Denying boarding to a 13-year-old boy at Ranchi airport on Saturday has brought the spotlight back on gross insensitivity towards persons with disability. While the disability rights activists have raised concerns over the incident, many persons with special needs have recounted their own horrific stories. Despite the guidelines issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Supreme Court orders in the Jeeja Ghosh case, such incidents remain a recurring reality, according to them.
바카라The recent incident is shameful and this seems to recur from time to time,바카라 Poonam Natrajan, former chairperson of National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, told Outlook. 바카라Disability is part of human diversity, but we are not able to overcome these attitudinal barriers.바카라
Sharply reacting to the IndiGo airline manager바카라s assertion during some media interviews that his staff is well trained on disability, Natrajan said, 바카라Disability is diverse like all populations, so each time managers and duty bearers have to understand the person first and make well-considered decisions. The airline staff should have learnt to gather information from family, co-passengers and the doctors on board. They all seem to have conveyed that there is no risk. Why did the manager totally ignore them?바카라
Jeeja Ghosh, a noted disability rights activist who has Cerebral Palsy, has also called out IndiGo airline CEO for his repeated use of the term 바카라normal바카라 during a TV interview last evening wherein he defended his airline바카라s action.
바카라How does one define "normal?'" she wrote in a Facebook post, stressing that the word is deemed absolutely redundant in the disability sector. 바카라Or more appropriately put, what is the yardstick of 'normally'? Running the imagination wild, if we in the next decade start walking on our hands, will that be seen as 바카라normal바카라 and why not!바카라
Jeeja Ghosh was forced to disembark from a SpiceJet flight in February 2012. 바카라She was on her way to speaking on disability issues at an international conference in Goa. The crew onboard noticed her drooling a bit which is common in people with cerebral palsy and decided she is unfit for travel,바카라 recalled Muralidharan, general secretary National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled.
바카라Incidents and comments such as this are extremely demoralising for those of us who are passionately involved in breaking the discrepancy between ability and disability. We feel that all our efforts are going to waste,바카라 Ghosh wrote, wondering, 바카라They say that history repeats itself, but how many times and for how long?바카라
On the Ranchi airport incident, she added, 바카라What is actually interesting and encouraging, in this case, is that the co-passengers were empathetic and supportive towards the boy and his parents.바카라
Recalling a 2012 incident, she added, 바카라I was compelled and literally forced to get off the flight at the whims of the captain who for some reason concluded that I could be a potential threat to the other passengers because of my jerky movements.바카라
Referring to the subsequent 바카라progressive judgement바카라 by the Supreme Court in 2016 that led to the amendment in the rules on 바카라Carriage by Air - Persons with Disability and/or Persons with Reduced Mobility바카라, she added, 바카라All efforts seem futile after this incident. History repeated itself once more after 10 years! Can we say that the unfortunate episode happened to satisfy the ego of the Indigo personnel at that point of time?The learned CEO who was seen quoting the DGCA rules a number of times, is sadly ignorant that the rules also state that once a person with disability enters the airport she/he cannot be refrained from boarding the flight.바카라
Rajiv Ranjan, a noted disability rights activist from Chennai who too has Cerebral Palsy, shared one such instance wherein he was denied boarding by the Air Sahara flight in 2007. 바카라I was invited from Chennai to attend a meeting in Delhi by the National Trust, a statutory body under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India. But I was not allowed to board the aircraft as the staff deemed that I was not fit to fly,바카라 Ranjan wrote to Outlook, adding, 바카라When I tried to explain that I am a frequent flyer said the staff wouldn't relent. They even called in the police to send me out of the airport. A couple of policemen recognised me as a frequent flyer and tried to intervene on my behalf but the airline staff refused to listen. The flight took off without me.바카라
This incident, however, led to the formation of Civil Aviation Rules for the Carriage of Persons with Disabilities and Reduced Mobility in 2010, which were later amended in 2014. Ironically, Ranjan, who was part of a committee formed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation for framing draft guidelines to make air travel easy for persons with disability, was charged Rs 2,500 for a wheelchair at Chennai airport in March against the DGCA circular.
The IndiGo CEO, meanwhile, is also under fire for being insensitive by resorting to the Civil Aviation Requirements or the DGCA rules on the handling of unruly passengers after publicly stating that the child with special needs was in panic and therefore a safety hazard. Notably, these rules were invoked to deal with Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaekwad, who in 2017 hit an Air India official 25 times with his slipper after being denied a business class seat.
Muralidharan, however, raised some pertinent questions: 바카라Don바카라t tiny tots, with or without disability cry, throw tantrums and create nuisance? What do airlines do when handling such passengers?바카라 He maintained that the airlines, airport operators, security, customs, and immigration bureau organisations must conduct training programmes for the personnel engaged in passenger services to sensitise them about assisting persons with disability or reduced mobility
Muralidharan also referred to the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, which mandates promotion of values of inclusion, tolerance, empathy and respect of diversity besides, saying the same values must also be included in the curriculum of schools, colleges and universities as per the law. 바카라Just bestowing divine status with a 바카라divyang바카라 label will not alter attitudes and perceptions,바카라 he added.
It may also be recalled here that the allegedly drunk cop on Delhi metro whose video had gone viral on social media in 2016. While the video showed him staggering and struggling to stand straight, he was later discovered that he was actually suffering from a stroke.
Many others working in the disability rights sector too have raised serious concerns. Ketaki Bardalai, executive director of Shishu Sarothi, said, 바카라The attitude and approach of the IndiGo airline is a flagrant violation of the Rights of Persons with Disability Act 2016, and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that India has signed and ratified earlier. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has also, after intensive discussions with the disability sector representatives issued their Civil Aviation Regulations guidelines that do not seem to have been adhered to in this case.바카라
바카라How long do people with disabilities and their families have to fight to avail of their basic human rights?,바카라 she asked. 바카라We take one step forward and regress two steps each time these kinds of incidents come to light because of the insensitivity of some ignorant people.바카라
While IndiGo has a provision for ramps, and a safety instruction card in Braille and claims to be disability-friendly, Vaishnavi Jayakumar, a member of the Disability Rights Alliance India, meanwhile, pointed out, the 바카라conflation of conditions of carriage,바카라 elaborating how the specific needs are clubbed together with refusal and limitation of carriage under 바카라conditions of carriage바카라 put out by the airline.
Pritam Kumar Sinha, a Patna resident whose 16-year-old son has Cerebral Palsy, expressed satisfaction that the incident has at least brought the disability rights into focus. Speaking to the Outlook, Sinha said,바카라But a lot of people travel through trains and buses, where accessibility becomes a major concern. Also, the attitude of the public at large needs to change. I do hope this incident will raise general awareness towards special needs of the persons with disabilities.바카라
