[stylist] Flying Blind--for Angela

Fri Oct 24 02:49:49 UTC 2008

Cassondra, I'm frustrated for you. Well, your experience happened 4 years
after the ADA was passed, supporting my thesis. Its not legislation which
will change what it means to be blind, but education.  

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Kasondra Payne 
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 7:26 PM
To: LoriStay at aol.com ; stylist at nfbnet.org 
Subject: Re: [stylist] Flying Blind--for Angela

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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