Raising children is hard enough, even more challenging when they have disabilities that require long-term care and attention. While time-consuming, it does not make them an inconvenient chore or undeserving of sympathy.
It is with these unwelcoming attitudes that Hawaiian Airlines charged Debbie Kobayakawa a fee in order to receive service in escorting her autistic 26-year-old son to his gate at the airport. Ian Nieblas is also hard of hearing and legally blind.
“She told me it would be $100 and I told her no, not going to happen,” Kobayakawa said to Hawaii News Now.
The irony of the issue, Kobayakawa also mentioned, was that her son had not been charged for assistance by other airlines, such as Alaska or United, and that only Hawaiian Airlines charged her for these services.
"He knows how to fly and get on the plane, but he can't read well enough to navigate the airport and he has challenges with directions," she said.
Hawaiian Airlines in the wrong
As stated in the U.S. Department of Transportation by law, all airlines are to offer assistance to passengers with disabilities on and off the plane. There is no mention, however, of charging them for such aid.
Yet for Hawaiian Airlines, whose policy states that “we will escort passengers with disabilities from the curb to the gate and vice-versa free of charge,” such statement is hypocritical. The only time they will charge for assistance is if their help is needed for an extended period of time.
"I've never heard of anything like that," said Louis Erteshik, who is in favor of legal rights for the disabled. He is also a member of the Hawaii Disability Rights Center. "That's very questionable as to whether that's legal."
For companies to charge a fee to escort disabled children to an airport gate is degrading.
Injustice
“It’s a badge of shame for our society, that thousands of disabled people are still not being treated as equal citizens and the everyday rights non-disabled people take for granted,” said Equality and Human Rights Commission chair David Isaac to The Guardian
Such equal rights include fair treatment within job departments, transportation accessibility, reasonable adjustments concerning rental housing and humble escorting when needed.
“Successive governments have failed to implement rights for disabled people in full, and now is the time to move this forward,” Isaac said. “While there has been some improvement for physical access there is still a long way to go.”
(This article was also written for Ka Leo.)
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