Jet Airways charges disabled persons for Wheelchair & Ambulift on middle eastern airports

Jet Airways Takes Discrimination Against Disabled Passengers To A Whole New Level  

Not new to controversy, India’s second largest airline Jet Airways is facing allegations of discriminating against passengers with disabilities.

Founded in 1993 by Indian billionaire businessman Naresh Goyal, Jet Airways operates a fleet of 100 aircraft to domestic and international destination.

Controversy and Jet Airways seem to be inseparable. One of the airline’s security agents at London Heathrow airport, Asmin Tariq, was arrested after being found implicated in the foiled terror plot of 10 August 2006 transatlantic airliners in mid-air. 

American authorities delayed Jet Airways clearance to fly to the U.S. for over two years due to concerns, one of which focusing on the airline’s ownership structure and alleged links to organised crime in India.

In February 2012 the airline was hit by a serious disability discrimination complaint. Miss Anjlee Agarwal, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, complained of discriminatory harassment at the hands of Jet Airways personnel. The disabled passenger was first forced to sign a waiver of liability. On a second leg of her flight she was manhandled by untrained personnel despite an aisle chair being available.

On 15 July, while routinely reviewing airlines procedures for passengers with disabilities, Reduced Mobility Rights Jet Airways WheelChair Chargesuncovered something out of the ordinary with JetAirways services for passengers with reduced mobility.

The airline charges passengers with disabilities flying from some Middle Eastern airports up to 53 US Dollars to provide wheelchair services. Charges can be as high as 267 US Dollars for passengers with severe reduced mobility who need an ambulift to board the aircraft. 

Jet Airways charges passengers with disabilities departing from the following airports: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah airport in the United Arab Emirates; Riyadh and Jeddah airport in Saudi Arabia; Muscat airport in the Sultanate of Oman; Bahrain international airport.  

“The wheelchair assistance charge introduced applies only for departures from some Gulf destinations (SHJ/AUH/DXB/RUH/JED/MCT/BAH)”, a Jet Airways spokesperson said “Before introducing this policy, Jet Airways conducted research and benchmarked the charge against other carriers. The charge for wheelchair assistance covers the cost Jet incurs from its ground handlers. Jet Airways’ policy is in line with other carriers operating in the respective regions. The policy does not apply for wheelchair passengers arriving or leaving India, Newark, London Heathrow or Brussels, where passengers are not charged.”

In compliance with anti-discrimination legislation wheelchair assistance is free of charge at European, Indian and US airports, including those mentioned by Jet Airways.

Reduced Mobility Rights conducted its own research with other airlines departing from Bahrain International airport, where Jet Airways wheelchair charges are the highest ($53).

“Wheelchair assistance at the airport is complimentary for Gulf Air customers,” Bahrain’s national carrier customer service told us. “We provide complimentary wheelchair service for all British Airways customers,” a spokesperson for the largest British Legacy carrier said.

“In order not to violate the civil rights of passengers with disabilities, for a barrier free environment, no charges will be levied for the use of wheelchairs at all airports for passengers travelling on Air India in any class,” is the statement of Jet Airways direct competitor, Air India.

Our findings contradict Jet Airways statement according to which the airline’s policy is in line with other carriers operating in the respective regions.

Quite clearly Jet Airways is ripping off people with reduced mobility by imposing hefty charges on services they cannot do without because of their disability.

Reduced Mobility Rights is submitting its findings to India’s General Directorate of Civil Aviation, hoping authorities will step up and order Jet Airways immediately cease discriminating against passengers with disabilities flying from the above airports. 

Source: Reduced Mobility Rights

Different Strokes: We can also think; won't you please listen to what...

Dear Colleagues,

Here is a real life experience coming from horse's mouth. Dr. V.S. Sunder, a well known mathematics Professor at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai who is also a wheelchair user due to a neurological condition called multiple sclerosis has written the following piece...

Different Strokes: We can also think; won't you please listen to what...: Today was another travel day when I would encounter the airlines and be at the mercy of their (in) sensitivity. It is funny how pe.....................

..........

