A viral video appearing luggage handlers at Miami World Airport sending a wheelchair tumbling all the way down to the tarmac precipitated a promise from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg that his division will examine the incident.
The clip, first of all posted to TikTok and reuploaded in different places, presentations a luggage handler for American Airways pushing the wheelchair down a luggage chute. It slides down the monitor, slams right into a gate intended to forestall suitcases, flips over it and topples to the bottom.
“That is utterly unacceptable. We can be investigating,” Buttigieg stated in a submit on X, previously referred to as Twitter. “That is precisely why we’re taking motion to give protection to passengers who use wheelchairs. Everybody merits to go back and forth safely and with dignity.”
Buttigieg used to be responding to a submit that earned 7 million perspectives and just about 50,000 likes that presentations an airline worker sending a wheelchair down a ramp, and it topples over to the bottom.
The video comes as wheelchair customers and accessibility advocates have raised issues that their apparatus is mishandled and damaged whilst touring.
“Wheelchair customers were making an attempt for ages to lift consciousness about their wheelchairs being damaged so ceaselessly once they fly, and the devastating have an effect on this has on them,” Becca Peter stated in a submit on X. “@AmericanAir luggage handlers made up our minds to provide an indication of ways a lot they experience breaking them.”
Buttigieg’s submit hyperlinks to a web page that outlines the Transportation Division’s incapacity insurance policies. The Incapacity Coverage Priorities have been introduced and followed in July 2022 right through a party of the anniversary of the American citizens with Disabilities Act, the commentary stated.
The dep. stated it has created 4 focal point spaces to be extra inclusive of other people with disabilities, together with “enabling secure and out there air go back and forth; enabling multimodal accessibility of public transportation amenities, cars, and rights-of-way; enabling get right of entry to to good-paying jobs and trade alternatives for other people with disabilities and enabling accessibility of electrical cars and automatic cars.”
Information from the Executive Responsibility Place of work display the choice of disability-related proceedings made to the Division of Transportation rose from 2020 to 2021. In Nov. 2022 on my own, further information display airways mishandled 941 wheelchairs.
The Air Service Get admission to Act used to be handed in 1986 and prohibits discrimination at the foundation of incapacity in air go back and forth and calls for airways to house passengers’ wishes.
A invoice used to be offered in February via Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Sick.) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) that targets to extend transparency round disability-related proceedings for air go back and forth passengers.
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