Disabled Traveler puts up a Stink!

Mark Bannister is a Person with a Disability (PwD) and a wheelchair user who travels across the world in his job as a Chief Engineer in the water sector and for holiday trips with his family. He has a condition known as Spinal Muscular Atrophy and uses an electric wheelchair to get around. Before he flies on an airplane, it is usual for an airline to enquire about his disability and the kind of assistance that he needs on board the aircraft. Mark’s needs are simple as he explains ‘ I use a slipper chair from the door of the plane to my allocated seat, transfer and back again. No other requests on the flight are necessary. The wheelchair folds up and is stored in the hold of the plane until arrival’. However, some airlines such as Air Mauritius would seem to confuse a ‘Person with a Disability’ and a Patient being released from a medical establishment. This lack of understanding leads to a person with a disability like Mark, having to answer inappropriate and intimidating questions every time they need to fly. On his recent trip with Air Mauritius on a family holiday, Mark was required to submit a Medical form completed and signed by a Doctor at additional cost, regarding details of the physician he would be travelling with, the need for life support systems, whether the condition is infectious and whether the patient displays suicidal tendencies or is subject to fits of violence! All this for just a small family getaway on the beach! Other airlines Mark has previously travelled with have even asked if he had bad odor and whether he could be offensive to other travellers. As Mark clarified, ‘ I have sat by a number of smelly able bodied individuals on flights and some who have shown rudeness to others, and yet they don’t have to fill in a form before they fly to clarify their hygiene shortcomings or anger management failings!’ With work responsibilities these forms can be very inconvenient. Mark explained ‘I can be called on a Tuesday afternoon in Johannesburg and requested to be in Cape Town the next morning for a site meeting’. Even then such forms must be completed and gain approval by the airline each time he travels. Mark’s humble request is for the airline industry to firstly acknowledge that a Person with a Disability (PwD) is not necessarily a Patient– the two can be different and should be captured as such. He then suggested a separate form for a PwD and another for a Patient with the option for an individual to complete one or both as necessary. Details of a PwD should then be captured by the industry on a Database, easily accessible by any Airline to access any consistent special requirements needed. ‘I should be able to fly one week with one airline and fly with another airline the following week and not have to complete all this paperwork and costly approvals over and over again. On his recent trip with Air Mauritius, despite the completed form including technical questions about his wheelchair being approved before the outgoing flight, he was then requested additional information on his return journey at the airport, asking for the Wattage/Hour of his battery suggesting that he would not be allowed to travel with his wheelchair without such information. This proved further irritation following a lovely holiday, due to the lack of consistency even between their ingoing and outgoing flights – why did they not ask for such information at the time of booking? ‘ Another irritation’, Mark explained ‘is that the Airline staff would often talk to me through my wife as if I was not able to talk for myself – an ignorance often experienced more broadly in society.’ Many, like myself have a permanent disability with special travel needs that remain constant over time - such as the need for a slipper chair to the plane seat only. Any airline company should be able to draw on an industry database to see what assistance is required for a specific individual.’ If the situation changes then the individual can provide updated information to the industry as required. Mark provided further clarity by stating that ‘There is often a misconception that People with Disabilities are constantly followed around by a medical support team and do not have a voice. We are more often than not, regular human beings with different abilities and different needs, as with persons without disabilities. Let there be systems and people in place that encourages respect, understanding and efficiency whilst maintaining the human touch. Pls allow us to fly freely without ************ and bureaucracy. Let there not be ************** when travelling.’