[Oabs] airline travels and assistance

[Kaiti Shelton]

Hi all,

I'm hoping we can have a little discussion on this topic, as many of
us will be traveling by plane to the convention soon and in the
future.

There are conflicting views on how one should be independent in an
airport.  Some say that you should not take any assistance and should
do all the way-finding on your own.  For me, my take on it is that I
am most independent by realizing that certain situations are better
handled with assistance, including airports.  I'd much rather get to
my gate quickly and efficiently rather than waste time trying to find
the right concourse myself, and then have to scramble to make my
flight.  This was also true in the case when I had a 3 hour layover in
Charleston on Sunday and wanted to be shown other locations in the
airport so I could buy myself lunch and freshen up in the women's room
(I had been traveling since 3:30 our time that morning and had things
like a change of clothes and my toothbrush in my carry on).  I don't
abuse these things; for example, once the skycap showed me where the
restroom was I was able to make it back to my gate area without
assistance by retracing my steps.  I could have wasted so much time
stopping other hurried passengers to find these things (which I feel
isn't really my place anyway as now you're impacting someone who's job
isn't to help you find things), but instead I got lunch and took care
of what I wanted to in under 15 minutes.

Another aspect of airports is the wheelchairs.  The first time I flew
Delta to the 2013 convention I was never greeted with a wheelchair.
This time I got one at almost every stop, ironically except for in
Jamaica where their blind are either cared for by family or are
institutionalized most of the time.  United was good about letting me
refuse the wheelchair without much fuss, and so was American airlines.
US Air, a part of American, wasn't as good.  They were by far the most
clueless when I called to set up guide services in advance.  United
and American Airlines both specifically had options for guide only
services for visually impaired travelers.  US Air didn't seem to know
what I was talking about and then the lady started scheduling a
wheelchair because that was apparently the only service she knew of.
She said I could refuse to take the chair, though, but then found
guide services on the next screen.  When I landed in Cincinnati a
wheelchair was there.  I was told by the skycap that was there that I
had to take the wheelchair.  I started refusing like I usually do, but
it wasn't working.  I insisted that there was nothing wrong with my
legs, but he said he wasn't allowed to escort anyone unless they were
in the wheelchair.  I don't believe he was trying to con me, and he
did appologize for it later, but it seems ridiculous that the airline
would specifically employ people to escort only people in wheelchairs.
I even asked if he could do what other airlines did and just leave the
wheelchair at the end of the jetway, but he repeated he wasn't allowed
to do that. Because I had been traveling for 14 hours by that time I
didn't fight him further on it.  I took the chair (which made me feel
sorry for wheelchair users as it was not comfortable at all), and let
him push me to baggage claim.  He did end up leaving the wheelchair in
baggage claim and just escorting me like I wanted him to from there,
partially because there was no way he could have wheeled the chair and
hauled my suitcase at the same time and my hands were already full
with my guitar I had to bring on the trip.

What do you all think I should do?  I was thinking of somehow writing
a letter or trying to speak to someone who handles these things for US
Air about this.  I was not given the assistance I requested and
frankly, they kind of placed their employee in the middle.  Had I not
been so jetlagged and had a ride waiting for me already I would have
put up more of a hard stance against the wheelchair.  I'm also going
to be sending a letter of some sorts to the Charleston airport because
their security personelle did not know how to work with me through
TSA.  The woman who scanned me crossed her arms like an X and tried to
grab both of my hands, almost as if she were creating a support for me
to lean on or something.  I then got a pat down from the knee below
for some strange reason, which my parents hypothesize was out of a
thought that because I'm blind I'm a target for someone else to
reverse-pickpocket and place something on my person.  I know
pickpockets are good at what they do, but I can't imagine they would
have been able to successfully slide something up my capri pants legs
or into my tied tennis shoes without me noticing.  The pat down was
also after I had already been through the metal detector, so I can't
imagine why they would only check below the knee even if it were a
random search.  I will say the skycaps at Charleston were very good at
letting me just follow them or use sighted guide when we were in
crowded areas, ut I've never seen that in TSA before.  I know I
probably looked tired, but I doubt I looked unstable on my feet or
anything to prompt such a misguided approach to working with a blind
person.  What do you think?
-- 
Kaiti Shelton
University of Dayton 2016.
Music Therapy, Psychology, Philosophy
President, Ohio Association of Blind Students
Sigma Alpha Iota-Delta Sigma