[nfbwatlk] Stranded by airline, a disabled D.C. activist crawled off his flight. But the humiliation was far from over.

Thu Oct 29 20:27:23 UTC 2015

Right, and since you said you boarded a half-hour before everyone
else, I was thinking it would be easier to wait until the rest of the
passengers boarded and then follow them outside and on the plane.
Arielle

On 10/29/15, Mike Freeman via nfbwatlk <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> I agree that I'd rather not put up with navigating among small turboprop
> planes without an escort. But usually, I can catch a flight attendant or
> passenger on the way out.
>
> Mike
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbwatlk [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Becky
> Frankeberger via nfbwatlk
> Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2015 1:06 PM
> To: 'NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List'
> Cc: Becky Frankeberger
> Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] Stranded by airline, a disabled D.C. activist
> crawled off his flight. But the humiliation was far from over.
>
> What passengers? There was no one there but a few airplanes and they
> weren't
> talking. Litterally no human beings anywhere within yelling distance.Some
> of
> the airplanes were running, shiver.
>
> Becky and faithful Jake
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbwatlk [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike
> Freeman via nfbwatlk
> Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2015 12:51 PM
> To: 'NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List' <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Mike Freeman <k7uij at panix.com>
> Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] Stranded by airline, a disabled D.C. activist
> crawled off his flight. But the humiliation was far from over.
>
> Becky:
>
> Did you *ask* other passangers for directions? I think *I* would be *glad*
> that Alaska didn't fuss over me!
>
> Mike
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbwatlk [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Becky
> Frankeberger via nfbwatlk
> Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2015 12:23 PM
> To: 'NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List'
> Cc: Becky Frankeberger
> Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] Stranded by airline, a disabled D.C. activist
> crawled off his flight. But the humiliation was far from over.
>
> I am sitting here hurting so badly for this man. We were at Sea Tac and the
> gal just left us on the tarmac. She never gave us any directions. I just
> said Jake inside. He found the steps and surprised the flight attendant as
> no one was supposed to board for another half hour. She made the complaint
> herself to Alaskan of how we were just dropped off. I was so frightened and
> my imagination just raced. So this man and his plight, ug. No one should
> ever treat someone like that. Debby just like how WCB treats Sarah, like
> she
> doesn't belong just because she has other disabilities.
>
> Thanks for sending the article, ug, ug, sy.
>
> Becky and Jake
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbwatlk [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Debby
> Phillips via nfbwatlk
> Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2015 10:18 AM
> To: nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Debby Phillips <semisweetdebby at gmail.com>
> Subject: [nfbwatlk] Stranded by airline, a disabled D.C. activist crawled
> off his flight. But the humiliation was far from over.
>
> Hi all, I thought this might be of interest to some of you.  I was quite
> outraged for this guy.  And the comments were
> ridiculous!     Debby
>
>  ---- Original Message ------
> From: "Craig Phillips" <craphi at gmail.com
> Subject: Stranded by airline, a disabled D.C.  activist crawled off his
> flight.  But the humiliation was far from over.
> Date sent: Wed, 28 Oct 2015 07:19:49 -0700
>
> Stranded by airline, a disabled D.C.  activist crawled off his flight.
> But the humiliation was far from over.
>
>
> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/10/28/str
> anded-
> by-airline-a-disabled-d-c-activist-crawled-off-his-flight-but-the
> -humil
> iation-was-far-from-over/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_p3most
>
>
>
> By Michael E.  Miller
> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/people/michael-e-miller>  October
> 28 at
> 4:34 AM
>
>
>
> Photo
>
> D'Arcee Neal in London, where he went to graduate school.
> (Courtesy of
> D'Arcee Neal)
>
> D'Arcee Neal dutifully waited for a wheelchair.
>
> He had just flown five hours from San Francisco to his hometown of D.C.
> without a bathroom break because his cerebral palsy prevented him from
> using
> the United Airlines toilets.  Then he had waited the usual fifteen minutes
> for the plane to empty before someone could help him exit in a special
> narrowly built wheelchair.  But the wheelchair never came.
