[Oabs] airline travels and assistance

Tue Jun 23 15:53:13 UTC 2015

I know i would prefer a wheel chair depending on the condition i was in but i think its a matter of opinion how a blind person wants to be lead 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 23, 2015, at 10:35 AM, Kaiti Shelton via Oabs <oabs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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
> 
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