Dear Friends,
The 'noise' on the issue of violation of rights of passengers with disabilities has suddenly gone down and some desperate and deliberate attempts to make unfounded accusations against airlines for 15 seconds of fame have surfaced. All these pose a threat of luring the attention of the sector and the media away from the 'real issue': that of 'punitive measures and stricter mechanisms from the Ministry of Civil Aviation'.
Please note that this is a 'campaign'. Therefore, in emotions when one presses the 'Forward' button of emails doing the rounds, one has to be cautious as to whether the email is credible and whether the email has substance. We have received calls from media people on one such email to corroborate allegations which seem unfounded.
Meanwhile, there is pin drop silence on the 'real' issue. Spicejet has released the results of its inquiry which DNIS has already circulated. Not one email has come to our notice on the tight slap that Spicejet has given to all of us, the so-called pall bearers of disability rights. Please write about that. All those who have the right connections, please make use of them to push for some 'tangible' action from Ministry of Civil Aviation and DGCA.
Please find enclosed a letter that Disabled Rights Group has written to the Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation on the issue. It is also copy pasted below.
Please note that this letter was sent after DRG Convenor, Javed Abidi's meeting with Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Mr. K.M. Acharya on 24th February, 2012.
--
Communication Unit:
National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP)
A -77, South Extension Part II
New Delhi - 110 049, India
Tel.: 91-11-26265647 / 26265648
Websites:
www.ncpedp.org and
www.dnis.org------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Dr. Zaidi
The Disabled Rights Group (DRG) is India’s first cross-disability advocacy network formed in 1993 specifically to fight for India’s first disability rights legislation, The Disability Act of 1995. Over the years, DRG has successfully led several national and regional advocacy campaigns on various disability issues.
I am writing to you with deep anguish and concern at the growing number of blatant violations of the rights of passengers with disabilities by private airlines. For each such reported case, there are scores of unreported cases where the average discriminated disabled passenger may not even have the requisite knowledge about laws or policies, or may not have the confidence to fight for her/his rights.
The Office of the Director General of Civil Aviation came out with the CAR guidelines after a similar incident. But airlines continue to violate these guidelines without even batting an eyelid. A list of such violations in just the recent past is enclosed for your ready reference.
You are also aware of the 1998 Supreme Court order which mandates that all airlines should have aisle chairs and all airports should have ambulifts. Despite this order, airlines constantly refuse passengers with mobility issues the use of an ambulift and even an aisle chair.
It is becoming evidently clear that unless and until exemplary punishment is meted out, things will not change. The time has come for the Ministry of Civil Aviation to make an urgent intervention.
We urge upon you to please call a meeting, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, of all airlines and other stakeholders to chalk out an action plan with strict measures and punitive action to ensure that such incidents do not happen again and that the rights of people with disabilities are not violated with such impunity.
With best regards,
Yours sincerely,
Javed Abidi
Convenor
27.2.2012
Dr. Syed Nasim Ahmad Zaidi
Secretary
Ministry of Civil Aviation
Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan
Safdarjung Airport
New Delhi - 110003
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cases of discrimination by airlines against persons with disabilities
1. 2005: Kingfisher staff asked a blind doctor to go to the bathroom before the flight took off on grounds that they could not allow him to use the plane’s washroom as he could not see and there were female crew members. (Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120222/jsp/nation/story_15165105.jsp)
2. October 2006: Security staff for Air Deccan at Bangalore Airport tried to stop Tamil actor Prithvi Raj’s 11-year old child with autism from boarding a plane to Chennai, on the grounds that he looked “different” and was “mentally unstable” and will be a danger to other passengers. After arguing with the staff for over half an hour, the parents were able to get their son on board. (Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/at-airports-autism-too-is-a-threat/23197-3.html)
3. June 2007: Rajiv Rajan, a person with cerebral palsy, was not allowed to board an Air Sahara (now JetLite) flight in Chennai because he did not have an escort. He was also asked to produce a fit-to-fly certificate. The airline even called the police, when Rajiv refused to budge. He finally missed the flight to Delhi, where he was going for a disability meet on the government’s invitation. (Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2007-06-19/india/27965622_1_airline-staff-jet-airways-air-sahara ; http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=482192)
