HT Editorial - Callous airline staff’s attitude reflects our apathy towards India’s disabled population

Apr 27, 2017 | Hindustan Times | Editorial

On Wednesday, cricketer Harbhajan Singh tweeted about an incident where an expat pilot abused and assaulted two travellers flying to Mumbai, one of them a person with orthopaedic disability. Apart from changing India’s famously inaccessible built environment we need to develop a culture of sensitivity towards the country’s 2.68 crore disabled.

There’s more to it than just racism. On Wednesday, cricketer Harbhajan Singh tweeted about alleged racism by an expat pilot from Jet Airways. According to Singh, the pilot abused and assaulted two travellers flying to Mumbai, one of them a person with an orthopaedic disability. When the flight landed, he had to wait for 25 minutes for the wheelchair to be brought to the seat. On top of it, the pilot screamed at him for checking-in the wheelchair and delaying the flight. This was done despite the airline allowing them to check it in at Chandigarh from where they had boarded.

This is not the first time a wheelchair-bound traveller has complained of misbehaviour by airline crew. Last year, Paralympics silver winner Deepa Malik filed a complaint against poor handling of wheelchair-bound passengers by the staff of Air Vistara. “The wheelchair handling is so poor that you do not know how to shift a person from seat to cabin chair. The entire staff stands and looks at each other for 10 minutes,” she had said. In 2015, disability rights activist Javed Abidi was forced to get off his wheelchair at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. Despite protests, the CISF warned him to comply or miss his flight. Ironically, in 2014, Abidi was part of a panel of activists who had helped frame guidelines to ensure there was no discrimination on the basis of disability in air travel.

According to the 2011 Census, the number of disabled in India stands at 2.68 crore, or 2.21 per cent of the population. India’s built environment is infamously inhospitable to the disabled and the elderly, confining them to their homes. Most public buildings lack ramps and even ATM machines have steps leading up to them. The recently passed Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2016, promises barrier-free access to buildings to the disabled, but implementation is lax. Merely de-rostering the pilot, as Jet Airways did, won’t be enough to change the ground reality on discrimination. We need to inculcate a culture of sensitivity towards the physically challenged.

Source: Hindustan Times

UK enforces changes in Equality Act effective 06 Apr 17 that makes it illegal for taxi drivers to discriminate against wheelchair users

Dear colleagues,

In UK the Law change makes it illegal for taxi drivers to discriminate against wheelchair users.

Taxi drivers face a fine of up to £1,000 if they refuse to transport wheelchair users or attempt to charge them extra, in a change to the law which comes into force today (6 April 2017).

From today taxi and private hire vehicle drivers will be obliged by law to:

• transport wheelchair users in their wheelchair
• provide passengers in wheelchairs with appropriate assistance
• charge wheelchair users the same as non-wheelchair users

Transport Minister Andrew Jones said:

We are building a country that works for everyone, and part of that is ensuring disabled people have the same access to services and opportunities as anyone else – including when it comes to travel. People who use wheelchairs are often heavily reliant on taxis and private hire vehicles and this change to the law will mean fair and equal treatment for all.

The changes apply to England, Wales and Scotland affecting vehicles that are designated as wheelchair accessible and apply to both taxis and private hire vehicles. All taxis in London and a significant number in most major urban centres are wheelchair accessible.

Drivers found to be discriminating against wheelchair users face fines of up to £1,000 as part of provisions being enacted from the Equality Act. Drivers may also face having their taxi or Private Hire Vehicle (PHV) licence suspended or revoked by their licencing authority. Drivers unable to provide assistance for medical reasons will be able to apply to their licensing authority for an exemption from the new requirements.

Robert Meadowcroft, Chief Executive of Muscular Dystrophy UK, said:

Today’s change in legislation is positive news, as we know that disabled people often have to rely on taxis where accessible public transport isn’t an option.

Taxi drivers can provide a vital service in getting wheelchair users from A to B so they are able to maintain their livelihoods and play an active part in society. Today creates a level playing field for both drivers and passengers.

Taxi drivers can lose their licence and face a fine of up to 1000 Pond
if they fail to transport wheelchairs

The law now makes clear the rights for wheelchair users and the responsibilities of taxi drivers, including the penalties that will occur if they aren’t observed. Wheelchair users are frequent customers of taxi services, so instead of being apprehensive of these new rules, taxi companies should promote their accessibility credentials.

