I was sent your thread from a dear friend of mine who knows of my involvement as an advocate for the handicapped traveler. I am also the foster parent and custodial guardian of my developmentally disabled brother. Disclaimer: The following insights are strictly personal.
With your interest in special ed, I would advise you to download, print out and study the Air Carrier Access Act. It’s a relatively clear cut document. It provides the ideal of the service that airlines are supposed to be offering physically and mentally challenged passengers. It is seldom implemented to the letter unless the airlines are forced to, primarily through lawsuits.
Airlines are in the mass transportation business. The Air Carrier Access Act makes demands of the airlines for certain individuals which would cause inconvenience to other revenue passengers and would be cost prohibitive to universally enforce. Often the companies ignore some of the issues, and hope they will never be confronted with their violations in court.
From my reading of the ACAA it appears obvious that the airline must provide an escort from the gate to the baggage area of the airport for a moderately high functioning autistic and/or mentally retarded passenger by virtue of the fact that the airline allowed that person to purchase a ticket. Yet, airlines will encourage families to buy “unaccompanied minor”-like escort services…for a fee…to assure a smooth travel experience for the challenged passenger.
One unfortunate incident concerning connection assistance to handicapped people comes to mind. A local group of adult Special Olympians was flying to the National Competition. Everyone in this group, all friends of my brother, held a job in the community, although I don’t think any one of the group could read or write proficiently. There are some travel agencies specializing in arrangements for handicapped travelers, and these agencies are well aware of the intricacies of the ACAA. By law, this group did not require (and did not have) an escort, as everyone could follow instructions, feed him/herself, use the bathrooms, etc. One member was in a wheelchair. The only assistance the group required was negotiating the one connection each way. The group members wore large cloth name labels pasted on their clothing with a sentence about being covered by the ACAA and aspects of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In addition to the passenger’s name, the flight numbers and airport codes were printed on the eye-catching tag. When we landed in a hub city, as lead flight attendant I told the gate agent to order two electric carts exclusively for the group to get them to their connecting gate. She was happy to oblige. 4 days later I was passing through the same hub airport, only to hear a young woman in a wheelchair sobbing. I looked over and saw “Mary”. Her wheelchair pusher had forgotten her gate…the flight # was printed on her label!...and the man was chit-chatting with a friend, obviously unconcerned about getting Mary to her flight. I snapped the fellow to attention, pointed out her flight number and found the gate. Some of the group stayed behind to help Mary, as it took a long time for the wheelchair to show up, and they were worried she wouldn’t make the flight. When we arrived together at the gate, there was a group of 20 adults with mental retardation in tears. The group wouldn’t board until Mary was there…so the gate agent buttoned up the flight, and it was pushing back as we arrived. I asked the gate people to notify the chaperones who would be picking up the group in their city of arrival, so they wouldn’t be unduly concerned when the group didn’t show up. That didn’t happen. I therefore made some calls myself. There was room on the next flight, a flight I was working on, but the group members were scattered all over the airplane. Some of the other passengers expressed discomfort about having a mentally retarded seat partner..who is mentally handicapped in this situation??.and the “normal” folks behaved like jackasses.

I walked the group to the baggage area when we landed, the guardians and parents were waiting—but I did not feel good about what had transpired.

There were several concerns here:
1. Yes, the law says that an escort is not required…but as a parent or guardian, I would want to know that my loved one has made the connections smoothly and that s/he wasn’t left behind somewhere. I would err on the side of common sense, regardless of the stipulations in the ACAA that an airline representative will follow through on the behalf of the passenger. Either buy the airline gate-to-gate escort service, or send along a chaperone.
2. The gate agents are not trained in all aspects of the ACAA…somewhat deliberately, I believe. There is a legal gray zone when a law has been violated by a responsible party uninformed of its existence.
3. The gate agent closing the door and sending away the scheduled aircraft with that large group of Special Olympians sitting at the gate…there may have been a violation of the ACAA here. Airlines are psycho about on time departures. However the law spells out that a flight MUST be held for a handicapped passenger who is in the airport. The other group members told the gate agents what the hold up was…yet, the gate agent chose to close up the flight rather than risk a disciplinary notice from a manager for allowing a delay.

It is not really possible for any flight attendant to measure the level of understanding of a developmentally disabled passenger. My brother will say “yes” to everything. “Do you understand?” “Yes!” FAs who do not have experience talking to autistic or retarded passengers may not know how to phrase questions to get a telling answer out of them. Also, there are very high functioning Down’s Syndrome people who are well educated and totally capable of helping out in an evacuation. Your concern about emergency exit row placement is a sticky one. It could be that, although the pax was not verbal, that he could indeed understand and follow orders. There is quite a bit of “exit row policy” variation from airline to airline concerning language requirements, whether you have to be able to give orders or simply respond to verbal commands, etc. Also, sometimes passengers move into those exit rows for the nice legroom without asking anyone’s permission. Hard to say.

The questions you have posed are wonderful. Realistically, the onboard staffing nowadays is so limited that the FAs can rarely devote much thoughtful attention to the special needs passengers. Sad reality.


[This message has been edited by rambling (edited Dec 13, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by rambling (edited Dec 13, 2003).]