When we travel with my battery-operated wheel-chair, that's a whole circus. We usually get to the airport something like 75 minutes before a domestic flight, and go to the little ticketing-type window which airlines have, that can be accessed before entering the airport. It is always the same: I start explaining to the person behind the window that I will need to check in my wheelchair and then use one of the airline's wheelchairs; the person says `just wait here, while we arrange for somebody to bring a wheelchair'; and we will have to go back and forth saying the same thing a few times before I finally get it across that it would be more time-efficient for someone to come with the wheelchair to the place where check-in baggage is scanned. When we get near the baggage scanning place, I remove the joy stick that operates the controls of the chair, while my wife unzips the suitcase and puts the joy stick in, after which I am seated in the airline's wheelchair, and that is when I am ready for battle.

After that, if I don't object specifically, the universal practice is for the attendant to park the wheel-chair out of the way and not even facing or in hearing distance of the subsequent negotiations which they have whisked my wife away for, `to speak on my behalf'. (She will be the first person to admit that I can speak perfectly well on my behalf!) This is when I know the `authorities' would make a song-and-dance about the battery of my wheel-chair being a hazard. Today, I specifically asked to be taken to where the discussion was going on. The official was trying to say that the rules demanded that they should be able to open up and see the `innards' of the battery, and I came back with `I'm sorry but you don't know the rules! I've taken this wheelchair all over the world and India as well. This is a dry cell battery, and these have been explicitly stated as being admissible'. And when they know you know what you are talking about, they back off like they are doing you a favour.

My basic grumbling point, and the reason for this post is to ask why the wheelchair passenger is always kept in a corner when their able-bodied companions are asked to do the negotiating – as if this lump of baggage cannot possibly have anything intelligent to contribute. Even if we can't walk, we can think, and (most) often much more logically and clearly than those who can walk better than us.

And I take serious offense at being completely ignored. This morning, in the shining bright new terminal at Chennai airport, after we had finally succeeded in checking our suitcase and my wheelchair in, we were asked to wait at an appointed place where somebody would come to take me when it was time to board the plane. It was about 12 minutes before the announced departure time when somebody came to wheel me in. And when we got to the security check point, my wife was asked to go with `all the others', while I was whisked through the security check, while poor Sita was probably no. 137 in the line she had been sent to. And when I was brought through security check, I was quickly taken away to the departure gate because `it was already boarding time'. My pleas that we wait for Sita, because she didn't even have a cell-phone on which to tell her what had befallen me, were of course completely ignored. Not just that, when we went to the departure gate, notwithstanding my pleas, I was carted off to the plane, with a comforting `she will come in the next coach'. This is the only airport in the world where they have not permitted the companion of the wheelchair passenger to accompany him/her at the time of security check!

Madras airport does another brilliant thing. When I go through security check, my stick is being separately sent through the scanner when I am asked to get off my wheelchair and raise my arms so as to be frisked. Not once has anybody had the decency to listen to my request that if they have to make me stand, will they at least wait for my stick to come through the scanner, so I can hold on to that and stand.

It is the same thing ad nauseum. Nobody listens to you at all, on the basis of the masterly inference that one who is forced to be in a wheelchair cannot possibly have anything intelligent to say, and can hence be safely ignored and treated like an uncomplaining sack of potatoes. My lawyer friend the late Rahul Cherian was advising people in the Aviation business and coming up with sensible suggestions and he was optimistic that measures would be in place, soon, to redress all such complaints. I had given him quite a few of my pet problems and he was going to incorporate them into his final formal recommendation. But the good Lord took him to his bosom all too soon, and I wonder if there is any hope of those ambitions being fulfilled. 

Source: We can also think; won't you please listen to what we are saying?

Airlines apply different rules on passengers with disabilities traveling to destinations other than North America

Dear Colleagues,

Not all passengers with disabilities seem to have equal rights on the ground even today. Lufthansa flight may give you best service and reasonable accommodation (compliant to ADA) when you are travelling to North America, however, if you are travelling on the same Lufthansa to India, you must be ready for sudden surprises. .. Reason.. Lufthansa remains compliant to the norms of the country it is visiting. Thanks to a weak regulator and a powerful lobby of airliners, the DGCA's CAR seems to have been tweaked to an extent that there are so many "if's" and "but's" inserted in the rules. 

