Air Travel Still a Challenge

A week ago, D'Arcee Neal, a 29-year-old man with cerebral palsy, crawled off a United Airlines airplane at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. This happened because a special aisle wheelchair was prematurely removed from the plane while the other passengers were leaving. Efforts were made to get the aisle wheelchair back, but after waiting 30 minutes, Neal moved himself out of the plane and to a regular-size wheelchair because he had to go to the bathroom. He claimed the flight attendants didn't try to help him. United Airlines apologized to Neal, a representative gave him $300 in compensation, and the manager on duty was suspended, but this situation could have been prevented if there was better communication. The irony of this situation is Neal had just returned from a speaking engagement about accessible transportation at a conference in San Francisco. For more information on this story, go to http://patch.com/virginia/arlington-va/airline-apologizes-after-disabled-man-crawls-flight-reagan-national-airport.