Airplane Accessibility
Airplanes are not as accessible as you may think, which makes it surprisingly difficult to fly for people who use wheelchairs like me. Despite living in the technologically advanced 21st century, people who use wheelchairs cannot fly while sitting in their wheelchairs, so flying is a much more involved process. When flying I must be transferred out of my wheelchair into an uncomfortable aisle chair to board the plane and get to my seat, in which I then have to be transferred to my seat. Transferring so much can be extremely tiring. After transferring, the baggage handlers take my wheelchair down to the tarmac to be loaded into the cargo hold, where it will remain for the duration of the flight. After I have boarded, the other passengers begin boarding and the flight begins. After arriving at the destination, the process must be completed in reverse. Flying is extremely uncomfortable for me since I cannot fly in my wheelchair which has specialized seating that is fitted for me. Many airplane seats only have a small amount of recline compared to my wheelchair and lack other power seating functions that my wheelchair has. Without these necessary seating functions, the risk of a pressure sore increases.
The first time I flew, my wheelchair suffered minor damage at some point likely during loading or unloading, or the flight. The speed switch was snapped off my joystick and a few other parts on my wheelchair were damaged. Luckily, the damage wasn’t severe, but I was stuck at a slow speed for part of the trip until we figured out a workaround to turn the speed up with the broken switch. The switch could not be reattached though, and it required an expensive joystick replacement after the trip, which, along with the repairs of the other damage, the airline covered after filing a claim.
Hopefully, in the near future, airplanes will be wheelchair accessible like many other forms of public transportation so people who use wheelchairs can fly in their wheelchairs.