[nabs-l] Air Canada challenges deaf, blind man's righttotravel alone; Burnaby

Tue Jun 9 01:04:35 UTC 2009

We might not be deaf and blind. But it could be only a mater of time before 
we become the next victims. We have fight the good fight. I don't know how 
The NFB of Canada will handel this one.
horus

Cause its been 18 days
Since I first held you
But to me it feels just like
It feels like a lifetime
I'm trying hard to re-arrange
Some say its the hardest thing to do
But that's another 18 days
Without you..
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sarah Alawami" <marrie12 at gmail.com>
To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, June 08, 2009 5:41 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Air Canada challenges deaf, blind man's righttotravel 
alone; Burnaby

>I agree 100 percent . I'm not deaf blind but if that were ever to happen I
> would want  to choose if I could do thing sby myself especially travel.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
> Behalf
> Of Serena
> Sent: Monday, June 08, 2009 2:39 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Air Canada challenges deaf, blind man's right 
> totravel
> alone; Burnaby
>
> I absolutely agree with you!  I have a friend who's deaf-blind.  Once he
> gets older and is able to travel independently, I would never want him to 
> be
> denied the right to travel alone if he thinks he's able to do so!  Many
> deaf-blind people do use assistants they call "SSPs" (support service
> providers) to assist them when necessary and, if hearing, interpret for
> them.  If the client in the case feels he doesn't need an SSP, he 
> certainly
> should be allowed to travel without one.
>
> Serena
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sarah Alawami" <marrie12 at gmail.com>
> To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'"
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, June 08, 2009 3:12 PM
> Subject: [nabs-l] Air Canada challenges deaf, blind man's right to travel
> alone; Burnaby
>
>
>> What do you all think of this? I think  personally that he has the
>> right to choose weather he can travel unassisted. The article is
>> below. If I already sent this, my apoligies for the duplicate.
>>
>>  Air Canada challenges deaf, blind man's right to travel alone;
>> Burnaby  athlete says he is capable
>>
>>  Janice Tibbetts
>>  Vancouver Sun, Apr. 7, 2009
>>
>>  In a case that balances passenger safety and the rights of the
>> disabled,  Air  Canada is challenging a deaf and blind man's
>> contention that he should be  allowed to fly without an attendant.
>>
>>  The airline will argue in Federal Court that not allowing Burnaby
>> resident  Eddy Morten to fly alone is justified discrimination.
>>
>>  Morten counters that he has a system for safe air travel with his
>> service  dog, he has been self-sufficient all his life, and that he
>> has made many  past trips on planes, trains and buses.
>>
>>  "I have never needed a babysitter," Morten, a father of two and a
>> Paralympic  bronze medallist in judo, wrote in an e-mail.
>>
>>  "Air Canada routinely allows people who are blind, people who cannot
>> walk  and people who may be very disabled due to aging to travel
> unattended.
>> Why
>>  not me?"
>>
>>  Air Canada is fighting Morten in court after losing a Canadian Human
>> Rights  Tribunal decision in January.
>>
>>  The tribunal did not order the airline to allow Morten to travel
>> alone,  but  said he had the right to be assessed for self-reliance
>> rather than  automatically ordered to bring an attendant.
>>
>>  The tribunal, ruling that Air Canada had not met its obligation to
>> accommodate Morten to the point of "undue hardship," ordered the
>> airline  to  pay Morten $10,000 in damages. Air Canada is not
>> contesting the award.
>>
>>  "It's the principle we're concerned about," said the airline's
>> spokesman  Peter Fitzpatrick. "It comes down to the safety of the
>> disabled passenger  and other passengers on the aircraft." Fitzpatrick
>> cited the recent rescue  of US Airways passengers in the Hudson River
>> as an example of a successful  and quick evacuation.
>>
>>  The dispute between Air Canada and Morten began five years ago, when
>> he  unsuccessfully tried to book a flight from Vancouver to San
>> Francisco  without being accompanied by an assistant.
>>
>>  He says he was "disempowered" by the rebuff and that he should not
>> have to  shoulder the cost of hiring an attendant. While Air Canada
>> policy has  recently changed to permit attendants to travel for free
>> domestically, the  concession does not apply to international travel.
>>
>>  The vice-president of the Alliance of Equality for Blind Canadians
>> said  Monday that financially strapped Air Canada should be spending
>> its limited  resources more wisely than on fighting a disabled man who
>> wants to travel  independently.
>>
>>  "There should be no blanket exclusions," said John Rae, who believes
>> that  a  person's declaration they are self-reliant should be enough.
>> Barring that,  each case should be individually assessed, particularly
>> since there are  varying degrees of impairment, he said.
>>
>>  Morten, who was born deaf but with good vision, has Usher's Syndrome,
>> a  condition that caused him to gradually lose his sight. Now in his
>> late  40s,  he is completely blind in his left eye and has severely
>> limited vision in  his right eye.
>>
>>  Morten testified before the tribunal that he knows airline safety
>> procedures  and would be able to find the emergency exits by following
>> the lights  along  the aisle. He also travels with pre-printed file
>> cards containing such  phrases as "I am deaf/blind, to talk to me,
>> please write on my palm in  large  block letters."
>>
>>  He also says that he could see an oxygen mask if it fell in front of
>> him,  and knows how to use a life vest if necessary.
>>
>>  The airline will also argue in court that the human rights tribunal
>> overstepped its jurisdiction when it ruled on the case.
>>
>>  Air Canada said the proper body to decide is the Canadian
>> Transportation  Agency, which ruled in 2005 that the airline was
>> justified in  discriminating  against Morten.
>>
>>
>> Sarah Alawami
>> msn: chellist at hotmail.com
>> website: http://www.marrie.org
>> twitter: http://twitter.com/marrie1
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nabs-l mailing list
>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nabs-l:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/serenacucco%40
>> verizon.net
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nabs-l:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/marrie12%40gmail.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nabs-l:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/commanderlumpy2003%40earthlink.net
> 