[nfbmi-talk] Blind Maine woman, guide dog booted from flight over seating - Portland Press Herald

christine Boone christineboone2 at gmail.com
Tue Mar 14 19:42:58 UTC 2017


Goodness, back in the 1980's, Diane McGeorge was thrown off of an airline
flight more than once along with her dog guide. Many others were as well. I
believe American Airlines' actions here are reprehensible, not to mention
illegal of course. I thought we had come beyond this point long ago. 

I must say however, that I make it a point Never to fly on American Airlines
because of their dreadful treatment of all passengers, but particularly
those with disabilities. Thanks for sharing this post Kane. The suugestion
that this woman is somehow faking her blindness, I believe is also
actionable because it casts disbursions on her character and is so obviously
untrue.  Well, this was a great way to get my energy up again on a Tuesday
afternoon. LOL 


-----Original Message-----
From: NFBMI-Talk [mailto:nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kane
Brolin via NFBMI-Talk
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2017 2:23 PM
To: NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List <NFBMI-Talk at nfbnet.org>; Joe Harcz
<JoeHarcz at comcast.net>; NFB of Indiana Mailing List
<nfb-indiana at yahoogroups.com>; NFB of Michiana Mailing List
<nfbofmichiana at googlegroups.com>
Cc: Kane Brolin <kbrolin65 at gmail.com>
Subject: [nfbmi-talk] Blind Maine woman, guide dog booted from flight over
seating - Portland Press Herald

The beat goes on and the struggle continues--as if any of us needed a
reminder.

I did not get the attached story from a Federation source, and I have no
evidence that the woman in question Sue W Martin is a member of the National
Federation of the Blind.  But nonetheless, this demonstrates that
discrimination against the blind in general--and against persons with
disabilities who have service animals specifically--is alive and well.
http://www.pressherald.com/2017/03/13/maine-woman-says-she-and-her-guide-dog
-were-kicked-off-a-plane/

As with blowback from similar cases I read about last year that involved
Uber, it appears that many in the general public have the impression that
people claiming to have a disability frequently scam transportation
providers and service establishments by claiming falsely that the pet they
want to bring along, is a service animal when it's really not.  I've never
heard a legitimate story about anyone claiming service animal privileges for
a "fake dog guide,"
etc.; but I think many in society believe this happens all the time.

>From the 2012 archive I found in "The Daily News" of Bangor, Maine, this
proves that Sue Martin is a suicide survivor and writer about
disabilities-related issues, as she claims to be.
http://bangordailynews.com/2012/09/19/news/bangor/blind-writer-suicide-survi
vor-to-offer-message-of-hope-at-bangor-career-center-2/

Kind regards,

-Kane

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