[nagdu] Questions about Federal regs regarding paratransit

Angie Matney leadinglabbie at mpmail.net
Sat Jan 24 05:48:36 UTC 2009


Hey Chacity,

Good post. While I do think that, like it or not, people *do* draw impressions about all blind people from how a single one of us behaves, this doesn't mean that we have to inconvenience ourselves in order to avoid making a fus. You stated that you 
had logistical reasons for wanting to stand due to the luggage. It is perfectly reasonable for you to refuse an "accommodation" that you didn't ask for and that would have inconvenienced you. This right is guaranteed us by the ADA.

On one of my last flights, the gate agent informed me that he'd noticed I'd been assigned a window seat, and he'd gone ahead and "fixed" it so that I would get a bulkhead seat. I explained to him that I had reserved that particular seat ahead of 
time. (And let me just add here that figuring out how to do that with JAWS and the seating map on the web site was not easy! So I was especially proud of myself. /grin/) I told him that I wanted him to change my seat back to the one I had reserved. 
He refused. He said that regulations required I sit in the bulkhead. I said that no, they don't, and it's my business to be especially aware of this as a traveler with a disability. He wouldn't change the seating assignment, but fortunately teh flight 
attendant understood the situation, and I was able to take my original seat. I didn't complain about this guy. I sure do wish I had. But it would not have been appropriate for me not to tell him that he was wrong and that I didn't have to sit in the 
bulkhead.<mental note: print up regs next time you fly.>

Again, I'm not suggesting that we have to blast every person who offers us assistance or accommodations we don't need. But we are deserving of respect, and we are entitled to let people know that.


On Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:36:21 -0600, Chasity Jackson wrote:

>Hi Linda,

>No, I don't think I should have smiled and handled it later. I think that, 
>blind or not, we're human, and we have crappy days like the rest of society. 
<snip>








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