Essay Example on Empowering People with Disabilities: Making Travel Easier

Introduction

Several authors have realized that people with disabilities are having a hard time in the tourism sector today. Any tourism experience foundation is giving disabled people nightmares when it comes to accessing their destinations and locating standardized accommodation while travelling. The determination of this issue will make people with disability to move with ease. Around the world, a significant number of people now travel using their wheelchairs have been democratized of the airline companies (Darcy, 2012). Disabled people, in this case, have expressed their frustration because of the booking systems between them and the public. Immediately a person books a ticket through any means; they need to contact the airline to ensure that their journey is still available (Darcy, 2012). In this background, the paper will explore more on the rights of citizens with disabilities and their experience with airline services.

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Three References & Summaries

According to the New York Times, travelling is about the journey and not where the person is heading. However, wheelchair users have a different story to tell because travelling to them is an adventure. The article "Flying tips for Wheelchair Users" gives more guidance to wheelchair users before travelling via air. Jim Twardowski and Barbara Twardowski (2019), explain more to travellers what to expect anytime they decide to go to the airport. According to them, every traveller must review the policies of the airlines regarding citizens with disabilities to avoid being disappointed once at the destination (Twardowski & Twardowski, J, 2019). This information was borrowed from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/08/travel/flying-tips-for-wheelchair-users-disabilities.html

Another report released by The Washington Post was giving a personal experience of an individual who was flying to attend a conference meeting but ended up having terrible news that she never carried her wheelchair into the aeroplane (Pecci, 2019). Thompson, who was the victim, was born with a condition which brittle her bones, thus making her disabled. It was until the following morning when she was able to access her wheelchair. Alexander Pecci, who wrote the article in 2019, was trying to give a real experience of what disabled people go through while using the airline services. According to him, the airlines needed to come with a mechanism that could separate the hustle between disabled people and the public (Pecci, 2019). The information was borrowed from https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/wheelchair-rule-aims-to-foster-friendlier-skies-for-travelers-with-disabilities/2019/02/14/0aecbafc-2b18-11e9-984d-9b8fba003e81_story.html

The article "The Flawed Logic and Nightmare of Wheelchair Users", written by Michael Schulson gives a life experience of a client who was travelling with his fiancee that had a genetic disorder known as the spinal muscular atrophy (Schulson, 2019). The condition made Hanna Aylward depend on the wheelchair ever since she was two years old. Her condition also made her use a motorized wheelchair which was 65-pound heavy. The challenge here is that she was not allowed to board with the wheelchair rather she must be carried by someone who will then sit her in the aeroplane chair which does not fit her body structure (Schulson, 2019). The concern about this article is that regulations embraced in airports are limiting disabled people to travel with their wheelchair. The information is borrowed from https://qz.com/1760770/why-airplanes-are-barely-accessible-for-wheelchair-users/

Class Connections

Two connections that align together are accessibility and disability rights. The reason behind this link is that accessibility means the environment, services, devices and products should be designed in a way that is usable by disabled people. The rights to a disability, in this case, advocate equal access to political, economic and social life to allow them access facilities and organization with ease (Hope, 2016). The two relate to this topic because the concerns here is how wheelchair users can travel with ease.

Reflection

I used to think that when aeroplanes were designed, they had an idea that not everyone was born normal. The reason behind my thoughts is that the designs are so standardized to the point no one knew that they lacked something. Now I think that the message has been sent to airports to re-design their facilities for the disabled people. My thought has come after reading the three articles and realized how wheelchair users are discriminated. The thing that has changed in my mind is that people with disabilities were born special, and they should receive first-class treatment.

Conclusion

Innovation changes the lives of people and disability is one of them. Without a doubt, the unprecedented progress in technology and science redefines human disability. Air-travel-disability issues and novel technologies have made people live healthy, full lives. Intimate connections in this case between machine and man have augmented the social abilities to go beyond the natural limits.

References

Darcy, S. (2012). Embodied air travel experiences: disability, discrimination and the effect of a discontinuous air travel chain. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 19(1), 91-101. DOI: 10.1017/jht.2012.9

Hope, J. (2016). Advocate for international accessibility rights. Disability Compliance for Higher Education, 21(10), 1-4. DOI: 10.1002/dhe.30173

Pecci, A. (2019, February 15). 'Wheelchair rule' aims to foster friendlier skies for travellers with disabilities. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/wheelchair-rule-aims-to-foster-friendlier-skies-for-travelers-with-disabilities/2019/02/14/0aecbafc-2b18-11e9-984d-9b8fba003e81_story.html

Schulson, M. (2019, December 10). The flawed logic that makes flying a nightmare for wheelchair users. https://qz.com/1760770/why-airplanes-are-barely-accessible-for-wheelchair-users/

Twardowski, B., & Twardowski, J. (2019, March 8). Flying tips for wheelchair users, from wheelchair users. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/08/travel/flying-tips-for-wheelchair-users-disabilities.html