[nagdu] Questions about Federal regs regarding paratransit

[Chasity Jackson]

Angie

Good point. That's great that you got the flight attendant to change it 
before you flew. Where are the regs for flying? Where can I find them? Does 
it say that we do not have to sit in bulkhead seats?

I agree. I wouldn't automatically blast people either if they were being 
uncooperative, but that particular day, it was rainy, I had stood in the 
rain for over half hour, it was getting so icy out, it was one of our 
icieist days so far this winter, I was trying to pick Chris up from the 
airport and get back home, and so it just had me in a bad mood already. But 
normally I wouldn't snap at someone right away, and I really don't consider 
what I did snapping at her, I just firmly said, "I don't have to do anything 
if I don't want to." And luckily for her, she didn't argue with me any 
further and got off the train. Most of my experiences with sighted people go 
well, and they do take my word for it, but once in a while, you get one that 
seems like they might have been born just yesterday. LOL.

Chasity
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Angie Matney" <leadinglabbie at mpmail.net>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 11:48 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Questions about Federal regs regarding paratransit


> 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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