Mollie Keating
Advocate, PAAT Lead -- DRSDAirlines for America, American Airlines, Inc., Delta Airlines, Inc., JetBlue Airways Corporation, Southwest Airlines Co., and United Airlines, Inc. have filed a case against the US Department of Transportation (DOT) in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The airlines, in this case, are asking that the court overturn a 2024 DOT rule that was meant to increase protections for individuals traveling with mobility devices.
Disability Rights South Dakota (DRSD) believes that the rule as it stands provides travelers with indispensable protections. Damaging, losing, or destroying an individual’s wheelchair or any assistive technology device devastates that person’s ability to communicate or move from place to place. A change to the Rule would set us back to a time where individuals with disabilities hesitated or refused to travel by plane because of concerns that their assistive technology (wheelchairs) could be damaged. If the individual does decide to travel, their equal access to the friendly skies and the broader world could be impacted due to damage done to their property that needs to be fixed before they can continue on their way.
A person’s physical disability should not impose barriers to everyday activities such as traveling, taking a vacation, or going to work. Damage to personal property necessary to participating in these is preventable and should be the very least that can be asked of a commercial air carrier.
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