The Indian regulator (the DGCA) as per the recent media reports has just escaped a downgrade by international aviation agencies especially the US Federal Aviatio nAdministration (FAA), on the grounds of strengthening the DGCA - something that remains on paper and is not implemented despite the need for a strong safety watchdog as air traffic here has grown maniforld in past seven years. 

"DGCA has been treated as just a clearing house for lucrative licences and clearances by most aviation ministers in past few years. it was only the threat of being downgraded by US to sub-Sahara African levels in terms of aviation security oversight that led to the government making plans to strengthen it" says the media report quoting sources.

Recently, through a silent notification the DGCA sought to cap the number of disabled passengers travelling on a single flight which is such a folly on the part of the regulator or perhaps the hunger for more money of the powerful guild of airliners who were successful in  pressurrizing the regulator in to it!

In a perfect world, respect for human rights is taken for granted; however, in remote areas of the world this is far from the case. The same legitimate expectation applies to access to aviation for people with disabilities; however, in this case there are even bigger surprises, often bordering outright discrimination. 

Differences in legislation sanctioning the right to access to aviation contribute to create a divide between passengers. Let’s use the following example to best understand the issue.

Passenger A is visually impaired, and is traveling with his guide dog. Passenger B suffers from PTSD and regularly travels with an Emotional support animal.

Both passenger A and B travel with Lufthansa from New York to New Delhi via Frankfurt. However, they purchased separate tickets, as they have yet to decide how long they will spend in Germany.

Lufthansa's requirements for visually impaired passengers and passengers traveling with an emotional support animal from and to the United States.

1. Traveling with service/assistance animals : If you are bringing a service animal, we recommend that you contact us prior to traveling so that we can make the necessary arrangements. Please be advised that, as a foreign air carrier, Lufthansa is only required to allow dogs on board as a service animal. If you cannot pre-book, any Lufthansa employee will be happy to assist you at the airport.
2. Emotional support and psychiatric service animals: Lufthansa also welcomes emotional support and psychiatric service dogs. We recommend that you contact us prior to travelling so that we can make the necessary arrangements. If you cannot pre-book, any Lufthansa employee will be happy to assist you at the airport.

Passengers A and B spend a week in Germany, and now decide to continue their journey to New Delhi. However, when they call Lufthansa they will find an unwelcome surprise, as the airline’s rules applying to all destinations other than the United States are far more restrictive.

Lufthansa's requirements for visually impaired passengers and passengers traveling with an emotional support animal  to  destinations other than North America (say India).

1. Guide dogs and other assistance dogs: You have the option of taking a guide dog or other assistance dog with you free of charge. We recommend that you use a dog harness and muzzle. However, the number of animals allowed in the cabin is limited, so please let us know in good time if you wish to travel with a guide dog or assistance dog. Please also note that in some countries special regulations apply to the entry of animals and we recommend that you find out about the rules in advance.
2. Therapy or Emotional Support animal (dog): It is also possible to transport a therapy or Emotional Support Animal (dog) (ESA) free of charge in the cabin. You will require confirmation from your doctor that you require an assistance dog. Please note that the dog’s suitability for transport in the aircraft cabin may be checked.

Discrimination

As a result of these differences in the requirements within the same airlines merely on the basis of where you are headed to, passenger A may not be able to travel to India because he did not pre notify the airline and must obtain required paperwork from the Indian embassy in Germany.

Similary Passenger B may not be allowed to travel to India because he is missing his GP’s  (General Practitioner) letter stating he requires an ESA animal to travel by air.

“LH is fully compliant with the rules and regulations of all countries in which it flies. On May 13, 2009, the U.S. Department of Transportation amended its Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) rules (otherwise known as Part 382) to apply to foreign carriers as well as adding and updating provisions on various PRM topics including ESAN/SVAN,” said a spokesperson for Lufthansa. 

“Part 382 only applies to foreign carriers on flights to/from the U.S. They do not apply on Intra-European flights or flights to other countries, which are governed by Regulation (EC) No 1107/2006. Lufthansa amended its policies regarding the transportation of SVAN and ESAN on flights to/from the U.S. in order to be compliant with Part 382.” clarified Lufthansa spokesperson.