The new requirements complement those already in place to prevent discrimination against users of assistance dogs and underline the government’s wide-ranging commitment to supporting transport networks which work for everyone.

The government will be consulting on a draft Accessibility Action Plan later this year, which will seek to address the barriers faced by disabled people in accessing all modes of public transport.

Source: Gov[dot]UK

Easyjet Pilot offloads Deaf-Blind independent flyer for last 35 years

Dear Colleagues,

This discriminatory incident being reported from Scotland where a Deaf-blind flyer Mr. Frankie Thomson, 52 who has been travelling independently for past 35 years and uses a guide dog for mobility, was escorted off a plane moments before the take-off when the pilot refused to let him fly unaccompanied for ‘safety reasons’.

The incident occurred on an Easyjet Edinburgh to Gatwick flight last month and has left Mr Thomson confused. ‘I could feel people watching me wondering what I’d done. I felt people were talking about me,’ he said through a guide communicator.

‘I wasn’t embarrassed or anything – just confused and thinking what was going on. I’ve never had any problems before.’ After being escorted off the plane Mr Thomson was put in a cab and taken back to his girlfriend Katie Swinton’s flat in Loanhead, Midlothian.

She was the one who booked the tickets for him in October for a weekend visiting friends in London and she had requested special assistance.

‘I was so stressed and upset. They asked me to contact them on a phone number but how could I? I’m deaf,’ Ms Swinton added. Mr Thomson’s case has been taken up by SNP Edinburgh East MP Tommy Sheppard.

Easyjet has apologised and a spokeswoman said they offered him assistance and free flights the next day for him and a companion. He will also receive a refund.

The spokeswoman said: ‘Easyjet is sorry that Mr Thomson was unable to travel on his flight and understand how upsetting this would have been for him. ‘The captain took the decision to offload him prior to departure due to concerns over his welfare after he was unable to communicate with the crew about the safety procedures. ‘The safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew is always Easyjet’s highest priority.’

Mr Thomson is deaf from birth and a degenerative eye condition has left him partially sighted.

Source: Metro

Mother’s outrage after ‘power-tripping’ airport security pat down 13-year-old son

30 March 2017

This is the moment airport security patted down a 13-year-old boy for two full minutes, leaving him ‘traumatised’, according to his mother.  Aaron Williamson, who suffers from Sensory Processing Disorder, was stopped while heading through security at Dallas/Fort-Worth International Airport.

His outraged mother Jennifer hit out at the transport security agency (TSA) in a Facebook post, claiming she and her son were ‘treated like dogs’. She was allegedly detained for ‘well over an hour’, during which time an airport officer extensively patted down her son, who was wearing cut off shorts and a T-shirt.

As an SPD sufferer, it is not known whether or not Williamson took advantage of TSA Care which takes into consideration certain conditions for travellers. His mother said: ‘He set off NO alarms. He physically did not alarm at all during screening, he passed through the detector just fine.

He is still several hours later saying “I don’t know what I did. What did I do?”. I am livid. Please, share [and] make this viral.’ In her post, which has been seen 7.1 million times, she calls for the TSA to be ‘reined in’. The American security agency brought in new rules recently calling for ‘comprehensive pat-down procedures’ for passengers.

Making searches more intrusive the standardised system replaces the choice airport customers previously had between body scanners or other technology only if they set off alarms. The TSA is standing by the controversial Texas incident.

‘In total, the pat-down took approximately two minutes,’ they wrote in a statement, ‘and was observed by the mother and two police officers who were called to mitigate the concerns of the mother. ‘The passengers were at the checkpoint for approximately 45 minutes, which included the time it took to discuss screening procedures with the mother and to screen three carry-on items that required further inspection.’ People on Twitter deemed the incident inappropriate with some calling it ‘near-molestation’.

Source: Metro dot co dot uk

Pratyush Nalam, an IIT-B techie outrages against Air India after airline left his wheelchair in India

New Delhi | Published:February 15, 2017 

Enraged on learning that his sole support of movement had been kept away, he took to Facebook to express his discontentment with Air India's "unprofessional" service.

Despite having a condition that rendered him immobile since birth, Pratyush Nalam – a software whiz graduated from IIT Mumbai – has always lived his life to the fullest. The 23-year-old suffers from spinal muscular atrophy due to which he can’t walk, and uses a motorised wheelchair to commute. All set to join Microsoft in Seattle, Nalam flew from Chennai to New York via Delhi on two Air India flights.

