Disability Thinking Weekday: 12/18/24
Airline accessibility, and accessible holidays
Another three disability links for Wednesday, December 18, 2024.
1. Secretary Buttigieg Announces Sweeping Protections for Airline Passengers with Disabilities
U. S. Department of Transportation - December 16, 2024
“The new final rule requires that airlines meet more rigorous standards for accommodating passengers with disabilities, especially for passengers who use wheelchairs. The rule sets new standards for assistance, mandates hands-on training for airline employees and contractors who physically assist passengers with disabilities and handle passengers’ wheelchairs, and specifies actions that airlines must take to protect passengers when a wheelchair is damaged or delayed during transport.”
2. DOT finalizes rule for 'dignified air travel': What wheelchair users can expect
Zach Wichter, USA Today - December 16, 2024
“According to the Transportation Department's statistics, airlines damage or destroy 10,000 to 15,000 mobility devices every year, a rate of about 1.4% in 2023 … Although airlines have been improving in their handling of disabled travelers, travelers and advocates told USA TODAY during a yearlong project in 2023 that even a single incident of wheelchair damage is one too many, and serious damage is akin to breaking a disabled passenger's legs.”
Make progress when and how you can. That’s got to be a core principle of the disability rights struggle. As I’ve said before, airline accessibility isn’t necessarily the most important disability issue. But there are opportunities for real improvement in air travel — changes that are harder to find and achieve in other, more essential issues like employment, home care, and health care. And it’s been encouraging over the last four years to see the U.S. Department of Transportation lay the groundwork for real progress, led by people with disabilities who know first hand what’s needed.
3. My struggle to plan an accessible Christmas party
Cerys Davage, BBC - December 13, 2024
“Despite calling several different locations, their answers were all similar; that they only have stairs, or that they have a lift, but one that doesn't work … Things like a reliable lift are essential for many disabled people like me, as well as enough suitable places to sit to save energy throughout the night … I've had several experiences on a night out where I have to leave earlier than expected because I've stood for a long time without having a chance to sit down, which leads to fatigue and muscle pain.”
The holidays are a bad time for disabled people to be excluded — prevented from participating in social events, or included in incomplete or humiliating ways. This article covers the basics, and a little bit more.
Disability Thinking Weekday is moving!
As explained in the December 2 newsletter, we are moving from Substack to Ghost on January 1, 2025. Readers shouldn’t need to do anything at all to stay with Disability Thinking Weekday. Both free and paid memberships should transfer seamlessly, as-is. But you can also help me out with the approximately $400 in moving expenses by clicking the link here to make a one-time donation through Ko-Fi. And if your paid membership is about to expire, it might be easier to wait until after January 1 and renew them at the new Ghost site. Annual paid memberships will be discounted at $40 for the rest of December and January.
I’m excited by the move. It’s shaping up well. And your extra support is greatly appreciated!