Famed poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “People only see what they are prepared to see.”
In September, U.S. Airways saw what they were prepared to see. They saw a man who was “too disabled” to fly alone.
The man was Johnnie Tuitel, a motivational speaker who suffers from cerebral palsy, which keeps him in a wheelchair. After being seated on a flight departing from West Palm Beach, a U.S. Airways representative approached Tuitel and told him he could not fly alone because of his disability. Airline officials escorted him off the plane. They claimed that if something were to happen, Tuitel wouldn’t be able to help himself or anyone else. Tuitel argued that this was an “assumption.” And you know what? He is absolutely correct.
U.S. Airways has a policy that “requires passengers with severe mobility impairments to travel with someone who would be able to help them evacuate the aircraft.” I think this policy is a joke. It sets humanity back about 30 years. I understand U.S. Airways doesn’t want to get sued, but there’s a better option. If they feel that a passenger has a severe physical disability, just have that person sign a waiver. The airline wouldn’t be held liable for mere negligence and the passenger maintains his/her independence and dignity.
It may be true that if there were an emergency, Tuitel may not be able to assist in a physical capacity. However, the man is a motivational speaker. Who would be better qualified to talk someone through a stressful situation than he? Unfortunately, U.S. Airways didn’t bother to look beyond his disability and made an extremely poor decision.
As someone with a disability, I am not going to become outraged over a situation that derived from pure ignorance. Instead, I hope that U.S. Airways and others learn from this experience.
I cannot count the number of times a person automatically assumed that I could not do something. However, I don’t get angry. I simply show them that I can do it and hope they realize that people with disabilities can do quite a bit.
U.S. Airways never asked Tuitel what his needs were or how he would have handled an emergency. They simply took one look at him and determined that he could not help himself or others.
In case you’re wondering what happened after Tuitel was removed from the plane, he simply caught a flight with Delta and flew his “disabled self” to his destination with no problems.
Since then, realizing they made a mistake, U.S. Airways asked Tuitel if he was interested in helping to improve their service towards disabled customers.
Don’t judge a disabled person at first sight. Don’t impose your ignorance on us and you might be surprised at the extraordinary things we are capable of.