Facebook Post by Pratyush Nalam

On February 12, when Nalam landed at the John F Kennedy international airport in New York, he was in for a shock as Air India had not transported his battery-operated wheelchair on-board. Moreover, the vehicle was held back by the security staff in New Delhi without any prior information or notification.

Hopeless and helpless, he had no other option than to be stranded at the airport and wait for his travel aid. Citing the reason that the wheelchair contained batteries that are apparently not allowed on the flight, Air India could not transport it to US. Enraged on learning that his sole support of movement had been kept away, he took to Facebook to express his discontentment with Air India’s “unprofessional” service.

“The least you could do was to contact the passenger before the flight took off and at least confirm. Fortunately, you know, the passenger didn’t die an untimely death yet,” he wrote, adding, “That motorized wheelchair is the only way I travel from Point A to Point B. It is more than a person’s legs for me. Do you leave behind your aircraft’s landing gear because it didn’t clear security? Try to use some empathy before you take such decisions next time.”

Several users were upset about the incident. While some posted angry comments, others went on to share similar ordeals that they had earlier faced

Nalam was later informed by the Air India staff that his wheelchair has been loaded on the next flight and would reach him the next morning (February 13), but without its batteries.

Nalam posted an update on Facebook and wrote: “Those are dry, non-spillable, gel batteries. Perfectly allowed under domestic and international civil aviation rules. You see, as a passenger, I am careful about what is allowed and not allowed under the rules as I travel pretty often.”

Wondering if his wheelchair would reach him in one piece, he added, “This is the same Air India that damaged this very wheelchair when I flew them in August 2015 on the same sector.”

“Disabled passengers are not second class citizens. Neither are we a liability. We live fulfilling lives and the least you could do is to treat us and our equipment with dignity and respect,” he also wrote in another post to express his dismay.

When it finally arrived in New York, the wheelchair had to be taken to a service centre to be made operational. Not just the battery, but the wire that connects it for motorised travel was also missing. Adding a fresh post to elaborate on how he got it fixed, Nalam wrote: “As my wheelchair is not sold in the United States, Mr Jeff got a set of custom wiring to be made for my wheelchair so that I can be mobile again. He took special care and treated it as an emergency and this reaffirms my faith that good people are still left in this world.”

Source: Indian Express

‘I Am Not Asking for Charity’ – the Man Fighting for Disabled-Friendly Screening at Indian Airports [Story from Better India]

January 2017 | The Better India

by Guest Contributor 

Rajesh Bhatia writes about his experiences at airports as an above-knee amputee, and why he started a campaign asking the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security to make security procedures inclusive.

I am an above-knee amputee since 1992, when I lost my leg to a fatal road accident. After the initial trauma, I marched ahead in my life and rose to among the top most echelons of one of India’s largest multi-national companies.

I fly frequently for work, both domestically and internationally from several Indian airports.

Each time I pass through the security check points at the airports, I am treated like a criminal by CISF, the security staff, just because I use a prosthetic limb (artificial leg) for my mobility.

Having not received any training on the screening of persons with prosthetics, the security staff is generally clueless on how to handle my screening. I am asked and many times, even forced, to strip and to remove my prosthetic because they suspect that I might be hiding a gun or a knife in my prosthetic. The security staff then picks up my prosthetic and puts it on the x-ray machine as if it is a piece of luggage, while I am left immobile and in a state of agony praying that I receive my prosthetic undamaged. I have to then go through the process of putting on my prosthetic, which by then does not have enough suction to stay in place thereby putting my mobility and safety in jeopardy.

Let me tell you that the suction of a prosthetic does not allow even the air to pass through it. Then how can I hide a weapon in my prosthetic?

Imagine being harassed this way since October 2012, each time I have undertaken air travel! How would I feel? Even several women amputees, including Sudha Chandran, have been harassed in this manner.

On October 8, 2013, while I was leaving with my family for a vacation to Thailand from Delhi’s IGI airport, the metal detector beeped owing to my prosthetic. I showed them my disability certificate. Yet the security staff seemed confused. After turning down my request for pat-down or ETD frisking, they forced me to strip in front of their entire staff and a CISF officer asked me repeatedly if I got married before or after my amputation.

I want to make it clear that CISF is not to be blamed. It is a puppet in the hands of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security India (BCAS), the organization that has laid down such humiliating screening procedures for PwDs.

