Home > Opinion > Who needs airport assistance?
Tom Shakespeare
Tom is a Research Fellow at Newcastle University. His non-fiction books include Genetics Politics: from Eugenics to Genome and The Sexual Politics of Disability.
Who needs airport assistance?
5th June 2009
My poor wheelchair is looking a bit battered. Perhaps that's not so surprising, as since I became paralysed last August, it's been manhandled onto at least twenty-seven different airplanes across four continents. The push rims are missing paint, my brake handles have been bent, the cap has come off the front caster and so on. Once, I turned up at Newcastle airport only to find that my Quickie had gone astray somewhere between Sydney and home, and I was relegated to a nasty airport number which I couldn’t even push myself around in. Thankfully, the panic only lasted until the evening. I've never been happier than when I opened the front door to find the courier standing there with my trusted purple chair.
I know that some folks have had far worse experiences, but all in all I am quite impressed with airport special assistance. They’ve so far got me to all my flights on time, lifted me on and off without a murmur, and often turned out to be cheerful and friendly souls into the bargain (the all-time star being the Lebanese guy at Geneva who effusively greeted every workmate we passed while simultaneously entertaining me with stories of his global adventures).
Mind you, there are some exceptions. For instance, the spotty boys who turned up to escort me out of Chicago last week didn't quite know what they were doing, and were almost certainly on work experience. I've waited ages to get off flights on occasions when the special assistance team didn’t turn up on time. And there have been some grumpy, clumsy, not to mention patronising staff along the way. Yet overall, I do think it's amazing that disabled people can travel almost anywhere in the world, and that as long as they give prior warning (and avoid Ryanair, who in recent years have had a of involving ), they can expect to be enabled to get on and off their plane without a fuss and without paying extra for the privilege. I don’t even mind being first on, last off - at least it gives you time to flirt with the cabin crew.
Which is why I felt outraged earlier this week when I was waiting for my flight at Chicago's O’Hare International airport and another passenger commandeered those aforementioned spotty boys to assist his mother with her luggage, when they should have been helping me board. This opportunistic individual had not let the fact that his mother had no obvious disability prevent him from claiming the wheelchair assistance that he so plainly felt was her due.
The main obstacle the pair of them seemed to be labouring under was having way too much cabin baggage. As well as several suitcases, they had a rolled-up carpet and several bin liners full of tat. Having monopolised the special assistance, they then filled all the overhead lockers in their vicinity with their possessions. During the flight, mother stood and stretched and wandered around the cabin with no sign of a limp or any other mobility impairment, yet when we touched down at London's Heathrow airport she was magically rendered incapacitated and in need of urgent help.
The main obstacle the pair of them seemed to be labouring under was having way too much cabin baggage. As well as several suitcases, they had a rolled-up carpet and several bin liners full of tat. Having monopolised the special assistance, they then filled all the overhead lockers in their vicinity with their possessions. During the flight, mother stood and stretched and wandered around the cabin with no sign of a limp or any other mobility impairment, yet when we touched down at London's Heathrow airport she was magically rendered incapacitated and in need of urgent help.
In the assistance truck, my partner asked innocently if he and his mother always used disability services. Always, assured our friend without blushing, since his mother was liable to get a 'sore knee'. Given that they seemed to be operating a cowboy intercontinental removal operation, I'm not entirely surprised.
Well, I’m sorry, but before I was a wheelchair user, I was pretty rubbish at walking long distances, but I never booked special assistance on my own behalf. I figured that there were other people who had a greater need for it. This week at Heathrow, speaking to the nice guy who pushed me all the way to the train, he confirmed that what we had witnessed was far from unusual. He told me that almost every week he is allocated one or two people to support who, in his view, are not actually disabled. For example, a passenger might let him push them across the airport, only to leap up and skip happily into a cab once they reach the taxi rank.
Well, I’m sorry, but before I was a wheelchair user, I was pretty rubbish at walking long distances, but I never booked special assistance on my own behalf. I figured that there were other people who had a greater need for it. This week at Heathrow, speaking to the nice guy who pushed me all the way to the train, he confirmed that what we had witnessed was far from unusual. He told me that almost every week he is allocated one or two people to support who, in his view, are not actually disabled. For example, a passenger might let him push them across the airport, only to leap up and skip happily into a cab once they reach the taxi rank.