Compliance is the logical explanation. However, the airline, able to comply with U.S. legislation, applies stricter rules on all other routes. Lufthansa’s stance is the rule rather than the exception. 

In fact, the vast majority of airlines flying from and to the United States apply different, often stricter rules on passengers with disabilities traveling to destinations other than North America which is illogical and unreasonable! 

It is high time that we raised the issue with governments and regulators. The airliners guild/  the airline industry must also consider this issue of open and irrational discrimination against persons with disabilities and set examples and best practices by enforcing and extending equal rights to all irrespective of their destinations. 

Source: Reduced Mobility Rights

Accessible Onboard Toilet- Revolutionary Concept from Airbus

Dear Colleagues,

Accessibility in Airbus - Sounds interesting indeed!  Producing almost half of the world’s commercial airliners, Airbus recently introduced a revolutionary concept that will significantly improve quality of air travel for passengers who need an on board wheelchair to move about the cabin and make use of the on board toilet.

The two toilets, each of a size comparable with those in A320 family of aircraft, become one through a simple process of conversion: two Space-Flex toilets can be converted into one space for persons of reduced mobility, in a similar way to those used in wide-body Airbus aircraft. 

This solution foresees different options to fit the needs of all Airbus customers, even low cost airlines. By selecting additional galleys with different capacity on the right hand side before the aft door, an airline would gain three additional seats. However, without any galley before door four, the gain could be as high as six additional seats. 

This is a forward looking initiative of Airbus and hopefully friends at Boeing and others will follow suit!  Here goes the detailed info.

Airbus Takes Aircraft Accessibility To The Next Level

Modern long haul aircraft are usually equipped with accessible toilets; however, single aisle short haul aircraft do not have such feature, making the use of toilets very difficult.

Our recent visit at the Paris Air Show focused on spotting innovative solutions enhancing aircraft accessibility thus improving in-flight comfort for passengers with reduced mobility.

"I am unable to get to, let alone get in the toilets and so I limit liquid intake. I sometimes use my toilet bottle or leg bag, but neither is ideal," Martyn Sibley, who suffers from Spinal Muscular Atrophy, recently told us. 

Starting this fall Airbus will begin deliveries of aircraft of the A320 family equipped with the revolutionary Space-Flex lavatory, an innovative solution that will radically improve the in-flight experience for passengers like Martyn. 

To fit the Space-Flex toilet the rear of the aircraft has been reconfigured, with existing lavatories moved to the rear end of the aircraft.  

The two toilets, each of a size comparable with those existing in the A320 family of aircraft, become one through a simple process of conversion: two Space-Flex toilets can be converted into one space for persons of reduced mobility, in a similar way to those used in wide-body Airbus aircraft.    

This solution foresees different options to fit the needs of all Airbus customers, even low cost airlines. By selecting additional galleys with different capacity on the right hand side before the aft door, an airline would gain three additional seats. However, without any galley before door four, the gain could be as high as six additional seats. 

Delivering full accessibility whilst giving the option of adding up to six more paying seats could represent the perfect recipe to entice airlines to purchase new aircraft featuring the Space-Flex lavatory option.

Brazilian airline TAM is the pilot customer for this truly innovative concept. The airline ordered 39 A320 aircraft fitted with Space-Flex lavatories. “Space-Flex maximises the cabin revenue space and therefore gives us more flexibility in our new Airbus A320 Family aircraft,” said José Maluf of TAM Airlines. “In the future we could easily adapt to market demand and improve seat-mile costs by adding six seats without any compromise in comfort.”

About the author 

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Reduced Mobility Rights, Roberto Castiglioni is an expert of airport accessibility, management and support procedures of passengers with special needs and air travel related regulations. He has been a frequent flyer for the past three decades and has several years of experience as travelling partner of a passenger who requires assistance. 

Roberto provides accessibility and access consulting services to airports and airlines. He is a member of the UK Civil Aviation Authority Access To Air Travel Working Group. He is also a member of the Easyjet Special Assistance Advisory Group. Esaag provides Easyjet with strategic guidance and practical advice on the evolving needs of passengers requiring special assistance.

