Just for once I’d like to tell the gate agents and flight attendants that my folding wheelchair is going into the onboard closet and not have them tell me there’s “no room”. Bitch that’s a wheelchair closet, not a “your bags” closet. Move your damn bags where they belong.
Ok, so according to my friendly aviation expert, this is a Big Fucking Deal. In fact, if an airline argues with you about putting your wheelchair in the wheelchair closet or even suggests there may not be room, unless there is already anotherpassenger’swheelchair in that closet, they have violatedfederallaw.
CFR Title 14, Chapter II, Subchapter D, Part 382, Subpart E, Section 382.67, Subsection (e)
“As a carrier, you must never request or suggest that a passenger not stow his or her wheelchair in the cabin to accommodate other passengers (e.g., informing a passenger that stowing his or her wheelchair in the cabin will require other passengers to be removed from the flight), or for any other non-safety related reason (e.g., that it is easier for the carrier if the wheelchair is stowed in the cargo compartment).”
This is hugely important because it means that if this happens to you, you should report their asses to the DOT. Why? Because these statistics are published every year for every airline, and the airline gets a huge ass fine for every violation. If we want to see change, we need to make airlines literally pay every time they treat us this way.
@annieelainey you should share this with your followers! This is important info!!
To my mutuals on wheels, print out the law before you fly and whip it out at the gate if they don’t accomodate your wheels.
Thanks a lot for posting this, bro! Flying while crippled is already difficult enough without people pulling this kind of shit. Also, make sure that if there is a piece of your wheelchair or something important missing off of it, that you make a big fucking deal out of it! I’ve had pieces fall off of my wheelchair and nearly lost a decoration I had on it that meant a lot to me because people were careless with my chair. Don’t let them mistreat your wheelchair.
Non-wheelchair folks:
Now that you know, speak up.
You never know when you’re going to see someone who needs an ally.
you never know when
you’re going to see someone
who needs an ally
^Haiku^bot^9. I detect haikus with 5-7-5 format. Sometimes I make mistakes.
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This whole thing is so confusing to me. Most of the airplanes I see every day (and I work on commercial passenger airplanes every day) don’t even have a closet, Nevermind one specifically for a wheelchair. Our average seat load is about 150, so these are not tiny planes. The only wheelchair stowage I know of is for the inflight aisle chair which is already in there.
Holy fuck I am tired of having this conversation. Under US law, any plane with 100 or more seats must have an onboard wheelchair closet that will hold a folding wheelchair that is 13" x 36" x 42" or smaller when folded. (Source) Anything else in there, including other passengers’ stuff, the aisle wheelchair, or the flight attendants’ luggage has to come out.
Ҥ382.123 What are the requirements concerning priority cabin stowage for wheelchairs and other assistive devices?
“You must move itemsthat you or your personnel have placed in the priority stowage area (e.g., crew luggage, an on-board wheelchair) to make room for the passenger’s wheelchair, even if these items were stowed in the priority stowage area before the passenger seeking to stow a wheelchair boarded the aircraft (e.g., the items were placed there on a previous leg of the flight).”
That closet is not there to store the aisle wheelchair, or your luggage, or the first class passengers’ coats. That closet is there to store disabled passengers’ wheelchairs. There is literally a sign on the damn closet telling you that. Have you been closing your eyes every time you pass the wheelchair closet?
Here is the sign that is, by law, posted on every wheelchair closet on every damn plane.
If the plane doesn’t have a wheelchair closet, then by law you have to strap the passenger’s wheelchair to the seats, even if you have to pull a paying passenger off the plane to make room for it. Clearly since you don’t even know the goddamned law you’ve never seen that done, so here’s what it looks like. (Photo courtesy of @cookie-dough-survival-kit who knows her rights and is making the damn airlines do what they are required by law to do.)
You, as an airline employee that interacts with the public, are required by law to know the Air Carrier Access Act in full. There is zero excuse for you to not know this law. Stop arguing with disabled people, you fucking ableist asshole, and learn the law that you are legally required to know. And while you’re at it, kiss the goddamned ground and thank whatever gods you believe in that nobody has reported your ignorant, ableist ass to the Department of Transportation for violating the Air Carrier Access Act. How do I know that? Because if they had, your airline would have had to pay thousands of dollars in fines, and you would have been fired.
