[nfb-talk] Blind Man Asked To Give Up Cane On AA Flight

[John Heim]

http://kdka.com/local/blind.man.flight.2.1971310.html
A blind man was told if he tried to use his cane he'd be removed from a 
flight and arrested and now he's asking for an apology.

Bill Diamond is legally blind and sees nothing from his left eye and shadows 
from his right eye. He lost his sight 15 years ago due to diabetes.

He's a Navy veteran and spent 13 years in the service. It was on a recent 
trip to a special veterans school in Chicago to learn how to use a talking 
computer where he ran into real trouble on an American Airlines flight.

"American Airlines just wants customers who can see - it's not going to be a 
burden to them," he said. "Anybody with a disability is going to be a burden 
to American Airlines."

Diamond caught his flight to Chicago out of Pittsburgh. He was brought to 
the plane in a wheelchair. He got on board using his cane and was told he 
had to give it up even though it was folded up.

"I says, 'I need my cane.'

"She goes, 'Sir, if you refuse to give up your cane, I will have no 
alternative but to call security,'" Diamond recalled.

Faced with possible arrest, Diamond gave up the cane, sat on a nearly 
two-hour flight unable to get up and move around even though he needed to 
use the bathroom.

"The stewardess acted like, 'Oh no, not another disabled person on my 
flight,'" he said.

On his way back from Chicago, Diamond flew United. They had no problem with 
his cane. He used it to get to the men's room. He says it gave him his 
dignity back and his freedom.

"That's my independence, that's my mode of travel, that's how I learned to 
travel being visually impaired," Diamond said. "They're taking something 
from me that I've learned to use."

KDKA's Marty Griffin spoke with American Airlines Monday. They said they 
were investigating the matter and offered no further comment.

Griffin could find no evidence indicating the use of a folding cane on a 
flight is determined to be against the policy of any airline.

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