Of course, neither he nor I have medical qualifications, and plenty of people have hidden impairments and thus have less than obvious reasons to find walking difficult or even dangerous. But I think, just as with blue badge abuse, there are undoubtedly a small minority of people who book special assistance without requiring it, presumably because they are too lazy to be bothered walking from check-in to departure gate, or because they know it’s the best way to get away with having more hand luggage than Imelda Marcos. Logically, the effect of any such abuse is that those who genuinely require support are less likely to get it, or have to wait longer for it, or else the whole system eventually falls into disrepute and genuine disabled people are seen as -style malingerers.
At the moment, there’s no enforcement and no questioning of anyone who requests assistance. If you ask for it, you get it. But like disabled parking badges, it wouldn't be too difficult to eliminate the cheats if the airport authorities had the will to do so. All it would require is to follow up a sample of those who book and receive special assistance, and where they do not have genuine medical reasons, fine them £1000.
Anyway, rant over; must go, I have a flight to catch. Now just don’t mention global warming to me, will you?
Anyway, rant over; must go, I have a flight to catch. Now just don’t mention global warming to me, will you?
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Comments
I salute you, sir! I'm always edgy about flying these days, although it's mostly because I usually use a powerchair, and since I'm convinced the baggage monkeys would destroy my motor, I have to travel in a manual chair. (I bring my own, which is usually much better than the airport 'transport' chairs, but is by no means a racing model either). I have generally had good luck with the assistance sorts, although it's often a bit awkward if they assign me a gentleman and I want to stop at the loo. (This is another good reason to have one's own travel chair if at all possible; if they abandon you at the gate with an hour to go and you need the loo, you might be able to get there yourself in a proper wheelchair, but no luck in a transport tiny-wheel model.)
On luggage: In the USA at least, most airlines should treat 'medical equipment' such as wheelchairs and et cetera as free extra luggage and not charge you any fees. I have even gotten out of paying an overweight luggage fine by looking pitiful and saying I had heavy medical gear in my suitcase. (I did, really.) I have always been allowed to 'gate-check' my wheelchair, which means they take it away when I board and bring it back very quickly on landing. Once or twice I have been able to 'cabin-check' my chair into the body of the plane, even! But as doing so generally means my chair gets put into the closet the airline employees get, crushing their jackets and bags, I have stopped asking for it as I expect I get better service from folks who don't have to shove past my chair to get their own things.
Bringing my own chair sometimes helps with the nasty problem of those people you mention who become suddenly disabled during the flight and demand assistance. I've had my requested assistance nobbled like that a few times, and been sorely tempted to stick my cane between someone's legs and really disable them.
I have generally flown JetBlue, whose service has been very good; I'm afraid of budget airlines, and had a nasty time with America West and won't take them again. JetBlue puts a tag on your boarding pass if you have requested disability aid in advance, and if you don't have the tag, they try to make sure those of us who did ask in advance get theirs first - although pushy jerks can still nick the help. JetBlue has been very good about seating arrangements as well; I tell them that if they put me in the front row I can do without the aisle chair, and they're usually quite happy to be spared that effort. I have reports from fellow travellers that VirginAmerica is also good.
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Why on earth would you want to use airport assistance unless you really needed it! It just beggers belief! I've seen these people in action on a flight from Malta. When the assistance didn't turn up several of the "disabled" people were suddenly able to manage without assistance, leaving the rest of us real disabled people to wait. I could manage on my own I would, as I'm sure most of us would. I'd much rather have a mooch around the shops or get a coffee and relax, or get out of the airport in time for the last train, but instead I've got to sit around waiting for my assistance who turns up with nanoseconds to spare.
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If you are VI and you ask for assistance - i.e for someone to read the signs for you and to give you directions etc - you get offered a wheelchair or one of these ride-on carts , which I don't need and don't want as I would rather walk
This happens even if you explain you are VI and physically able to walk as well as anyone else - ie they waste a resource on you that you don't want
and someone else could use
so perhaps airports could get the right message from passengers who explain their needs clearly , and thus not waste mobility ssistance on those who need something else
When you get offered transportation by cart you suspect it is because the staff are too lazy to guide you and it is them who don't want to walk
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Unfortunately there seem to be poeple who ask for special assistance and don't really need it. Am I surprised? No, why should I? They belong to the same category that use disabled parking spaces and are able to walk unaided (or even can run).
