[Ohio-talk] Barbara Pierce Letter to the Columbus Dispatch Editor

[Alan Lemly]

I know many of you read and commented on Deborah Kendrick's excellent column
in the Columbus Dispatch on October 5th titled "Airports can mean
humiliation for some travelers" dealing with the issue of accommodation and
the unnecessary use of wheelchairs.

 

 I thought you might also want to read Barbara's supportive letter to the
Dispatch editor  on this issue so I'm pasting it below my signature.

 

Alan Lemly

 

Columnist had good advice for blind travelers

Friday October 9, 2015 5:00 AM

 

The Monday Dispatch op-ed " Airports can mean humiliation for some
travelers" by Deborah Kendrick brought back painful memories to me as a
blind traveler.

 

Airline personnel always seem to pick the times when we are exhausted and
frazzled to begin making up airline regulations such as "I will lose my job
if you don't agree to ride in this wheelchair." We don't expect that people
who are willing or assigned to help us will know what we need. But
Kendrick's advice is spot-on: Ask what we need and then listen to the answer
and believe it.

 

People whose only disability is blindness do not need wheelchairs or
elevators. Neither do deaf people. Blind people use white canes to
investigate the ground in front of us. It is not helpful to have someone
grab hold of the cane and try to drag us around by it.

 

Thank you, Kendrick, for pointing out this failure in personnel training.
Common sense would do the job, but common sense goes out the window when a
white cane heaves into view.

 

BARBARA PIERCE

 

Oberlin

 

Barbara's letter is from this link:

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2015/10/09/1-columnist-ha
d-good-advice.html