Recently, I saw a news item which highlighted a prototype airline seat which can be folded away to allow a wheelchair to be anchored in its place. Of course, I found this an exciting, needed, and long-hoped-for solution to some, but not all, problems individuals who use wheelchairs face in air travel. 

Starting in December 2018 the airlines were required to keep and publish statistics about the number of wheelchairs and scooters they lost, damaged, or mishandled. From that, we learned it happened twice as often as it did with checked baggage. In 2022, data from all domestic airlines revealed a total of 11,259 wheelchairs and scooters were affected. Assuming a one-to-one correlation, it really means over 11,000 people were affected. Any mobility aid is specifically suited to assist the person who uses it. One can’t simply give a person a loaner and expect it will be as useful or comfortable as the one which belongs to them. Although airline organizations may brag about mishandling less than 2% of all these mobility devices, they can’t ignore the significant impact it has for each of those individuals.

So, back to this new prototype. There have been several news stories about it, here’s one if you’re interested. As I said, I was excited about the prospect, at first. Then I started to wonder, “Why has this taken so long?” A YouTube video shows the new Air4All seat has cushions which are removed, and a seat pan which folds up vertically to allow a wheelchair to move into the space and be locked in position. Seats like this have been available on busses for quite some time. 

I’m not an engineer or aviation specialist but it doesn’t seem to me as if this “first-of-its-kind” invention is a radical step forward. Why, then, did it take so long? The only answer I could imagine for it is summed up in one word, Ableism.

Ableism is a concept which is widely used in the disability community. It’s been around for a while and, like many other terms, has seen lots of evolution in its use and meaning over the past few years. For me it comes down to one thing, an utter failure of non-disabled people to understand and empathize with the difficulties people with disabilities endure in a society which doesn’t understand and accommodate their needs. 

Was this airplane innovation delayed for so long simply because non-disabled people never saw a need for it? Did designers and airlines simply tell themselves the current system was fine because people using wheelchairs could still get on a plane, even if doing so involves discomfort and indignity? Did they even understand that? Is it only because the government ordered them to study methods for allowing wheelchairs on airplanes in 2018?

I also saw another example of ignorance about the needs of people with disabilities recently when called upon to do an ADA evaluation of a parking facility. There were four brand new accessible parking spaces which had been created. None of them had the access aisles required so people with mobility devices have the necessary space to be able to exit their vehicles. Whoever created these accessible spaces just simply didn’t understand the needs of people with disabilities; what methodologies they use to navigate the world.

At APA, one of our missions should be to combat this type of ignorance. We need to understand the needs of people with various disabilities so we can help educate the public about those needs. We must strive to keep learning more and more about our consumers so we can gain more knowledge to share with others.

In a story from Ancient Greece, the Oracle at Delphi once proclaimed Socrates to be “the wisest person in Athens.” Socrates was disturbed by this and tried his best to understand why the Oracle would say such a thing. Finally, he concluded he was deemed wisest because he recognized his own ignorance about many things. We too are ignorant of many things about disabilities. We should recognize this fact and seek to learn and understand more about what we don’t know about people with disabilities.

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