>
> So D'Arcee waited.
>
> And waited.
>
> And waited.
>
> Until finally, he could wait no longer.  As stunned flight attendants
> looked
> on, 29-year-old Neal fell to the floor and proceeded to drag himself
> roughly
> 50 feet to the airplane's door, where his own wheelchair was waiting for
> him.
>
> "The craziest thing was that while that was happening, the attendants just
> stared.  They just couldn't believe I was doing that.  It just seemed so
> unfathomable to them," Neal told The Washington Post.
> "By the
> time they came to their senses I was already out of the plane."
>
> By now, you might have heard of D'Arcee Neal.  His horrific Oct.
> 20
> flight made international news.  "Outrage as man with cerebral palsy was
> forced to crawl off plane," ran one headline
> <http://www.inquisitr.com/2523210/darcee-neal-outrage-as-man-with
> -cereb
> ral-palsy-was-forced-to-crawl-off-plane/>  in the U.K.  "Severely disabled
> man on plane crawls down aisle," read another
> <http://www.examiner.com/article/d-arcee-neal-severely-disabled-m
> an-on-
> plane-crawls-down-aisle> .  And when United Airlines promptly
> issued an
> apology and a check, Neal appeared to be on his way to joining the long
> list
> of people who have been abused and then paid by the airline industry.
>
> What you probably haven't heard, however, is what happened
> afterwards:
> the ignorance, the Internet comments, the wild accusations and the
> humiliation of crawling on one's hands in public - relived over and over
> online.
>
> "There is a contingent of the Internet thinks that I'm faking or I'm
> opportunistic and I just want to get paid," Neal said.  "Somebody even said
> that I was doing it to raise the profile of Black Lives Matter, which I was
> really offended by."
>
> The first thing you should know about D'Arcee Neal is that his life has
> been
> pretty darn tough.  The D.C.  native is African American, openly gay and
> disabled - a triple minority - after all.
>
> "I was born with cerebral palsy," he told The Post in a telephone interview
> Tuesday night, recounting how he wasn't allowed to pursue acting in college
> because the university theater wasn't wheelchair accessible, and how his
> expensive wheelchair was stolen last year
> <http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Darcee-Neal-Wheelchair-S
> tolen-
> in-Logan-Circle-264838691.html>  while he watched after a friend's
> apartment.  "I deal with all kinds of craziness that able-bodied people
> just
> have no clue about."
>
> But the second thing you should know about him is that he definitely
> doesn't
> want to be pitied.
>
> "I'm an activist, a storyteller, I perform with The Gay Men's Chorus of
> Washington [D.C.].  I perform," he said.  "I just got done doing a
> production of 'Little Shop of Horrors' at The Arlington Players as the
> plant.  We had a five star review.
>
> "I do things professionally in my life.  And yes I have a cerebral palsy.
> And yes I use a wheelchair.  But it doesn't make me any less of a person.
> It doesn't make me any less of a citizen.  People around the city are just
> like 'oh,' when they see you.  The bar is lowered a little bit.  And that
> is
> infuriating.  I'm almost 30 years old.  I pay my taxes.
> And they look at you like, 'I'm just really sorry.  I'm sorry that that is
> your life.' Well, I'm sorry you feel like that."
>
> His attitude has propelled him to London for graduate school and into a
> career advocating for better treatment of the disabled.
>
> In fact, last week's incident occurred as Neal was returning from a work
> trip to San Francisco where, as an employee of United Cerebral Palsy, he
> met
> with Uber executives to discuss improving the "ride-sharing" service for
> people with disabilities.
>
> But it was another company that needed his advice, it seems.
>
> Neal's return trip to D.C.  began badly.  Instead of asking him to board
> first, as is airline policy, a United gate agent in San Francisco forgot
> and
> seated the rest of the plane, he said.  As a result, it was nearly
> impossible for Neal to take his seat, even with the help of the special,
> narrow aisle wheelchair.  (His own chair is too wide for the aisles and was
> stored during the flight.)