When flying, I would have no problems if the special assistance people at the airports wanted to see some type of evidence that confirms that I am genuinely disabled and not just an OAP who says he can't walk the distances one has to walk at airports.
Perhaps somebody should design a Disabled Airpassengers Badge (something similar to the Blue Disabled Parking Badge). I would be quite happy to pay for such a badge.
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Am I the only person disgusted by some of the comments in this article? The comment about wheelchair users who 'leap up' and get into taxis. Do you know how much walking is involved in crossing an airport?? That describes most wobblies who can't do more than 50 metres or so, but can still get into *cars* - I'm in this situation all the time, and I absolutely do need airport assistance (although I don't use it beyond what I need).
Medical-model demands to 'prove' levels of impairment will only take us into a DWP-style situation that I for one would quite like to avoid. I know when I need assistance and I know when I don't - no one else knows anything about my situation, and a card 'proving' my level of impairment won't change that. Quite apart from being discrimination in itself to have to carry one. If airport staff are so concerned that they're helping people who don't need the help, they can challenge the people involved. I'd wager most of them will back down rather fast, like people who use accessible toilets without needing them (and we don't ask for ID for those).
Think before you write, Shakespeare. I always thought you knew more than this.
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I agree with LWG. My friend needs wheekchair assistance due to heart disease. He has no problem with short distance and can move 'normall' on the plane or in and out of a car. However, there is no way he can walk the distances required to board a plane.
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If people have to start providing medical evidence of need for airport assistance, then what do you do about people with temporary injuries? Or, what do you do about people who may not need assistance 95% of the time but do still have a chronic condition that could mean they might need it another 5% of the time?
My partner once got injured literally between our apartment and the car taking us to the airport. She didn't need a wheelchair assistance but did need more leg room than usual (and some ice) for her poor knee. Fortunately the airport people didn't ask for a medical examination before they gave it to her! (We took her to the hospital first thing when we landed and she was on crutches a few days)
In my case, I was injured during a trip out of country. By the time I came back my foot was partly healed, but not enough to really let me move fast (my partner who had taken the same flight a few weeks earlier told me she had to literally run to make the next flight) and also not really enough to let me handle a lot of luggage safely (though I didn't really understand this until my foot started hurting again just from trying to carry my carry-on bag when I was waiting to get on the plane for my first flight -- I didn't know at the time that my foot was permanently damaged, I still thought that it was mostly recovered and would eventually return to "normal")
Since that first major injury, my foot has been prone to repeated injuries. Now that I have had enough years to get a better sense for the new limitations of my foot, I have found ways to compenstate that allow me to retain indepence. For example, instead of a regular carry-on bag, I bought a nice, compact suitcase with four "spinner" wheels (can be pulled forward, or sideways, or even spun around). This is much easier to manage than a suitcase with two wheels because you don't even have to lean it to operate it, just pull it along. On my "good foot days" this is pretty much all the accommodation I need. And now that I understand how to take care of my foot in order to prevent the more serious reinjuries, most days are "good foot days" or, if not "good," then at least "sort of mostly okay foot days"
But on a really "bad foot day" I might be on crutches, and might need a little assistance. But, I wouldn't ever have medical certification, just my say so and the fact that I'm waving crutches.
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I agree with LWG. My best friend has severe fibromyalgia and other invisible impairments and can't walk very far and certainly can't stand for more than a minute or so (if forced to do so, she's quite likely to throw up). She had wheelchair assistance at the airport the other day and was actually told to get out of the chair because "we need it for someone else" - luckily she is quite assertive and was also with her husband and basically told them where to go, but she has no medical evidence of her illness that she could carry around with her as she has had too many completely incompetent doctors. If she *had* been forced out of the chair she would have been made even more extremely ill, and might well have collapsed and/or been incapacitated for weeks.
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I've just been diagnosed with ME - and am about to go on holiday. I'm going to be one of those annoying people who can "leap up and skip happily" into a cab or wherever, but that will only be because I've had someone helping me the rest of the way. And yes, if the support *doesn't* turn up, I'll be able to manage - because I'll have two weeks to get over the pain, tiredness etc - and because otherwise I'll be stuck somewhere I don't particularly want to be.
I got some funny looks in a shop last weekend, my first trip out in a shopmobility powerchair. Particularly when I left it *outside* the cubicle in the changing room of a well known clothes shop, and went to try my clothes on. I'm sure some of the people around me expected me to be permanently fixed to the chair...
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