Source: Reduced Mobility Rights

Miniature horses as seeing eye guide for their blind masters

The American Disabilities Act protects service animals, saying they can go anywhere their owners go. As Delta Flight 192 lifts off for Atlanta, a small chestnut horse lies stretched across the floor in a bulkhead row. 

Her name is Cuddles, and she carries a heavy responsibility on her 2-foot-high shoulders.

 Dan Shaw with his new guide horse, Cuddles

Cuddles is a 55-pound miniature, one of more than 120,000 registered in the United States. But the words printed on a burgundy blanket fastened across her back reveal what makes her unique: “Service Animal In Training. Do Not Touch.”

Janet Burleson, who has trained 18-month-old Cuddles for the past seven months, says that she is the first horse to go into full-time service as a guide animal–and the first allowed to fly in the passenger cabin on Delta, perhaps on any airline.

Seated toe to horse in Row 20 are Burleson, her husband, Don, and Cuddles’ new owner, Dan Shaw. The 44-year-old Shaw, who owns a bait shop in Eastern Maine, has suffered from retinitis pigmentosa since he was 17. It has left him with pinhole vision.

Shaw, Cuddles and the Burlesons, who own a ranch 30 miles north of Raleigh, face a busy day in Atlanta. They chose Atlanta because it is the closest city to Raleigh with a rapid rail system.

Shaw, a graduate of the CarrollSchool for the blind in Boston, often returns there to visit friends and family. He uses the subway and wants Cuddles to experience a similar environment. Besides riding on the subway, Cuddles will guide Shaw through the vast airport terminals and lead him onto elevators, escalators and people movers.

As Shaw moves along a concourse of Hartsfield International Airport,his left hand grasps the little horse’s reins and metal harness. People turn to stare. Cuddles looks straight ahead, sure-footed in the white leather baby shoes she wears for traction on the slippery floor.

“Is that really a seeing-eye horse?” asks Sandy Feenstra from Cleveland.

“I haven’t seen any of those in Ohio. But hey, if it works, it works.”

The Burlesons are so convinced that horses can be a reliable alternative to dogs for the visually impaired that they have established the nonprofit Guide Horse Foundation http://www.guidehorse.org).

Its mission is to deliver trained guide horses at no cost.They have more than 40 applicants on the waiting list who have given various reasons for preferring a horse to a guide dog: allergy to canines, fear of dogs, needing an animal with more stamina. One woman says she walks four miles to work each day, and the trek makes her dog’s paws bleed.

Shaw’s desire for a horse is purely emotional.

“Horses live 35 to 40 years,” he says. “I’m an animal lover. To lose a dog after eight to 10 years, and then have another to train, and have to do that three or four times in my lifetime . . . that’s painful.”

Last March, as Shaw’s wife, Ann, was filling out an application for his first guide dog, the television was tuned to “Ripley’s Believe It or Not.” The show featured a segment on the Burlesons and a miniature horse named Twinkie, who was being trained to lead a blind woman. To Shaw, the timing was “divine providence.”

“I want one of them instead of a guide dog,” he remembers telling Ann. “I don’t know what it will take, or what it’s going to cost, but that’s the way I want to go.”

When Shaw located the Burlesons, however, he was disappointed to learn they had no horse to offer. They were still trying to raise money to buy some more miniatures, and then they would have to spend eight to 10 months to train them.

To the Burlesons’ delight, Patricia Cornwell, the crime novelist, donated $30,000 to their effort. In an upcoming book, “Isle of Dogs,” Cornwell, who has visited the Burlesons’ ranch, includes a blind character led by a guide horse.

The couple used the money to purchase six miniature horses from a breeder in South Carolina. One of them, Cuddles, soon was in training for Shaw. A second, Cricket, is destined for a blind woman in Gig Harbor, Wash.

Earlier this month, horse and master finally met in Raleigh, the closest city to the Burlesons’ ranch with an airport. “They seemed to have made an instant connection,” Janet Burleson says. “There was such joy in his face. He’s crying. Both of us are crying. Sometimes when I was doing the [training], I’d get frustrated. But when I saw the end result. . . .”