>
> It was disembarkation, however, that would prove disastrous.
>
> His plane touched down at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport at
> around 10 p.m.  on Tuesday, Oct.  10.  First, Neal waited as his fellow
> passengers streamed off the aircraft.  Then he waited for a United employee
> or contractor to come and help him exit the plane as he had
> entered: on the narrow aisle wheelchair.
>
> But as the delay dragged on, and Neal sat on the plane with only a few
> flight attendants, his patience began to wear thin.
>
> "When the staff didn't show up, I asked the flight attendant what was
> going," he said.  "They were just doing their job, and they told me, 'Just
> stay here.  Just wait.  I'm sure he'll be here in a few minutes.'"
>
> After about 35 minutes, Neal asked again if someone was on the way with a
> wheelchair, repeating that he really needed to use the restroom in the
> airport.  "He asked me why I couldn't use the bathroom on the plane," Neal
> told The Post.  "But I can't even get up to the toilet bowl" in the tiny
> airplane lavatories.
>
> After about 45 minutes, Neal had had enough.  When the flight attendant
> told
> him his own wheelchair was waiting for him just off the plane, Neal decided
> it was time to go it alone.
>
> "Honestly, I expected the flight attendants [to help me] once they saw that
> I have a disability, once they knew that I had to use the bathroom," he
> said.  "The next words out of their mouths should have
> been: 'How can we assist you? What can we do to make that possible?'
>
> "I'm not going to use the airplane bathroom when a perfectly acceptable
> [wheelchair accessible] bathroom was 10 feet from the door to the terminal.
> If you could just let me off this plane, then I could go to the bathroom
> the
> regular way instead of you trying to cram me into this closet.
>
> "So at that point I got out of my chair and onto the floor and started
> crawling up the aisle," he recalled.  "One of the flight attendants turned
> around and was like, 'Oh, you can't be serious.'"
>
> He was.
>
> Neal crawled roughly 50 feet on his elbows from his seat in 11 F to the
> door
> of the plane and then onto the jet bridge, where his wheelchair had been
> left for him.  Some of the flight attendants were stunned.  One, however,
> had the presence of mind to bring Neal's bag and help him up the steep jet
> bridge to the terminal.
>
> Neal was angry, but he was also used to it.
>
> "This is the third or fourth time this has happened" with United, he
> claimed.  Neal said he had missed several connecting flights because of
> similar delays in receiving wheelchair assistance, but he had never
> resorted
> to crawling off the plane - until now.
>
> "I mean, it's humiliating," he told NBC Washington
> <http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Man-With-Disabilities-Cr
> awls-O
> ff-Plane-After-Airline-Fails-to-Assist-Him-336076281.html> .  "No one
> should
> have to do what I did."
>
> Still, he didn't want to make an issue out of it.
>
> "I went to the bathroom and went home," he said.  "I didn't say anything to
> anybody.  I wasn't being rude or anything.  I was just tired and frustrated
> and it was annoying."
>
> Neal arrived home just before midnight, fell asleep and then headed to work
> the next morning as if nothing happened.  When he came home that evening,
> however, he got a call from United.
>
> Someone had complained about the incident - but it wasn't Neal.
> It was
> one of the flight attendants who felt Neal had been neglected.
>
> Now a United representative was telling him that the airline had "dropped
> the ball," the situation was "completely unacceptable"
> and
> that the employee responsible had been suspended, according to Neal.
>
> Those claims generally match a statement United sent to CNN
> <http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/25/us/united-airlines-disabled-man/>
> on
> Tuesday.
>
> "As customers began to exit the aircraft, we made a mistake and told the
> agent with the aisle chair that it was no longer needed, and it was removed
> from the area," the airline said
> <http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/25/us/united-airlines-disabled-man/>
>
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