Nathalie Allport-Grantham, a 23-year-old from the U.K., told The Mighty she’s pursuing a formal complaint against London Stansted Airport after employees denied her assistance because she didn’t “look disabled.” Allport-Grantham has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), Marfan syndrome and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS).
Read more at: https://themighty.com/2018/01/disability-help-refused-stansted-airport/
The BBC News today posted a short (3 minutes and change) video introducing All Wheels Up and the fight for accessible airplanes to the UK. Here’s the link, since I can’t seem to get the video to work:
http://www.bbc.com/news/av/stories-42231505/one-mum-s-fight-to-get-wheelchairs-on-planes
I managed to miss it, but the Great Lakes ADA Center recently held a “Frontier Accessibility Issues” webinar featuring Michelle Erwin of All Wheels Up. Tune in to see images of a wheelchair user in his chair strapped down in a military cargo plane, the “Scarecrow” airplane built for FDR, and video of wheelchair tiedowns successfully passing a 20G crash test. Captions available.
There’s an article in the latest issue of New Mobility outlining efforts to improve the way airlines handle disabled passengers and their wheelchairs. Did you know that there has already been one wheelchair accessible plane? It was custom built as Air Force One for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, with elevators and wide aisles. And wheelchair tiedowns that hold up to 20 Gs have been successfully tested. We can build it! We have the technology!
In August, many of you tuned in for part one of MDA’s accessible air travel webinar series, where they held a conversation with Southwest and Alaska Airlines and discussed the current state of accessible air travel and what the future holds for those passengers traveling with a disability. MDA will continue their accessible air travel webinar series in early 2018 with the Department of Transportation. Keep an eye out for future messages that will include pertinent information regarding the upcoming webinar.
