[nfbwatlk] FW: [List] Deaf people band from taking flight

[Kaye Kipp]

Oh gee.  That's terrible.

Kaye
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2011 2:21 PM
Subject: [nfbwatlk] FW: [List] Deaf people band from taking flight


-----Original Message-----
From: list-bounces at cfb.ca [mailto:list-bounces at cfb.ca] On Behalf Of
Elizabeth Lalonde
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2011 1:11 PM
To: list at cfb.ca
Cc: Erin Ford; Stephanie Mündel-Möhr
Subject: [List] Deaf people band from taking flight

This kind of thing could easily happen to a group of blind people too.
Terrible.
-


September 25, 2011

Home > National

Anger as deaf people banned from taking flight

Published: 22 Sep 2011 10:44 GMT+1

Updated: 25 Sep 2011 18:45 GMT+1





A group of 22 holiday makers with hearing difficulties who were prevented
from boarding an Air Miditerranie flight for "security reasons" will have
their case reviewed by the state authority for defending human rights.





The group, including 18 deaf people, three with hearing difficulties and one
person without hearing problems, had already checked in their bags for the
flight from Marseille to Bodrum in Turkey when they were told they would not
be allowed to board.



"Just as we were about to board, someone from the company told us we
couldn't,"
Fabienne Guiramand, the daughter of one of the women in the group, told AFP.



"We tried to explain to the person who was liaising between us and the pilot
that we were all perfectly self-reliant," said another passenger. "Apart
from, perhaps, two people who can't speak, everyone was capable of talking
and making themselves understood. Several were wearing hearing aids."



The airline said on Wednesday that they "regretted" the incident but there
were important security reasons.



"In the procedures of Air Miditerranie, the deaf are considered persons of
reduced mobility," said a spokeswoman, adding that in such a case the
airline
would normally assign a member of cabin crew for every five people.



The company denied it had discriminated against the group, but admitted that
it
had made "communication errors" and that the pilot should have spoken
directly
to the group.



"It was unfortunate on our part," said the spokeswoman. "They felt they were

being excluded because of their disability when, in fact, it was just for
security reasons."



"There was no reason to stop them boarding," said Cidric Lorant, president
of an
association for the hard of hearing, Unisda (Union Nationale pour
l'Insertion
Sociale du Dificient Auditif).



"These are people with hearing difficulties but they are able to understand
security guidelines and travel autonomously," he told AFP.



Solidarity minister Roselyne Bachelot took up the case on Wednesday,
referring
the matter to the state-appointed ombudsman for human rights, the Difenseur
des
droits.



"On an airplane, a deaf person is in the same situation as someone who
doesn't
speak the language of the cabin crew," she said on Wednesday. "Should we
only
allow people who speak English or French to board?"



The Difenseur des droits confirmed on Wednesday evening in a statement that
they
were examining the case and would "hold hearings if required."



twitter.com/matthew_warren



Matthew Warren (news at thelocal.fr)



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