You can find the entire Air Carrier Access Act, which specifically includes a section that states that you, as an airline employee who interacts with the public, must by law know the damn Air Carrier Access Act, here.
“Miso Kwak’s attempts to vote in Tuesday’s primary election turned into a…morass as L.A. County voting machines designed to help blind voters repeatedly failed to work at one polling station after another — thwarting Kwak and… poll workers alike.”
hey before you call something wheelchair accessible just go ahead and invite a wheelchair user or two over because I almost guarantee you that an able-bodied person is not capable of guessing what is accessible without having ever used a wheelchair solo before
some but not all cool things nobody ever thinks of:
put hand sanitizer or a sink in the accessible bathroom stall, or alcohol wipes outside of it. people who cannot use their legs have to use unwashed hands to roll to the sink, and people who can use their legs are afraid to walk out of stalls because they get harassed and even assaulted.
enough space for wheelchair in doorway…AND ARMS. HOW DO YOU THINK THE WHEELCHAIR MOVES! if I cannot roll through it without scraping my arms it is not accessible
brick paths suck the end
gravel paths suck. make it smooth
a ramp is not accessible if it is too steep. not every wheelchair user is ripped enough or capable of using muscles enough to propel themselves up a steep angle safely. some wheelchair users have heart issues. you want heart attacks? this is how you get them
perfect 90 degree turns suck and are often impossible to turn through
some wheelchairs have foot rests. account for them
wheelchair accessible means wheelchair accessible while alone. if you expect someone to have to be helped out to use your facility, that is not acceptable or accessible
yeah
also pay them. this is called an “accessibility audit.” it’s work and they deserve to be paid for it
This week, the Office for National Statistics has added ready-made mashed potato to the UK’s official shopping basket, which it uses to measure inflation, and people are up in arms. Who buys a pre-chopped onion that costs three times as much as a whole one? How lazy do you have to be to choose a frozen omelette over a couple of eggs?
These kinds of convenience foods are an easy target. But for the 13.3 million people in Britain with disabilities – and those living with arthritis, chronic illness, recovering from injury or surgery, or undergoing cancer treatment – convenience foods aren’t just convenient: they are a lifeline.
This is an issue close to my heart. I’m a professional cook, but I also have a chronic pain condition, and there are occasions when I can’t even hold a knife. In times like those, I’m never going to opt for the impenetrable whole butternut squash over one that has already been diced for me.
Some light in the darkness that is Gaming news right now
gaming is SO IMPORTANT for so many disabled people (myself included). There’s not many hobbies that have the range of interactivity and engagement that gaming has, while still being something someone can do with little movement or motor control.
I’ve met a few people who were very disapproving of my gaming hobby (was literally told to “go read a book” in a snooty way by one of them) and it frustrates heck out of me that they can’t see how important and fun gaming can be. Gaming isn’t passive like a lot of other hobbies recommended for disabled folks. Gaming is something to get pumped about and something that you can get better at! You can improve your gaming skills and feel accomplished!
if it weren’t for video games I would be a much, much more unhappy and unfulfilled person.
This is why its SO important to make gaming accessible to disabled people.
This new ‘trend’ of strobing when hit [Destiny/Assassins’ Creed to name a few] is very detrimental to anyone with a seizure disorder that is effected by strobing. A lot of people with motor disorders often have visual disorders too.
Developers really need to make flashy visual effects optional or toggled on/off in menus; not left as a fixed point.
Gaming is SO important to help with my motor skills and comprehension skills and making it inaccessible to some audiences is really detrimental.
^^^Really important commentary
video games are sometimes the only thing that will help keep me sane.
I’m crying : ’ ). Videogames are important for all ages and degrees of abled people. My grandma definitely has kept a somewhat sharp mind since she plays golden sun and pokemon feverishly, though apparently she was stuck at the Sky Pillar in Ruby for two months (arthritis problems).
i just wish we could get more games that relied less on violence and fighting but Diablo fuckin rules and i’m so glad this person found a way to make it work for them.
we need to make sure all the disabled have the tools and support they need to live the lives they want to.
There is a charity called Able Gamers that helps people with varying disabilities and gives them the chance to play video games. They work both with caregivers, gamers themselves and video game developers (both indie and mainstream)to help make video games more accessible on a software level as well as through assistive technology like Ken here is using. I urge everyone to check them out and donate if possible or spread the word about their foundation!
