[stylist] Flying Blind--for Angela

Fri Oct 24 02:25:37 UTC 2008

Lori,

Thanks for sending this story.  It reminded me of an unfortunate experience I had as I flew from Sacramento, California, to Chicago, for the 1994 NFB of Illinois, State Convention.  I was traveling with another blind friend, and the flight to our layover in Los Angeles was sad and distasteful.  I had decided to travel with my telescopic cane, and I had it tucked in my purse.  I had stowed my carry-on bag myself, but my friend had not been able to do so because the isle was so crowded.  The flight attendant offered to help him, but she wouldn't tell him in which overhead bin she had stowed his bag.  

Then she ordered him to give her his cane because she said that it must be stored in the closet.  He had already stored it along the seat, but he had to give it up or risk being thrown off the flight.  We both had speeches to give at the convention that weekend, so he reluctantly complied.  

When we landed in L.A., the same flight attendant casually informed us that we would have to deboard last because we would take longer than everyone else.  There were tons of planes, and we had to land at  an outside gate.  Ihad been able to gather my things when we landed, and I was confident that I wouldn't take any longer to get off than anyone else.  I told my friend that I would wait for at the bottom of the stairs.  As I proceeded to leave, the flight attendant tried to challenge my departure.  I pointed out that I had my stuff and my cane, and the stairs to exit were right in front of me and to the left.  In my youthful zeal for independence, I was probably too harsh, but I was one of the first to get off that plane.  I waited for about twenty minutes while the of the passengers left.  Before my friend was finally allowed to leave, he left the flight attendant with a few choice words about treratment of blind people

This story is really ironic because my friend is a large imposing figure, and I am short and skinny.  My size favored me because I was able to fit in the crowded airplane isle.  Unfortunately, my friend had to suffer the indignity of crazy airline policy and a flight attendant who didn't have enough sense to recog ize that we were two afdults traveling across the country.  

I have had other negative experiences while flying, but those involved small children and airport security.  It's no wonder my we are driving from Utah to Michigan next year for Convention.  We just like road trips better.  I distribute food and navigate, and my husband drives.  

Angela, you are welcome to use my story if it will help.  I know it is anecdotal, but here it is.  Again, I loved Lori's article!

Kasondra Payne 

-----Original Message-----
From: <LoriStay at aol.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 7:15 PM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [stylist] Flying Blind--for Angela

Flying (blind) can be hazardous to your health
 Merrick Life, November 13, 1986
 Loraine Stayer

 Having just come back from a convention of the National Federation of the
 Blind of New York State, I feel eminently qualified to make the statement in my
 title.   Every time I board a plane (proabaly an average of four times a year),
 my back goes up, and my stomach knots in tension.   but the cause of this
 isn't fear of flying.   I've been up and down too often to worry about that,
 though I admit to a prayer or two before take-off.   No.   The reason for my
 anxiety is that my husband is blind, and the airlines have, of late, been writing
 and enforcing whimsical policies regarding blind passengers.

 Today we were told we might not sit in an exit row (in the name of "safety"),
 and were placed one row in front of the smoking section despite my complaint
 of being sensitive to tobacco smoke.   One of our friends, a young woman with
 a guide dog, was shifted out of seat 5A on the grounds that "the two seat
 section wasn't wide enough for the dog."   She was put into seat 1E, and then told
 she might not sit there, because it was the bulkhead exit row, and the dog
 lying on the floor would blocke passengers in case of an emergency.   I invited
 her to sit with me, and was told that, since I was in a two-seat section, that
 wasn't allowed.   The other passengers in her new row (7E) traded with me.  
 It got me away from the smoking section, for which I was grateful, but it
 inconvenienced a number of other passengers, and insured that I couldn't sit near
 my family.   I challenged the "rule," and the flight attendant assured me
 solemnly that the piolt's manual said it was so.   This, despite the fact my friend
  had flown up to the convention on the same plane seated in the two seat
 section, row 1, seat A!   No one had moved her then, and teh presence of her guide
 dog insured that she would be the first one out of the exit in the event of
 an emergency.

 Midway through the flight, the same flight attendant told my friend she would
 have to wait till everyone else left the plane before she got off.   My
 friend told me later she had no intention of waiting, and that she could get off as
 quickly as anyone else, havening had a multitude of experiences.   I assured
 her that once we had landed, she could do as she pleased, and no one would
 bother her, and it proved to be so.

 Twice in my flying experience I have her blind persons referred to as "the
 blinds."   It is a piece of particularly appalling airline jargon.   I can only
 conclude they think of blind persons as pieces of furniture to be moved around
 as they please, with about as much feeling as said furniture.

 Other members of NFB have related that they were told they could not sit in
 aisle seats.   Some were told on their return trips that they could not sit in
 window seats.   Often we hear that blind persons can't sit in exit rows over
 the wings, but must sit in the bulkhead-row exit seats.   Or conversely, that
 they may not sit in the bulkhead seats.   Or they are told they may not sit in
 the row in front of an exit row, or the row behind.   Federal regulations are
 quoted as the reason, though FAA representatives at our National Convention
 have assured us there are no such federal regulations.

 Airline personnel get extremely nervous when a blind person with a cane or a
 dog appears, though they welcome blind persons who consent to the indignity of
 riding in a wheelchair, or who allow themselves to be shifted from seat to
 seat in a neverending game of musical chairs.   If two or more blind persons
 ride the same flight, the flight attendants often go into a fearful tizzy.   They
 begin talking about safety, though there are no real studies to show that
 blind prsons have ever caused or even been involved in airplane accidents, or
 that it takes blind persons longer to get out of a plane than anyone else.   (It
 doesn't.   It takes just as long for sighted people to leave, owing to the
 narroness of the aisles and the multitude of carry-on luggage).

 Obviously, the issue here is a power struggle, and a case of discrimination
 against one class of people.   This is plainly illegal, and blind people often
 must go to jail to prove it.

 The questions in my mind as I prepare for my next airplane flight are these: 
  If there is only the exit row left, will I be excluded from the flight
 because my husband is blind?   Will I actually get to my distination, or will I
 wind up in a police station because my husband was arrested for sitting in his
 assigned exit row seat, and refusing to be moved around like a piece of baggage?
   If he may not sit in a two-seat section, does that mean we can't ride in a
 plane that has no three-seat section?   If he can't sit in the aisle seat, and
 he can't sit in the window seat, and he can't sit in the front row or the
 wing, what is really left for us but to take the train?

 **************
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