Disability advocate Jono Bredin was excited to be invited to speak about inclusive housing at a summit in Canberra this month.<\/p>\n
But the Melbourne resident, who lives with cerebral palsy, soon found out there were no flights on any airline \u2014 or accommodation once he got there \u2014 that could assist with his needs.<\/p>\n
He said the irony of being unable to attend an accessibility event due to inaccessible transport wasn’t lost on him.<\/p>\n
“I was very angry,” he said.<\/p>\n
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Jono Bredin is fed up with the how difficult it can be for people with disability to travel by air like anyone else. (ABC News: Nico White)<\/p>\n
Do you have a story to share?\u00a0Email\u00a0Specialist.Team@abc.net.au<\/a><\/p>\n Mr Bredin’s power wheelchair exceeded the allowed height for most aircraft flying from Melbourne to Canberra, and the only flights that allowed a chair of that size did not provide hoist transfers.<\/p>\n The only other transfer option, a slide board transfer, would be very difficult and require the support of multiple people, including airline staff who may not be trained.<\/p>\n Mr Bredin said he has turned down several work opportunities outside of Victoria due to accessible flights being unavailable and been forced to take 10-hour train rides instead of 1.5-hour flights to see his family.<\/p>\n He said it was hard to believe air travel for people with disability was “still an issue in such a developed country”.<\/p>\n “It makes me lose faith in people and companies,” he said.<\/p>\n “It is particularly hard to inspire \u2026 other people with disability and advocate they can live a life like anyone else when this isn’t necessarily always true.” This was far from the first time Jono Bredin was unable to find a flight that met his accessibility requirements. (ABC News: Nico White)<\/p>\n People with all kinds of disability have faced issues during air travel for decades<\/a>, reported being humiliated<\/a>, having wheelchairs broken<\/a> and assistance animals turned away<\/a>, being left in an aircraft<\/a> or terminals for hours, and having to shoulder extra costs<\/a>.<\/p>\n Loading…<\/p>\n Last August, the federal government made a series of accessibility pledges as part of the release of the Aviation White Paper.<\/p>\n No timeline was set on the reforms at the time, and almost 12 months on, people with disability like Mr Bredin are still facing issues.<\/p>\n The disability pledges<\/a> included:\u00a0Creating aviation-specific disability standards like those that exist for public transport<\/a>\u00a0Reporting on compliance with the new standards\u00a0Increasing compensation for damaged mobility aids\u00a0Looking at ways to keep airlines from limiting the number of wheelchair users on a flight\u00a0Ensuring airports explain how new developments will be accessible\u00a0Requiring airlines to offer passenger profiles that include their accessibility needs\u00a0“I believe airlines do not actually want [people with disability] on planes \u2014 it would be too much work for them,” he said.<\/p>\n “They do the bare minimum to make it look like they care \u2026 but there is no intentional demonstration for inclusion.”<\/p>\n ‘Happens every time’ you fly<\/p>\n Sheetal Balakrishnan, a senior solicitor at the Justice and Equity Centre (JEC), which represents people with disability in discrimination complaints, said her firm frequently heard from people who had issues flying by air.<\/p>\n “For some people, they say that it happens every time they fly,” she said.<\/p>\n Sheetal Balakrishnan says cases of people with disability being treated poorly by airlines and airports frequently come across her desk. (ABC News: Chris Taylor)<\/p>\n One of the JEC’s newest clients is Chelsea Hopkins-Allan, who said she was left thousands of dollars out of pocket and missed two flights home when trying to travel from Sydney to Albany in regional Western Australia with Qantas.<\/p>\n “I felt like I didn’t matter as a human being,” Ms Hopkins-Allan said.<\/p>\n Ms Hopkins-Allan lives with several health conditions that exacerbate her muscle weakness and fatigue, and uses a motorised scooter when she travels.<\/p>\n The 37-year-old has travelled with her scooter on Rex, Virgin and Jetstar without issue, and before booking with Qantas, did extensive research and booked accessibility services that would meet her and the airline’s requirements.<\/p>\n Chelsea Hopkins-Allan was able to travel smoothly with her scooter on other airlines before her recent issues with Qantas. (ABC News: Andrew Chounding)<\/p>\n She said Qantas gave her conflicting advice about travelling with her scooter and battery, misplaced parts of her scooter, and left her waiting alone for long periods.<\/p>\n When Ms Hopkins-Allan was unable to use her scooter, she became unwell and sat in a toilet stall for an hour until she recovered enough energy to walk the distance across the terminal to figure out how to get home.<\/p>\n She said she was not offered vouchers, food or accommodation, and in the end, a relative was forced to drive almost 10 hours to Perth and back to take her home.<\/p>\n “It felt like a failure at an organisational level,” Ms Hopkins-Allan said.<\/p>\n “I’d done everything right on my end \u2026 and nothing I did made a difference.”<\/p>\n She has made a complaint against Qantas to the Human Rights Commission, arguing the airline breached the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).<\/p>\n “Qantas has to provide its services in an accessible way. At the heart of Chelsea’s complaint is that Qantas didn’t provide the assistance that she needed \u2026 and if a service is not accessible, we say it’s disability discrimination,” Ms Balakrishnan said.<\/p>\n Chelsea Hopkins-Allan wants Qantas to ensure its services are accessible. (ABC News: Andrew Chounding)<\/p>\n In a statement, a Qantas spokesperson apologised to Ms Hopkins-Allan for her “very upsetting experience” and it was now offering compensation.<\/p>\n “We have made a number of improvements to how we support customers with specific needs since this occurred, however we are thoroughly investigating the experience she had to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” they said.<\/p>\n A turning point?<\/p>\n The Australian Federation of Disability Organisations has been involved in the consultation and co-design of the aviation standards recommended by the white paper, alongside other disability, legal and aviation sector representatives.<\/p>\n CEO Ross Joyce said talks had been very positive so far but the scale of the issue remained significant and people with disability “were sick of it”.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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