The dictate of BCAS to CISF to regard PwDs, including amputees who use prosthetics, a bigger security risk; to ask them to strip and remove their prosthetic and, to make wheelchair users stand up – as they all may be carriers of explosives and weapons – is a violation of their human rights.

I have been informed by several PwDs that they do not undertake air travel for the fear of being humiliated. It has been my goal since my first harrowing experience with frisking in 2012, to be the voice of millions of PwDs in India. I would never like them to go through similar trauma with airport security. For that reason I launched my petition against BCAS on change.org and even my campaign’s Rajesh Speaks’s Facebook in 2013. I have not received any response from BCAS from the signatures on my petition.

I have also written several letters to former PM Manmohan Singh, PM Narendra Modi, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), CISF, CCPD (Office of the Chief Commissioner of PwDs) and others. Yet I got no response from them and in exceptional cases when I did hear back from them, including to my RTI and my letter to PM Narendra Modi, their offices ignored my concerns and simply passed on the buck to another organization.

I have travelled worldwide including to Europe, Italy, France, Germany, Ireland, Romania, Belgium, United States and Russia. The airport security at each one of these places treats me respectfully and simply frisks me with a pat-down process.

The entire screening procedures for PwDs and the insensitivity of BCAS and CISF need a humane face. They need to be sensitised. Isn’t that more important than building fancier airports?

1) Lay down clear guidelines in its Standard Operating Procedure, SOP, for the security screening of PwDs;

2) Sensitize and train CISF in the respectful screening of PwDs;

3) Install full body scanners at Indian airports of the kind that are used at the airports in United States;

4) Enforce zero-tolerance policy for any discrimination of PwDs.

Raja Srivastava, Additional Director General BCAS, had given his word to me at a CISF training workshop on March 30, 2014, at which I was invited to present my thoughts on the frisking of people who use prosthetic, that he would be open to incorporating my suggestions in the SOP for screening of PwDs. However, even he has backed out of his word to me.

In May 2014, my sister Smiti Bhatia and I had conducted extensive research on the international security norms for PwDs and had written a manual under the guidance of disability advocates, on the “Screening Guidelines to be Followed by CISF for PwDs at Indian Airports.” The manual abides by the world class screening procedures, and by the language of Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It was also laid out by our teammate in a PPT with visuals. I had handed over the manual to Mr. Ajay Kumar and Mr. O.P. Singh, senior CISF officers, in June, 2014. They had approved the manual. However, BCAS has not included it in its SOP.

In May 2016, Supreme court had passed a judgement in Jeeja Ghosh’s case against her discrimination by Spice Jet that “there should be a full recognition of the fact that persons with disability were integral part of the community, equal in dignity and entitled to enjoy the same human rights and freedoms as others.” Jeeja Ghosh has Cerebral Palsy. She was de-boarded by the flight crew because of her disability.

By violating the human rights of PwDs, BCAS is in violation of the Supreme Court’s judgement. It is a shame that such repeated assaults on the most vulnerable citizens of India are allowed in a democracy.

Following the ruling, Supreme Court had directed Director General of Civil Aviation to consult with civil society to ensure that air travel was non- discriminatory for PwDs. On June 27, 2016, the disability advocates, including Smiti and I, had submitted our comments, including our manual to DGCA. We have not received any response from DGCA.

I am asking BCAS and MoCA that my rights and those of PwDs be restored. I am not asking for charity. I am a law-abiding, tax-paying citizen of India.

Source: The Better India

French Court fines EasyJet for refusing disabled passenger citing security reasons

Dear Colleagues,

A French court on 19 Jan 2016, fined British low-cost airline EasyJet 60,000 euros ($64,000) for having refused to allow a disabled passenger to board for "security" reasons.

The criminal court in Bayonne, Southern France, heard that staff at the budget carrier refused to allow Joseph Etcheveste, 55, to board an EasyJet flight in Biarritz in July 2010 because he was "unaccompanied".

"EasyJet refused to let my client board because it deemed there were security problems. They still have not been able to explain what they were," said his lawyer Anne-Marie Mendiboure.

It was not the first time Easyjet has fallen foul of French discrimination laws. In December 2015 the company was fined 70,000 euros for refusing access to three handicapped people for the same reasons. There were also similar rulings in the two previous years. The airline said it had merely imposed "internal rules".

EasyJet lawyer Maud Marian told AFP she was not surprised at the court judgement while stressing that the airline "never intended to discriminate against the plaintiff" and was unlikely to appeal the decision.

Source: Emirates247,com