4. June 2008: Salil Chaturvedi, a wheelchair user and a tennis player, on a Spice Jet flight from Delhi to Chennai was first harassed by the staff members at the airport, who were forcing him to sign a form saying he was sick. Secondly, while boarding the flight he was not allowed to board first, which is the international norm. The airline didn’t have an aisle chair, so four porters, with no training in lifting a disabled person, carried him to his seat, detaching the tube of his urine bag in the process. He was even asked to pay Rs. 500 for the ‘special treatment’ provided by the airline in getting the staff to lift him from his wheelchair on the aircraft! On the flight back from Chennai to Delhi, he was not given his own wheelchair when the plane landed. He was instead, forced to use the airline wheelchair, which was not a well designed one. (Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Paraplegic-abandoned-in-aircraft/Article1-312971.aspx)
5. May 2010: Rizwan, 37, a person with mental disability, who was travelling with his mother and sister, was refused a boarding ticket by IndiGo in May 2010. The airline staff told his sister, Nusrat Fatima Jafri, that Rizwan, who damaged his cerebrum when he was three days old, was a “threat to other passengers”. The family was even carrying a medical certificate. (Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-05-05/lucknow/28298674_1_indigo-airlines-flight-rizwan)
6. May 2011: Kingfisher Airlines staff asked Shabnam Mansur, 35, and her two sons, aged seven and one-and-a-half years, to get off another flight to Goa, leaving them stranded at Ahmedabad airport. It was only later that the staff told the woman, whose husband is a disability activist, she could not travel with two kids because she was blind. (Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120222/jsp/nation/story_15165105.jsp)
7. May 2011: Mohammad Asif Iqbal, a visually impaired passenger, engaged in the UIDAI project, was initially denied a boarding pass at the counter at Patna airport as he is blind. After the initial denial, the ground staff of Kingfisher demanded that he sign an indemnity bond stating that he was travelling at his own risk. Only then was he allowed to board the Kingfisher Patna-Ranchi-Mumbai flight IT 3571. (Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110615/jsp/bihar/story_14113669.jsp)
8. August 2011: Smitha Sadasivan, a wheelchair user with multiple sclerosis, and B Meenakshi, who uses crutches and is a member of Disability Rights Alliance, were refused the services of an ambulift on a Delhi to Chennai Air India flight IC 429. After arguing for an hour and after their refusal to budge, the state-run airline finally provided them with an ambulift. (Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-08-23/chennai/29918605_1_private-airlines-airline-staff-disabled-women)
9. August 2011: TMN Deepak, another disability rights activist, was also refused an ambulift at the Chennai airport by a private airline. He did not want to be carried as it was undignified and unsafe, so he decided to risk walking down the airline stairs, which is not easy to navigate in crutches. (Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-08-23/chennai/29918605_1_private-airlines-airline-staff-disabled-women)
10. February 1, 2012: Shivani Gupta, a consultant at AccessAbility and a wheelchair user, was asked to sign an indemnity bond by Indigo while traveling from Hyderabad to Delhi. She had to protest very aggressively before the airline allowed her to fly. In most cases, she also has to put up a strong fight to get a front seat, since many airlines don’t provide aisle chairs. Many times she has also been refused the services of an ambulift. (Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-02-25/delhi/31100331_1_disability-rights-activist-disabled-people-javed-abidi)
11. February 19, 2012: Jeeja Ghosh, who teaches at the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy, Kolkata, was deplaned from a Spice Jet flight because she is a person with cerebral palsy. The pilot, Utprabh Tiwari, decided she could not travel alone and therefore ordered her off the plane after she had got her boarding pass and had been seated. (Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/differentlyabled-woman-offloaded-from-spicejet-flight/914229/0 among several others.)
12. February 20, 2012: Anjalee Agarwal of Smarthyam, another wheelchair user, faced harassment at the hands of Jet Airways personnel the very next day after Jeeja was deboarded. On the flight 9W 2211 from Delhi to Raipur she was asked to sign an indemnity bond. Even after much protest, she was forced to sign the bond as she could not afford to miss the flight. At the Raipur airport, she was not provided an aisle chair initially as airlines supposedly do not have aisle chairs at smaller airports. After more than half an hour of arguments, a "Jet airways" aisle chair appeared, but Anjalee was transferred to it with extreme rudeness and "literally thrown down" the steps! (Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2925155.ece ; http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-02-24/news/31095284_1_wheelchair-delhi-airport-9w)
13. In other instances, Nilesh Singit, another wheelchair user, has been forced to sign the indemnity bond by airlines. Private airline Indigo has refused to let him carry his electric wheelchair on board, citing security reasons. Spicejet and Jet Connect at other times have asked him to pay extra cost as per the weight of the electric wheelchair. Furthermore, Nilesh, who wears knee braces up to his waist, faces harassment during security check, where he has to undress and that too without assistance. Facilities like full body scan are not available at all airports. (Source: http://www.thehindu.com/business/companies/article2928146.ece)
RSS Feed