Does the Transportation Safety Administration Care? We’ll Soon Find Out.
December 24, 2011
This year’s expected travel volume represents about 30% of the U.S. population according to an article published today in The Los Angeles Times. No doubt many of them will travel by air, and we all know how difficult is has been lately for people with disabilities.
Now, just in time for the onslaught of Christmas travelers, the Transportation Security Administration has unveiled a help line designed to assist travelers with disabilities and special medical needs. It’s a little late for some people, though.
In November, the Transportation Security Administration instituted enhanced safety inspections that allow travelers who are asked to submit to a full-body scan to instead undergo a pat-down, which includes TSA agents using their hands to check areas such as the groin and around the bra. But how well trained are these agents?
Recently, a woman was refused the ability to take her injectable insulin, a needed medication, onboard an airplane with her. She was pregnant and the potential for harm to not only her, but her child as well, was significant. Nevertheless, a TSA agent without medical training or disability knowledge denied her this medication.
Then there’s Lenore Zimmerman, an 84-year-old New York grandmother who said she was injured and humiliated when she was strip searched at an airport after she asked to be patted down instead of going through a body scanner. She’d asked to forgo the screening because she worried it would interfere with her defibrillator. She missed her flight and had to take one two-and-a-half hours later, she said.
And there’s the unnamed woman in Orlando whose colostomy bag was checked for explosives.
To help prevent such incidents and the resulting barrage of criticism comes a new hotline, TSA Cares, (The toll-free number is [855] 787-2227).
If passengers call 72 hours in advance of their trip, TSA Cares will coordinate checkpoint support at the airport.
I look forward to hearing from anyone traveling over in the next few weeks to find out whether this helps make the screening process less traumatic for passengers with disabilities and special medical needs.
How to Turn Travel Agents into Accessible Travel Advocates
December 19, 2011
I’ve often wondered why more travel agents don’t understand how serving the accessible travel market could increase their business. After all, 62 million Americans have some form of disability. That’s 20% of us. I guess many agents assume that we’re all poor and/or unwilling to subject ourselves to the stress of travel. Well, the facts are otherwise. According to Fortune magazine, 24 million disabled Americans would travel/travel more frequently if their special needs were met. What does this signify? We’re more than a niche business!
Now there’s a first step in making this happen. A Florida-based organization called the Special Needs Group has worked with accessibility experts and members of the travel industry to create a one-hour, three-module program for travel agents. Its focus is on understanding accessible travel, building expertise in accessible travel and demonstrating accessible travel advocacy skills. According to the company, it’s the first time travel professionals can become conversant with the accessible travel market through online study and testing. It’s only been a week since the program went live, so it’s too soon to know how many travel industry participants there will be, but according to the company, there’s been a good deal of initial interest. I hope to follow up with the company in a few months to see how many agents actually take the training. I’d also like to find out how it will change the newly certified agents’ approach to their business.
Can we help? Well, now we can ask travel professionals if they are certified in accessible travel. Or we can urge them to become certified. And, if we work with a certified agent, we can provide feedback.
I think that sensitizing travel agents is a much-needed step in the right direction and I look forward to seeing how this develops.
For more information about the SNG Certified Accessible Travel Advocate program and how it can benefit you, contact your local travel professional, or Special Needs Group at 1-800-513-4515 or http://www.specialneedsgroup.com/agents.
Think you Have it Hard? Imagine Being Disabled in Africa
December 13, 2011
In this season, when people consider all the things they have to be thankful for, people with disabilities sometimes wonder if they have nothing much to give thanks for. But, things could be far worse.
Recently America celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Its passage marks the general acceptance of the idea that that people with disabilities ought to be included in all aspects of American life.
However, try to imagine living in a country where anything close to the degree of acceptance we experience didn’t exist, either in society as a whole or among the disabled individuals themselves. Imagine if your own family and relatives believed your disability was a curse that brought shame to them; a land where it was considered appropriate to hide you away — or mock you for your disability.
“Every family reacts differently,” says Jackie Ndona, a Congolese physician who founded the National Federation of Handicapped Women’s Associations of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). “Especially in rural areas, you will still find families who hide a handicapped child or treat the child as some kind of witch. In some places, thanks to a certain level of culture, people with disabilities are treated like other people, but stigmatization still exists.”
That’s the way it is in small towns and villages in many African countries, including Burundi, Madagascar, Somalia and Eritrea
The facts are pretty grim. According to USAID:
- The majority of Africans with disabilities are excluded from schools and opportunities to work, virtually guaranteeing that they will live out their lives as the poorest of the poor.
- School enrollment for the disabled is estimated at no more that 5-10 percent.
- Disabled people are estimated at 10 percent of the general population, but possibly as high as 20 percent of the poor.
- As many as 80 percent of working age people with disabilities are unemployed.
- The social stigma associated with disability results in marginalization and isolation, often leading begging as the sole means of survival.
- According to Rehabilitation International, it is estimated that 350-500 people worldwide become amputees each day due to landmines that they encounter while walking, farming, or playing.
- A consequence of living in poverty with a disability is inadequate access to health services, resulting frequently in serious secondary conditions and general deterioration in the quality of life.
In this season of giving, it’s perhaps a good opportunity to help people who are disabled. If you want to help, here are a few organizations you might want to contact:
- http://www.handicap-international.us/hi/
- http://disabilityaidabroad.net/
- http://www.springofhope.org.uk/Child_Sponsorship.html
To make sure your money is spent wisely, please check carefully with Guidestar or other independent sources of information about charities before making your contribution.
Help the Department of Transportation Get Air Travel Accessibility Right
December 1, 2011
I’m writing this post because we all have a stake in the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) efforts to maintain the rights of travelers with disabilities. There is a conversation currently taking place at Regulation Room http://regulationroom.org/, which is part of Cornell University’s e-Rulemaking Initiative. Regulation Room is an effort by DOT to: (1) alert the public, including those who sometimes may not be aware of rulemaking proposals, such as individuals, public interest groups, and small businesses, that rulemaking is occurring in areas of interest to them; (2) increase public understanding of each proposed rule and the rulemaking process; and (3) help the public formulate more effective individual and collaborative input to DOT
DOT has proposed new regulations that will:
- Require airlines and airports to make check-in kiosks accessible to travelers with disabilities
- Require airlines and travel agents to make their websites accessible to individuals with disabilities.
Very few travelers with disabilities have commented on this important proposal, but there is still time left to comment. And it’s important to do so.
DOT is proposing to require that air travel websites and airport check-in kiosks to be accessible to people with disabilities. But what should the standards be? If you are a traveler with a disability (or a family member or friend), you can provide essential information about current problems with these websites and kiosks, and what changes are needed
Many people who would benefit from the proposal don’t realize that DOT needs to hear from people who agree with the proposed regulations, not just those who disagree.
Participate by sharing your travel experiences with kiosks and travel websites. Do you have a story or anecdote about a time you encountered an inaccessible airline website, inaccessible automated kiosk or both? How did this affect your travel experience? Please limit your comments to these particular areas of potential discrimination.
Don’t be afraid to ask the hard questions about standards or implementation, because if we don’t possibly no one will. For example, DOT is requiring all newly purchased kiosks to meet proposed standards for accessibility. What if some airlines deliberately delay in purchasing new kiosks? It could be years before the changes actually take effect. What are disabled travelers supposed to do in the meantime?
The closing date for comments in January 9, 2012.
