“I’m being held prisoner on the Orlando Airport tonight.”
That’s a textual content message I despatched to my sister in 2017 — After arriving late at evening on a flight to the Orlando Worldwide Airport (MCO), I used to be unable to safe a wheelchair taxi.
Regardless of there being a protracted line of cabs on the taxi stand, none had a wheelchair ramp. In additional progressive cities and states, Uber and Lyft present wheelchair accessible automobiles, however the Florida Legislature has outlawed cities within the Sunshine State from imposing any rules that might assure equal entry to disabled folks. With public transportation shut down for the evening, I used to be caught on the airport regardless of my sister’s house being only some miles away.
I might roll there utilizing my energy wheelchair, I assumed — most likely in 45 minutes or much less — however alas, there have been no sidewalks. No sidewalks from the terminal constructing to the general public roads? Although it might appear onerous to imagine, a lot of airports in america — notably these as massive as MCO — supply no pedestrian entry to the airport. Or, extra precisely, they supply no pedestrian entry to disabled folks, since nondisabled folks can stroll on the grass and step over curbs with none difficulty.
The one method out of the Orlando Airport that evening, for me, was on the multi-lane airport entry roadway itself — to go away, I might have needed to drive my wheelchair within the highway, fully unprotected. It was a danger I used to be not keen to take.
My solely possibility was to ebook a room on the Hyatt Regency resort positioned contained in the airport terminal and, at a price of a whole lot of {dollars} for just some hours of relaxation, I couldn’t even get a room with an ADA compliant bathe. That’s a problem for an additional time.
I’ve discovered myself in the same scenario at different airports too — Cleveland Hopkins Worldwide Airport, Dallas-Fort Price Worldwide Airport and Lambert-St. Louis Worldwide Airport are just some examples that come to thoughts, airports the place I’ve been trapped and needed to spend the evening (at CLE and STL, I needed to sleep on a bench). Although these experiences wouldn’t meet the usual for a legal conviction on the cost of false imprisonment, it certain felt prefer it — my freedom to exit the airport had been restricted on account of inaccessibility.
Airports that fail to offer sidewalk entry to the surface world behave unacceptably; each airport must be required to offer a wheelchair accessible pedestrian walkway to every airport entrance/exit that motorists have entry to.
Some cities have met this normal — the primary time I wheeled to and from an airport was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the place wheelchair taxis seemingly don’t exist and airport accommodations should not have wheelchair accessible shuttles. So as to attain the Hyatt Place resort I had booked close to the Albuquerque Worldwide Sunport, I needed to roll there myself on what was a journey of about 1.5 miles.
In one other case, I wheeled from the Las Vegas Strip to the Las Vegas Airport — not as a result of I wanted to, however as a result of I needed to test it out for an article like this. The sidewalks supplied all through the airport campus have been large, easy and well-manicured… I loved the desert panorama!
An airport can’t be thought of really accessible if it doesn’t meet the next three circumstances concerning the supply of accessible transportation:
- Wheelchair accessible sidewalks join the airport terminal to public roadways.
- Taxis, experience share companies, resort shuttles and rental automotive shuttles present wheelchair entry, with equal wait time to straightforward (inaccessible) companies.
- Public transportation companies function from the earliest flight departure to the newest arrival, permitting passengers to succeed in the airport through public transit in any respect hours.
Disabled vacationers have a proper to be free from false imprisonment on the airport, full cease. With the overwhelming majority of U.S. airports owned by native governments, particular person airport authorities have a accountability to make sure pedestrian entry, in addition to equal entry to all modes of transportation made obtainable to passengers. Airports can and must be companions in ADA enforcement, with most already having the ability to take action via the licensure of floor transportation suppliers.
Is your native airport accessible through sidewalk to wheelchair customers and different pedestrians? Have you ever ever been caught on the airport in a single day? Let me know within the feedback under!