The Burlesons are proud of Cuddles. She knows basic leading and responds to 23 voice commands, including “wait” (not whoa) and “forward” (not giddyap). Just as important, she is housebroken. “She will absolutely let you know when she needs to go,” Janet Burleson says. “She’ll stand and stomp her foot and whinny. If she has to go really bad, she will stomp her foot and cross her back legs. I’m not kidding.”

Michele Pouliot, director of research and development for the San Rafael, Calif.-based Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc., has trained dogs for 26 years and owns two miniature horses. Although she’s never considered training the horses to guide, she is keeping an open mind: “Our take is, we don’t know what they are doing, so why criticize it? Maybe it’s great.”

The Burlesons, who have been invited this summer by two groups of guide dog users to demonstrate what their horses can do, say they aren’t out to replace guide dogs. “We love dogs,” Don Burleson explains. “We love dogs as guides. Our main thrust is . . . to give blind people more options.”

Evelyn B. Hanggi, president of the Equine Research Foundation in Santa Cruz, questions the suitability of horses as guides because of their natural instinct to spook or bolt. “Cuddles may turn out to be a great horse and never spook,” she says, “but sooner or later it will happen . . . Imagine a guide horse spooking in a busy intersection and either running off or barging into its owner.”

But Janet Burleson, a show horse trainer for 30 years, has no fear. “I teach them to more or less spook in place. They learn to accept the normal things of human life–loud noises, vehicles, balloons popping, fireworks, dogs barking.”

The idea of Cuddles bolting makes Shaw smile. The calm little horse that licked his nose when they met suddenly going mad and dragging him off? Not a chance, he says. In May, Shaw will return to the Burleson ranch for four more weeks of training with Cuddles. Then he and the Burlesons will load the little horse into a rented Winnebago for the long drive to her new home in Maine.

“I’ve always loved horses,” Shaw says, tearing up. “I never expected to own one. I never expected it to be my eyes, either.”

Source: Los Angeles Times (2001)

Need of Railway Disabled Passenger Rights Act - argues SN Mathur, former MD of Railway Finance Corporation

Railways and Disability Rights

By S N Mathur |  24th June 2013 

The European Union’s legislation on passenger rights that became effective in December 2009 sets out minimum quality standards that have to be guaranteed to rail passengers. Inter alia, it lays down the right to transport for passengers with reduced mobility and is a major step in ensuring that these passengers can travel in a way that is comparable to other citizens. Railway companies have been mandated to provide them assistance on board as well as during boarding and disembarking from a train, free of charge. The stated objective of this legislation is to safeguard users’ rights for passengers and to improve the quality and effectiveness of rail passenger services in order to help increase the share of rail transport in relation to other modes of transport.

In some European countries, there are commercial agreements between the station manager and the railway undertaking to help passengers in boarding and alighting from trains. In several others, information about the meeting place and the type of disability is sent by email, and the station staff then waits for the passenger at the agreed location. In Sweden, the ministry of transport has decided that such assistance should be provided by a neutral body accessible to all operators. The company contracted for this work takes charge of bringing the customer to the platform and the train, and thereafter the train operator’s staff helps the passenger to board the train. In Italy, passengers with reduced mobility can notify their need for assistance to the dedicated service centres set up by the infrastructure manager; specialised ground staff, dedicated to supporting persons with reduced mobility then help those who have asked for assistance to board or alight from trains. In Slovenia, special lifts have been purchased to enable wheelchair users to board trains at major stations. And, in the Netherlands, all the trains managed by Arriva — the largest private operator in the country — have a sliding step that enables disabled persons to get on and off trains without assistance.

In India, the government enacted the People with Disabilities, Equal Opportunities and Protection of Rights Act in 1995 that provides for equal opportunities and facilities for the physically challenged. Subsequently, comprehensive instructions were issued by Indian Railways in 2007 for setting up various facilities at stations and in the trains for the disabled.

Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha in 2010, the minister of railways had stated that  specially designed Second class Luggage-cum-Guard coaches, known as SLRD, had been declared as unreserved coaches, fully earmarked for physically handicapped persons in all mail/express trains (except fully reserved trains). She had further elaborated that about 680 pairs of mail/express trains except special type trains (Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Jan Shatabdi, AC Special and Duronto) had been provided with one SLRD coach, and that all Garib Rath trains had been provided with coach having accommodation for physically handicapped persons.