While I was performing at DEAFinitions 2018 conference at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, I was really lucky and blessed to have met an incredible Deaf Buddhist monk (for real!!!) named Rev. Oshin Jennings. He gave two workshops and talked about his efforts to make Buddhism accessible and open to Deaf and Disabled people, and also to reach out and support all POC communities. He also spoke of his struggle as a Deaf man studying monkhood and being rejected / shunned by other Buddhists for being Deaf.
His creed focus is Zen Buddhism, but his sangha and website are welcoming of all, regardless of creed, race, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, gender identity (etc).
He is working to develop an ASL Buddhist dictionary and has shown us various ways of meditation using ASL signs and mudras. This is especially helpful for Deaf people, including myself, who cannot verbalize vows or hear chantings during meditation.
Rev. Oshin Jennings is a wonderful person and I hope more people know about him and reach out to him to bring accessibility to their sanghas.
He also organizes sangha meet-ups at Gallaudet University so if you live in DC, you could go and check it out and meet him ^_^
That bakery you love won’t do a same-sex wedding? You find a different bakery
The owner of that bodega you love racially profiles PoCs that shop their? You get your artisanal cheese elsewhere.
You do all of the above and you tell all your friends to do the same. You call your local news station. You boycott. You advocate for change. You vote with your wallet.
That restaurant you love makes disabled people go around the back and through the kitchen? The local bookstore’s aisles are so narrow you can barely get a shopping cart much less a wheelchair through them? No bars in the bathroom? An automated door that never works? The owner calls everything that he doesn’t like the “r” word?
Silence. Maybe a sympathy grumble as you pick out something on behalf of your disabled friend who’s waiting outside of the bakery you love but it has stairs leading up the entrance.
Dear Able Bodied Friends: Without your voice in the fight for equality, nothing will ever improve for us. Ever. We have no money. We have no economic weight. We have no major celebrity representation. The most damage we can do to any business is through bad optics and a collective sense of pity from the able-bodied world.
We need you to stop spending money at these business. We need to you tell them exactly why you are no longer their customer. We need you to pressure and shame your friends into not shopping at these businesses.
We literally, physically cannot do this without you. Without your voice and your economic influence, we will never be treated equally. We need you to teach these people that they’ve had 27+ years to get their shit together and that you, their paying customer, are not going to give them any more money until they make this right.
I’ve gotten comments on posts from business owners telling me they would rather rip out the ramp in front of their store so that I couldn’t get inside than do anything to help disabled people. I’ve gotten comments telling me how ridiculous and cost prohibitive the ADA is.
These people are not afraid of the consequences. They are not afraid of losing a customer who cannot physically enter their store to give them money in the first place. This is why we need your help. We need you to pressure these people. We need your voice.
As I continue to experience more and more issues with all of my chronic pain and illness, especially with a new injury, this post resonates with me.
I don’t have handicapped parking, if I can’t find a close spot I’m using crutches oven long distances. At this point I’m not weight bearing on my new injury and usually have my SD at my side. We can’t fit between cars in a parking lot, so we either have to go up high curbs or walk on the side of lanes in the lot to reach ramps.
I typically struggle in narrow aisles with my SD, when I don’t have her it’s now still a struggle. With crutches or a motorized cart it’s hard to fit down aisles in the grocery store.
I needed a handicapped dressing room to try on clothes at Goodwill. The handicapped accessible room was taken by a woman with a full cart who didn’t want to follow the no carts rule.
Automatic doors are few and far between, especially lacking where there are heavy doors. I cannot go out alone because I can’t get into or out of appointments or buildings.
[ID: collection of tweets from Amanda Hackwith @ajhackwith reading
“If you’re fuzzy on why changes to the ADA is such a big deal, I get it. I’m keenly aware of what being abled blinds you to. I’m here to introduce you to the thing that dominates my husband and I’s life: Logistics. Hey. Abled friends. This thread is for you. #HR620
Disclaimer: I am not physically disabled. My husband is. He has used a wheelchair since birth. I’m using ‘we’ in here because that’s how we’ve experienced it, and this is shared with his permission. OK? Ok.
The reality of living with a disability is Logistics. We don’t just do something. You figure out if we CAN do something. And then try to chase down the secret hidden puzzle of how WE do it. Because, I guarantee you, we are the exception. We are always the Exception.
