by When Haeley Dyrdahl posted this video on TikTok before boarding her flight from Miami, she had no idea it would go viral when she landed in Seattle just six hours later.
“I was on a long layover at Miami International Airport waiting for our flight home when I saw those employees unload luggage and two other wheelchairs so aggressively that they went flying off the end of the ramp,” Dyrdahl says. “I felt shocked, angry and saddened at the same time; I couldn’t believe I saw that twice in a row.”
Dyrdahl, who works for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, is sensitive to disability issues and knew it was no small problem. “When they brought out a third wheelchair, I took out my camera,” she says. “At first, it was just to show my partner who was in the bathroom, but we started talking about how that’s a much bigger problem than just disrespecting people’s possessions. If they are damaged, those are someone’s legs and it is not cheap or easy to repair wheelchairs.”
The video received more than 100,000 likes and attracted more than 5,000 comments.
“I don’t usually post on TikTok, but I did it before my flight took off and when I landed the video was everywhere. I was really surprised.”
Dyrdahl hopes this additional attention will improve the way mobility equipment is handled at airports.
“It’s absolutely infuriating to see this,” says Sophie Morgan, a television presenter and disability advocate. “But I’m not surprised. This has been happening for as long as airplanes have existed and as long as wheelchairs have existed. What’s happening now, though, is that we’re seeing more and more because people can catch it on camera.”
Earlier this year, Morgan suffered £5,000 worth of damage to her wheelchair during a British Airways flight from Los Angeles to Heathrow and posted an emotional message about her ordeal on Instagram. She says it was one of three cases of damage to her equipment this year and that she has suffered countless more during the 20 years she has been a wheelchair user.
“What we feel in the wheelchair community is that we are facing a crisis: that is a part of our body, that equipment that is being thrown out that door. It’s as traumatic as that.”
Morgan, who presented The One Show on BBC1 and led Channel 4’s coverage of the Tokyo Paralympic Games, believes what she describes as a “catastrophic situation” is due to a systemic failure to properly train people.
“They need to learn that wheelchairs are not luggage. The training is not solid enough.” She says ableism in the airline industry is widespread. “There are so many different parts to this puzzle,” she says. “The more time I spend campaigning for flying rights, the more I see the problems rising to the surface and we are the collateral damage of that disaster.”
Currently, the United States is the only country that requires reporting statistics on wheelchair damage. John Morris of Wheelchairtravel.org, the American disability website, is hopeful that other governments will soon follow his lead.
“This data allows disabled travelers to compare flights based on a metric that is vitally important to their comfort and peace of mind,” he says.
Dyrdahl says the response to his video seems as if the Internet has collectively taken up its pitchforks and demanded better care for people with mobility equipment during air travel.
“By posting the video, I learned a lot from wheelchair users about the seriousness of the problem,” he says. “I hope that the visibility of the video cannot be ignored and that airlines make changes to protect all passengers equally.”
American Airlines said in a statement: “We recognize how important it is to support the independence of customers with disabilities by ensuring proper care of mobility devices during their travel with us. This image is deeply concerning and we are gathering more details so we can address them with our team. “We will continue to work hard to improve our handling of assistive devices across our network.”
How to get assistance at the airport
Not everyone who needs assistance at an airport is a full-time wheelchair user. Perhaps you have recently had surgery, have a broken leg or ankle, or simply cannot walk that distance due to age, injury, or disability. Here’s how to get help if you don’t have your own wheelchair.
1. Add assistance to your reservation once you’ve booked your flight. Most airlines allow you to do this online, but if not, there will be a helpline you can call. If you forget, you can usually request assistance at check-in.
2. Depending on where you are flying from, you may be able to get help from outside the airport (at the taxi drop-off area, for example); Otherwise, please go to the help desk in the departure hall.
3. You will be escorted through security in an airport wheelchair (via a dedicated assistance lane that is also sometimes shared with families). Once in the air, you will be left to wait in a special area in the departure hall.
4. If you need to shop and have people traveling with you who can help you with this, some airports will have a bell that you can take with you that will ring when it is time to take you to the gate.
5. You will be transferred to the gate in a wheelchair or motorized buggy. If you have indicated in your reservation that you cannot use the steps, you can avoid the gate altogether and be taken to an ambulift, which is a motorized vehicle that lifts you up to the airline gate so you can gain level access to the plane.
6. If you travel with only one companion, you can usually stay with them. If you are traveling as part of a larger group, or with a healthy partner and children, you may have to reach the gate alone or walk alongside the buggy.
7. It is not necessary to prove that you need the service. If you say you need it, no one will challenge you.
8. You may request a sunflower lanyard as a way to indicate a non-visible disability that may require additional assistance. With this, you will still have the option to be escorted through security, even if you do not need a wheelchair.