Unfortunately, even today, the assistance provided to a wheelchair-bound passenger is only minimal. The problems encountered by persons with restricted mobility while travelling by train are many and call for urgent remedial measures. The coaches for the disabled are reported to be two feet high and over one foot away from the platform without a ramp. The coaches are also generally unreserved and a disabled person would rarely prefer travelling unreserved as it may compromise with his safety and convenience.

Inter-platform transfer continues to be a major irritant. In the words of an aggrieved passenger, “the basic issue of inter-platform transfer seems to have been entirely ignored. I have always been taken as a luggage over the railway tracks by a coolie, putting me as a passenger at a higher risk of accidents than anybody else”. Another passenger laments that at a station in Delhi there was no arrangement for any wheelchair and he had to be transported on a luggage cart across the tracks through a dimly lighted area that was risky and dangerous.

It is to be regretted that the booklet “Trains at a Glance” containing the timetable and other information for rail travelers makes only a passing mention of the assistance available to passengers with reduced mobility. It merely states that 150 ‘A’ class stations have been identified for providing booths for making assistance available to the physically challenged. Had the Indian Railways cared enough, it should have given the names of all the stations where such facilities have been provided, with detailed information about the availability of ramps, accessible toilets, services at stations, and the meeting points where the disabled passenger can meet the station staff before joining the train. This would have been extremely helpful not only to the domestic but also to the foreign travelers who visit India to experience the romance of rail journeys.

It is not that Indian Railways are unmindful of the requirements of travelers with special needs, but what is lacking is the proper implementation, supervision and monitoring of the facilities that have been provided so far, and a well-formulated plan for upgrading these to international standards. One fails to see the seriousness of railways’ intent in reaching out to the disabled, and assuring them that they are no less privileged than its other customers. As things stand today, the procedures for getting wheelchairs at the stations have not been streamlined, there is absence of trained staff to escort disabled passengers to the train, and the ramps over which wheelchairs can be moved from the platform to the coach have not been made available. Concessions in train fares are not sufficient to incentivise the disabled to travel by train. They must also be made to feel that they are not being discriminated against.

Perhaps there is a strong case for bringing out a separate Railway Disabled Passenger Rights Act so that access to special facilities at railway stations and trains can be demanded by passengers as a matter of right, enforceable by law, and with penalties on the transporter in the event these are not made available. To begin with, the Act may cover only the major railway stations, and later be extended to other stations in a planned, phased and time-bound manner.

The author Mr. S N Mathur is a former MD of Railway Finance Corporation.

E-mail: mathur.surendra@gmail.com

Source: New Indian Express

Air India at receiving end for mishandling needs of disabled passenger

Dear Colleagues, 

Ever since the Air India outsourced the entire operation at the Terminal 3, Delhi Airport to an external agency, there are frequent reports of mistreatment meted out to passengers with disabilities. Earlier, there were fewer complaints when Air India staff received the passengers with special needs and handled the airport operations. 

While the DGCA's CAR is enforceable also on the agency to which the work is outsourced when it comes to passenger's amenities more so mandatory requirements to be met regarding rights of persons with disabilities during their carriage by air. In this case, Air India cannot escape the blame for the vicarious liability for it is the solemn duty of the national carrier to ensure that the rights of the passengers with disabilities are respected and enforced as per the DGCA's CAR on the carriage of persons with disabilities and person with reduced mobility by Air.

This time thee incident happened with none other than Mr. Javed Abidi of the NCPEDP fame who currently is also serving as the Chair- Disabled People's International (DPI). Javed returned to Delhi from Tokyo on Wednesday evening on Air India Flight AI-307 along with a companion after a 10 hours 40 minutes long flight.  He had been assured by the cabin crew before they landed that a message had been sent to the Delhi ground staff to ensure that his wheelchair was brought to the aircraft.

While all the passengers disembarked at Delhi, Javed had to wait an additional one hour inside the aircraft as the airline sent his wheelchair to the baggage pick-up area inside the terminal and which had to be retrieved. As an internationally established rule, if a person with disability is travelling with his or her wheelchair, it should be brought to the aircraft for the passenger to exit on the same wheelchair for wheelchairs are highly customized mobility equipments almost like a part of the body and cannot be just replaced by any ordinary wheelchair.