So: join us. We leave home. We don’t call for an accessible taxi because that will take an hour. We can’t take a zipcar because there’s no hand controls. Walking through the door is Logistics.
We take a bus, praying that no one else with a wheelchair, walker, baby carriage, grocery bag, or big-ass backpack has already taken up the two accessible spots on the entire bus. Two. If so, we’re out of luck.
Or we take a hip, tech-will-set-us-free rideshare. There is no accessible option in the app. We pray that the ride that comes won’t drive off when they see a chair. That the folding chair will fit.
Maybe we walk home. We fought city hall for neighborhood curb cuts last year! Only fancy condo construction has torn them out again. For months. So we walk in the gutter of a busy industrial street.
We see a show. We can’t buy tickets online. We have to call to see if one of the five accessible seats in the theatre is available. There’s only one ‘companion’ seat. We aren’t expected to have friends.
We book a hotel. We have to investigate how crappy the accessible room is. (It’s usually a less desirable retrofitted room.) How a ‘normal’ room is laid out. If we can ‘get away’ with being treated as normal. For once.
We fly. We introduce ourselves to the attendants. We PROMISE we won’t be a bother. That we won’t need assistance. That we won’t need to rely on the rickety chair they want to strap him to, Hannibal-style. We make the attendants nervous.
We fly. We successfully board, but the bathroom is twenty feet to the back of the plane. We don’t have our chair. We hope we don’t need to pee for the next nine hours.
We want to do a fun tour of a new city/country/landmark. We spend hours calling tour companies, emphasizing how low fuss we are, how independent we are, how we’re one of the ‘cool’ disableds, if only they have room to fold his chair with the luggage. We promise to be good.
We want to eat at a special restaurant. It’s in a historical building. We crawl on our knees and throw the chair up the stairs to eat there anyway. There are stairs and there are stares. We are everyone’s free entertainment.
We eat at a restaurant. It’s accessible, sure! Just call ahead and Jimbob will throw a board across the steps for you to roll up. Or there’s an accessible entrance! It’s the loading ramp, out back. Through the pee-soaked alley and trash cans. Can’t miss it.
We eat it a restaurant. It’s totally accessible! Except for the bathroom upstairs. You can hold it until we get home, right honey?
Work has a social event. It’s held at one of the above ‘trendy’ restaurants. But HR totally apologizes, okay? Be cool. We can be cool.
We want to go home. We become invisible to taxis. He hangs back until I flag one down and glare the driver into submission.
W apartment hunt. All the cute ground floor dog-friendly units are lofts with stairs. All the accessible units have been rented out to able-bodied people because ‘no one wants them’.
We apartment hunt. The ‘large’ bedroom doesn’t leave enough room to either side of the bed for a wheelchair to sit. The glitzy new apartments have bathroom doors too small to get through.
We apartment hunt. The building is totally accessible! Except for that one tiny step. In the common room. To all the amenities you’re paying for.
And this is important: We are white, educated, financially secure, fairly young and healthy aside from the wheelchair. In other words: BEST CASE SCENARIO. We literally are operating and interacting with the ADA on every privilege we can manage.
If you’re surprised by what I’ve said, keep in mind the majority of the disabled community has it so much worse. With so much less resources. Even WITH the existing ADA. #HR620
No imagine how much worse, more hostile, the world will be if every target of discrimination had to ask each business, in writing, one at a time, to please not break the law. And they have 90 days to ignore them. And another 180 after that. Every restaurant. Every store. #HR620
Imagine you had to beg every business to allow you to exist. Imagine people complaining about ‘nuisance lawsuits’ and ‘support peacocks’ to you. Your existence is a nuisance. Your existence is over legislated. Your existence is unnecessary. Now call your damn senators. #HR620 “
A recent assignment for my MLIS has incited my interest in the ease of accessibility for persons with disabilities when using services provided by public libraries. I am interested in learning more about what public libraries do in order to ensure that their services are easily accessible by all.
A tip sheet from the ALSC offers excellent suggestions for what library employees can do in order to meet accessibility needs, but how are these services actually carried out?
Feel free to share your knowledge or personal experience. I’d like to learn more in order to improve my ability to help others.
Signal boost!
boosting – I mostly use the library to print stuff and check out books and don’t need much in the way of accommodations but I’m sure some of my followers have stuff to say!
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 
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