passenger, or under the seat, as they are considered extensions of the passenger. When a flight attendant asked the passenger to keep the dog where it needed to stay for safety reasons the passenger got verbally abusive. A decision was made to return to the gate to take the passenger and the dog off the plane. At that point, other customers were unhappy about the situation. The crew did not feel comfortable operating the plane so a decision was made to cancel the flight and U S Airways bussed the passengers to Islip NY.”

The spokesperson confirmed that an internal investigation is underway.

Source:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com

Rigid and Untrained Security Staff at Delhi Airport humiliate disabled passengers yet again

Rajesh Bhatia’s story: Why India’s airports aren't truly international

By Nishtha Grover, Oct 20, 2013 (First post)

Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport’s T3 terminal is known for its swanky interiors and modern architecture, but when it comes to the quality of security personnel’s training at the airport, the standards are truly of the past. 

Rajesh Bhatia has now dealt with this horror, twice. On 8 October, the Bhatia family were setting off on their holiday to Thailand, when Rajesh, while moving through security, encountered the metal detector beep. The security staff seemed confused. After Rajesh explained and showed relevant documents about his prosthetic limb, they called a senior rank officer. Turns out that the senior officer was also confused and eventually the passenger had to be taken into the officer-in-charge’s room. Rajesh was asked to strip and remove his artificial limb  which was then put in a tray for scanning separately. 

Agitated and humiliated, Rajesh resisted and said it is against his dignity to remove his prosthetic leg. Rajesh’s wife recorded the whole incident this time, to base their grievances and seek immediate help. 

Rajesh still feels humiliated when he narrates how the officers mocked him. “I was asked about if I got married before or after my amputation… don’t know what sense that made,’ he adds. Pushpa Bhatia, 72, mother of Rajesh adds, “It was a horrible situation for us, I was myself in a wheel chair and no one told me where my son was… my grand daughters also panicked and it became very difficult for us to get updates from the staff.” 

This was the second time he was stalled at the security check. The last episode was when Rajesh was to fly to Tokyo, he complied with the authorities but left no stone unturned to reach out on behalf of the differently-able after. “After the incident in 2012 when I was to fly to Tokyo, I wrote to the Bureau of Civil Aviation  I even addressed my letters to VVIPs, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Prime minister, but got no response,” says Rajesh.

His letters were a cry for help: “Having lost my right leg above the knee in a near-fatal accident 23 years ago, I have been confronted with the inhumane and cruel face of society on a daily basis. I have kept my patience all these years. However my recent experience with the unjust behaviour of security personnel at the Indira Gandhi airport has aroused tremendous anger in me.”

Bhatia, has travelled across the globe since his accident and the treatment he gets in India is different from worldwide attitudes. Rajesh’s experience earlier in the month highlights the problem faced by many passengers. He makes a few recommendations based on his experience with the security staff at airports globally. “I have travelled to Europe and other countries where there is a simple pat down search, they follow different SOPs for differently abled,” Rajesh adds. 

Apart from the issue at hand of a security check, there is another issue of grave concern, lack of training to the personnel, that ensures a certain humanity, he explains. He recommends that personnel should be trained and the training be refreshed every three months. He also suggested that simple checking procedures implemented in international airports be employed in India too. Same gender staff should be allowed to deal with the differently-abled and if a person is uncomfortable, he or she should be accompanied by a family member in scanning room, he said. 

Samarthayam, a Delhi based NGO, working in tandem with Rajesh, has offered to train personnel on how to deal with the differently-abled. The NGO has also worked on a handbook with guidelines under various categories – training for dealing with passengers in wheelchairs  people with prosthetic limbs, training on scanning and most importantly, training on social skills. 

The incident is an alarming reminder of a similar ordeal another differently-abled flier had to face in Delhi and Mumbai airports a few months back. Suranjana Ghosh, a 37-year-old media professional had written a blog post about how humiliated she felt when the authorities at Mumbai airport forced her to remove her prosthetic limb – an act that requires her to strip waist down.  In fact, Ghosh had told the media that she had been subject a similar kind of humiliation at the Delhi airport too. While the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, conducted a meeting in August this year, nothing concrete seems to have come out of it. While Rajesh continues to fight his battle, it is time India’s humanity stood up and treated the differently-abled with the respect that is their right as citizens of a democracy.

Read more at: http://www.firstpost.com/living/rajesh-bhatias-story-why-indias-airports-arent-truly-international-1182875.html?utm_source=ref_article