Why Sensitivity Training Should Be Mandatory For Airline Employees

Accepting people with different abilities is the wave of the future and the present. Gone are the days of keeping differently abled children and adults at home. I have recently read two stories that I wouldn't have known a thing about had they not been posted on the airline companies Facebook pages and then shared by others. We have all heard the stories of different medical needs being ignored or exposed which resulted in humiliated and mortified passengers but the insensitivity on the part of crew and staff  is escalating and we are now in a truly horrifying state.

Lives are being affected, in some cases long term, by airline staff and the choices they are making. They are choosing to uphold the company policy so strictly that they have long since dumped humanity and plain common courtesy. I would like to share these two stories in hopes of increasing awareness and of course as always reminding everyone to consider others when making decisions and assumptions.

I am pasting the original story I read on Facebook and then a link to the things that the airline is doing in response and of course a reprint of the story etc. It was horrifying to read it the way I did before anything was done to accomodate them. Most everyone is clear that action was taken only because the post went viral.

SAD STORY...

i witnessed today, what i consider to be the worst of humanity.

standing in line at an @alaska airlines ticket check in, in redmond oregon, i watched as a disabled/mentally and physically challenged couple were left standing in the front of a line by the ticket attendant ... who didn't say a word- no "final call, redmond to seattle"-- no "if you are flying to seattle, it's too late to make this flight," etc-- nothing.

when a different agent appeared 1/2 hour later-- the flight still had not left. i asked for a quick "side bar" with the new agent-- telling her that this couple needed some leeway-- some additional help. she quickly informed me that "we treat every single customer the exact same here"-- she was annoyed by my insistence and advocacy.

i tried to explain to her that her colleague had left the man and his companion alone, without saying a word to them. that they were "different" and that it would be ok for her to make exceptions for them (uttering something like, "exceptional circumstances sometimes require, exceptional responses").

(The attendant) finally agreed to try to get the man on the flight-- but he couldn't bring his luggage (ug).

he had a hard time walking-- no one offered him a wheelchair or asked how they could be helpful. he stumbled off toward the safety inspection line.

predictably, he didn't understand/comprehend their restriction of his luggage, and got stuck in security.

while this was going on, the ticket attendant and myself were continuing to have quiet words about how they needed extra help-- she told me that "i didn't know the whole story"-- that he had the "same problem yesterday, showing up late to his first flight."

i told her that i thought there was a real reason he was struggling to make it anywhere on time, and that this was cause for some compassion and some exceptions to rules, and some additional assistance.

by now i was fully annoying her. she had her rules, and she was growing tired of my moral compass.

security ended up sending the man back, telling him in the confusion around his luggage that there was no longer enough time for him to make his airplane, without the plane running late.

the original attendant ..., returned, and lightly shamed the couple for being late for the second time in a row, telling them there was no way the man could get to bellingham before 9pm now.

the man and woman broke into tears. his "nervous system hurky/jurkyness" became profound. he begged her to help him. nothing.

i asked tiffany to go on with the kids, that i wanted to stick around and advocate for this couple for the 20 minutes i could and still make my own flight...

i asked the man for his name. (He) he and his companion were easily 70 something. he was crying something fierce by now. i asked him what his condition was. he said he had late stage parkinsons, and that his companion had MS.

i asked to speak to the on site manager. (He) listened to me politely tell him the story about the man with parkinsons, and the woman with MS, and how none of his staff did anything to offer them additional assistance when it was clear to all 20 of us in line, how much they needed it and deserved it, and then he explained to me that the "laws don't allow alaska airlines to provide anyone, for any reason "special treatments."

i wrote that comment down, word for word. he responded by saying, "so great, you are going to take me completely out of context aren't you?" i said, "what other context is there?" i asked you why your staff didn't help these people, and, in that exact context, you backed up your employee who told me that everyone is treated exactly alike. he stood by this position.

the end of this story is sad to the core. after wrapping up with (the manager), i talked to (the man) for a bit longer.

this trip- redmond to seattle/seattle to bellingham, was allowing him to see his daughter one final time, who works on the ferry system and is out on the water for most of her time-- she was scheduled to meet him in bellingham at 3pm today. he said that it was a "bucket list" item that he could no longer realize. i asked him if she could get off the ferry and wait for him tomorrow-- and he said that she was only available for this brief time today-- that he was to join her on the ferry, and that otherwise she'd be out on the water for days-- his trip was done. he couldn't re-schedule. he was simply, now, in defeat, asking for his money back.

Here is the link http://www.ktvz.com/news/Bend-man-s-Facebook-post-sparks-firestorm-airline-action/-/413192/15970294/-/item/0/-/150hgx1/-/index.html

Many people that worked with the company were called in and he had already experienced this lack of humanity twice. I'm still sad for his experience regardless of how they tried to make up for it.

The next story is a bit different in that it is more personal to me but aside from that, it is a special needs teen who is just trying to get by like everyone else. Carly was required by a flight attendant to put her ipad away, even after explaining that she is nonverbal and uses it as a communication device. She told the employee that she is a frequent flyer and that she has always been allowed to keep it with her. The pilot told the flight attendant that it was fine and would not interfere with their systems but this employee insisted on sticking to her guns. While we all understand that for years we have believed that electronics have the potential to interfere with the airplane computers, the pilot was not concerned.

What upset me as much as the story itself were two comments that I read on Carly's Facebook page in response to her post about this story. One man said " paper and pen will do just fine." I don't even fault him for not knowing that Carly has difficulty writing due to her condition. Instead I want the man to wear a muzzle and duct tape during takeoff and landing just in case he feels the need to speak because, well like he stated paper and pen work just fine. The second comment was from a woman and she didn't make the comment I would expect which of course is regarding the ipad interfering with electronic systems and her rational fear of safety. No, instead she commented on the fact that she would rather not be smashed in the head by a flying ipad! Really? So not only would the ipad take flight instead of falling to the floor and sliding forward, defying all laws of gravity, but it would manage to jimmy it's way between the seat back, find her particular seat and bash her in the head. Now if that isn't ignorance at it's finest..

Here is the link to Carly's story. http://my-family-blog.net/2012/08/13/carly-fleischmann-nonverbal-teen-of-carlys-voice-made-to-put-away-ipad-during-flight/

I'm not suggesting that protocols are not put into place for good reason. Safety and order are a first priority. But just like any situation, there is always room to assess and make necessary alterations when a particular set of rules is not working in a case and the bending of a rule would benefit an outcome much more than hinder it. I look forward to the term "friendly skies" living up to it's name again in the very near future.

For now aside from the fact that we are about to take our special needs son on his first flight ever, I will stay as close to the exit rows of airline politics as I possibly can.