From overpriced water to often tedious airport security, most people have a long list of reasons to find airports frustrating. But for people with disabilities, what are considered airport nuisances for some become at times humiliating, anxiety-inducing, and even dangerous.
In 1986, Congress passed the Air Carrier Access Act banning discrimination in air travel for people with disabilities. As issues continued decades later, Congress demanded improvements by releasing major airline accessibility reforms in 2018. Still, people with disabilities face challenges at airports. There are many motivations for travel, from visiting family to vacations and business trips. Still, with barriers like inaccessible seating, complicated flight booking, and disability stigma, there’s no wonder daily trip rates for people with disabilities continue to decline.
Booking flights while disabled
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics reports about 7 out of 10 people with disabilities reduce daily travel because of a disability. As for the few who choose to travel via airline, strategic planning must occur. People with disabilities are responsible for letting airlines know what assistance they might need. It’s important to note, though, that not all airlines offer the same accommodations. For example, some airlines require at least 72 hours' notice for any accommodations, while others only require 48 hours. Individuals can inform airlines of any assistive devices they might have, like wheelchairs, and can also let airlines know if they need special assistance, which is typically a free service. Though many procedures are in place to help protect people with disabilities, disorganization, lack of communication among airline staff, and lack of education about accessibility means no guaranteed accommodations will be met.
For example, a recent passenger with cancer told NPR of TSA discrimination due to confusion about her colostomy and urostomy bag. After the bags appeared on a body scan, TSA staff required the woman to have an elaborate pat-down in front of other passengers despite her explaining the bags were inserted because of her illness. Had TSA been informed about such matters, the woman could have been spared from her humiliating experience.
Flying with assistive devices
Assistive devices like wheelchairs are a major topic of discussion regarding more accessible air travel. Of the many barriers raised for people with wheelchairs, perhaps the most glaring is that they do not fit on the main body of most planes or jets. Passengers with assistive devices might fast before flights to avoid bathroom breaks or avoid long, direct flights because they cannot move freely. They must also rely on assistance from wheelchairs to temporary seating or emergency cases. Many people with disabilities report neglect in those brief transfers, but due to complicated red tape within airlines, it is difficult to seek legal action beyond filing complaints. Furthermore, in 2019 people with disabilities documented 900 formal complaints against U.S. airlines.
Since assistive devices can’t go with passengers, they’re stored with baggage claims, a fact disability activists everywhere are working to improve. In fact, about 26 wheelchairs and motorized scooters a day are lost, damaged, or destroyed by airlines. This is not just an inconvenience to wheelchair and scooter users, it's dangerous.
Disability Advocate Engracia Figueroa’s death in October 2021 magnified what was already a notable issue for many people with disabilities. United Airlines workers accidentally damaged Figueroa’s wheelchair while traveling back from a Care Can't Wait rally in Washington, DC, where she represented the non-profit Hand in Hand. Hand in Hand explained that Figueroa had to sit in a broken manual wheelchair for hours in the airport. She later transferred to an inadequate temporary wheelchair due to the airline not replacing her custom-made wheelchair. This led to pressure sores and acute pain, hospital visits, and months of health complications. Eventually, Figueroa developed an infection from one of her sores and could not receive emergency surgery before she passed. Many people argue that Figueroa’s death could have been avoided, as could the dozens of dangerous wheelchair and scooter airline mishandlings daily.
Service Animals
Service animals are dogs specially trained to work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Service animals should not be confused with emotional support animals (ESA), which can be any type of animal and does not require any training. The rise of emotional support animals on airlines in recent years has skewed the view of service animals, but current laws are working to limit ESA on airlines. Still, lack of education of service animals leads to challenging experiences for many people with disabilities.
This fact is illustrated by a recent incident involving a passenger who is blind. She explained how miscommunication led the TSA staff to demand she unleash her service animal, which would cause her to lose control of her animal. Despite their demand being against TSA procedure, the agents still insisted she release her dog, claiming to block her from boarding her flight, did she not comply.
Flying with a hidden disability
Dealing with the long-winded boarding process, interacting with uninformed TSA agents, or going on an elaborate journey to a flight’s gate – all of these factors can negatively impact people with hidden or invisible disabilities. Whether a passenger has a chronic illness requiring frequent seat breaks or they have autism and do not communicate in ways some people might expect, there can be much anxiety around several airline-related interactions.
A recent flight involving a passenger with autism is a prime model of how discrimination and lack of education around disabilities can provoke challenges. On a Skywest flight in 2019, crew and pilots were eventually grounded to investigate an incident in which a nonverbal young man with autism was said to have been refused a seat near his family members. Flight attendants who did not understand the young man’s communication needs tried requesting him to move. The interaction escalated because he did not respond to their verbal cues.
Instead of allowing the man’s family to intervene, the flight attendant urged the pilot of the flight to ground the plane and instructed all other passengers to exit the aircraft, forcing everyone to catch the next flight three hours later. Though the airline later apologized for the incident, the stress and trauma caused by it cannot be undone. Due to ignorance and stigma against disabilities, passengers face prejudices like this far too often.
Airlines making progress
The journey to more accessible air travel is long, but thankfully, progress is being made. Sites like Alternative Airlines prioritize the needs of people with disabilities. Alternative Airlines is a flight search website that helps people with disabilities find the most accessible flights for travel. They work to combat the current setbacks air travel still faces as it slowly improves.
Within the airline industry, passengers can now find TSA notification cards, a new card that travelers can bring with them to security checkpoints. The card allows passengers to privately inform airport security about any medical conditions or disabilities that might impact the screening process. Similarly, airports worldwide are adopting sunflower lanyards, an international symbol to signify a hidden disability. TSA agents are aware of these lanyards, as are many disability advocates globally. The hope is that making people readily aware that someone has a hidden disability will positively shift interactions.
National governments and disability activists are working together to ensure more humane treatment of the one in four people living with disabilities. That’s a significant amount of people in need of better care, and more aware TSA and airline staff is a huge step in the right direction.
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