The worst part was that while Javed and his companion were still on board the flight, the cleaning staff began their operation disregarding his very presence in the aircraft. This shows an ugly face of the aviation sector and their attitude to disability and the dire need of training and sensitization not only the airline and aerodrome staff but also the operators/ agencies who are increasingly engaged for outsourcing the passenger handling job by the national carrier.

It is shocking for all of us to see that even the regulator- the DGCA continues to treat such lapses with relative ease and indifference which only reinforce the lackadaisical attitude of the airliners and aerodrome operators. It’s high time that the existing penal provisions are forcefully used against the defaulting agencies and hit them hard where it pinches most – the financial penalties. 

Here are the news coverage by Mail Online India & Times of India.

Coverage in Mail Online India

WHIPLASH: The ugly face of the aviation sector revealed in attitudes to disability

By SUHAS MUNSHI

PUBLISHED: 22:12 GMT, 21 March 2013 | UPDATED: 22:12 GMT, 21 March 2013

It is pathetic that people with disabilities continue to be ill-treated and humiliated by airlines in this country. 

From the end of a ten hour 40 minute flight of IC 307 when all the passengers disembarked the planed, Javed Abidi must have spent each moment in the hour long wait for his wheelchair realising how dependent on the hospitality of others he really was, till the chair finally showed up at the doors. 

Half of that time was spent in negotiations of how Abidi could instead opt to be seated in the standard service wheelchair, while his custom designed wheelchair was being searched for, only to be humiliatingly shifted once again to his own chair. 

He may have hardened to condescension over time but being parcelled around, no self-respecting man will suffer. And Javed Abidi is not self-pitying or resigned to his fate. He happens to be the director of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), one of India's most respected organisations keeping vigil over the rights of the disabled. 

Nor is Abidi a first time victim to such indignity. His career as an advocate of the disabled's rights began after bearing insults by media companies who denied him opportunity.He is also just one among many such people who have been at the receiving end of Indian aviation sector's disgraceful attention.

Last year Jeeja Ghosh, a 43 year old woman with cerebral palsy, reached Kolkata to catch a Spice- Jet flight to Goa only to be offloaded from the plane for her condition. In May 2011, Kingfisher Airline deplaned a blind woman from a Mumbai-Goa flight.  And this year Tony Kurian, 22, a visually impaired student was denied tickets by Indigo.

The only constant in all these cases is not just the offence but the relative ease and indifference with which it is treated. And nothing short of stringent punishment is likely to rid the aviation sector of this insensitive attitude. Read more:  Daily Mail

Coverage in Times of India

21 March 2013, NEW DELHI: It was a 10 hour and 40 minute long flight from Tokyo to Delhi and JavedAbidi, the director of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) and a paraplegic, was looking forward to getting back home. However, Abidi had to wait an additional one hour inside the aircraft as the airline sent his wheelchair to the baggage pick-up area inside the terminal and had to have it retrieved.

"As an internationally established rule, if a disabled person is travelling with his or her wheelchair, it should be brought to the aircraft for the passenger to exit on that. I make it a practice to not only inform the airline at the departing station but also before we are to land that I will need my wheelchair. Despite taking all such precautions even this time, Air India sent my wheelchair to the conveyor belt and I was made to wait an hour for it," said Abidi.

Abidi had returned to Delhi from Tokyo on Wednesday evening on Air India flight AI-307 along with a companion and had been assured by the cabin crew before they landed that a message had been sent to the Delhi ground staff to ensure that his wheelchair was brought to the aircraft.

"For 30 minutes the crew tried to convince me to use their wheel chair. However, there is very little understanding that a wheelchair is not just any wheelchair. For instance, mine has been customized to suit my needs and body type. I would also be required to change chairs again had I used the airline's wheelchair. Anywhere else the airline could have been sued for this," said Abidi.

He also said that in clear violation of DGCA rules, the cleaning staff was permitted on the aircraft even as he and his companion were on board. Air India officials refused to comment on the issue.

Read at source: Times of India