At roughly 12:00 p.m. Monday, Donald Trump was sworn in because the forty seventh President of america of America. Over the approaching days, the brand new president’s administration will take form as america Senate fulfills its duty to offer “recommendation and consent” on Trump’s nominees to the cupboard. On this e-newsletter, I’ll assess what which means — who these nominees are, and what we are able to anticipate over the following 4 years in accessible journey coverage.

Politics isn’t the issue and the “Shadow Precedent”

We are able to all agree that, after any carefully contested election, it’s pure for these on the facet of defeat to anticipate the worst. The November 2024 election was certainly carefully contested, and the practically 50/50 break up among the many citizens implies that whereas half of Individuals are inspired by the end result, the opposite half should not.

With respect to the subject that considerations this weblog — equal entry for disabled individuals in journey and tourism — the historic document doesn’t counsel that the brand new administration will result in any main unfavourable adjustments to accessible journey coverage. The individuals set to steer the Departments of Justice and Transportation, Pam Bondi and Sean Duffy, respectively, have been neither transformative allies nor enemies of the accessible journey agenda.

Governments in america on the federal, state and native ranges have an extended historical past of failing to face up for equal entry — enforcement of civil rights legal guidelines just like the Individuals with Disabilities Act and the Air Provider Entry Act have been dismal, and practically all disabled Individuals agree that elected leaders should do higher.

However, right here’s the factor — the issue on the U.S. Division of Transportation isn’t the Secretary, who’s a political appointee by the president, however fairly the profession service staff who preserve a stranglehold on departmental insurance policies, resisting efforts to deliver concerning the adjustments that disabled vacationers want most.

One of the vital troubling examples of profession staff run amok pertains to the “Equal Various Determinations” (EADs) that the Division so continuously points. EADs are waivers of provisions of the Air Provider Entry Act — when granted, they enable airways to disregard vital civil rights protections that disabled vacationers depend upon. When DOT staff rule that airways can violate ACAA laws, disabled vacationers are harmed and left powerless — they don’t have any proper to problem the Division’s determinations, and lots of the software supplies are sealed, making them inaccessible to the general public and journalists although Freedom of Data Act requests. EADs collectively kind what I name a “shadow precedent” — the waivers quantity to abrogation of civil rights legislation and as soon as issued, airways line up, one after one other, to reap the benefits of the identical.

I first addressed the DOT’s problematic strategy to EADs in my article, Barrier-FULL JetBlue Enterprise Class Seat is a Choking Hazard for Wheelchair Customers. The seat is, for my part, fully inaccessible and poses the chance of great harm (or loss of life?) for non-ambulatory passengers. The design omits a key requirement of the ACAA, 14 CFR 382.61, which requires 50% of seats to have a moveable aisle armrest. The Division has outlined a moveable aisle armrest as “an armrest on an aisle seat that fully strikes or folds out of the way in which whereas the seatback stays in an upright place to allow a passenger with a mobility impairment to securely make an unobstructed switch from an aisle wheelchair to his or her plane seat.” It’s actually understood as a security function, however JetBlue’s “Mint Suite” doesn’t have that, and it’s as a result of the Division granted the airline an EAD — successfully, a license to violate the civil rights of disabled individuals.

Different airways which have utilized for comparable waivers embrace Finnair (learn my overview of the Nordic provider’s disastrous “Air Lounge” seat), Qatar Airways (their QSuite is among the least accessible premium seats) and — how did you guess — infamous incapacity rights violator American Airways (you possibly can learn their waiver software right here). Actually, it’s no shock that the airline responsible of at the least $50 million in civil rights offenses has requested for permission to make disabled passengers’ expertise worse.

Assessing Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s Tenure on the Division of Transportation

Former Secretary Pete Buttigieg was welcomed to the Division of Transportation in 2021 with nice pleasure. He was anticipated to be a transformative determine. Secretary Pete mentioned lots of the proper issues, together with this quote that gained plenty of consideration within the incapacity neighborhood:

“No different type of transportation — trains, buses, boats — requires you to surrender your mobility gadget once you board. The identical must be true of airways. So, within the months and years forward, we plan to document a brand new rule that can enable passengers to remain of their wheelchairs after they fly. We all know this gained’t occur in a single day, however it’s a purpose we’ve got to work to meet.”

— Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Secretary of Transportation

Together with his service on the DOT now full, and a brand new chief set to take the reins at, it’s price asking — How did he do? Within the closing days of the Secretary’s tenure, the Division distributed a press launch outlining his accomplishments, parts of which I’ve reproduced right here:

All Individuals want entry to transportation to be able to thrive, whether or not that could be a private automobile, public transit, or the power to stroll, bike, or roll. However good transportation – and the financial alternatives that include it – haven’t all the time been equitably out there to all Individuals. Secretary Buttigieg got down to change that trajectory to make sure all modes of transportation are inexpensive, accessible, and out there to everybody who may rely on them.

• • Enhancing Air Journey Accessibility: USDOT finalized a rule establishing new protections to make sure that airline passengers who use wheelchairs can journey safely and with dignity. The rule units new requirements for immediate, protected, and dignified help; mandates enhanced coaching for airline staff and contractors who bodily help passengers with disabilities and deal with passengers’ wheelchairs; and specifies actions that airways should take to guard passengers when a wheelchair is broken throughout transport. The Division additionally finalized a rule on accessible toilets on plane, requiring airways to make toilets on new single-aisle plane giant sufficient to allow a passenger with a incapacity and an attendant to strategy, enter, and maneuver inside as essential to make use of the plane bathroom.
  • Guaranteeing Accessible Transit: USDOT invested greater than $1 billion by the All Stations Accessibility Program to make it simpler for individuals with disabilities and mobility limitations to entry among the nation’s oldest and busiest rail transit programs by important upgrades, such because the set up of elevators and platform enhancements. USDOT additionally proposed new guidelines to make sure that transit stops meet Public Proper-of-Manner Accessibility Pointers.
  • Selling Reasonably priced Housing Close to Transit Stations: USDOT introduced practically $50 million in revolutionary finance grants in assist of transit-oriented improvement and downtown redevelopment initiatives to assist enhance housing and transportation affordability. USDOT additionally introduced $28 million in FTA grants to assist equitable transit-oriented improvement.
  • Reconnecting Communities Program: The Reconnecting Communities Pilot and Neighborhood Entry and Fairness discretionary grant applications – designed to reconnect communities divided by transportation infrastructure – obtained $1 billion in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation and an extra $3 billion from the Inflation Discount Act. Secretary Buttigieg introduced 256 federal grants for transformative, community-led tasks, together with capping interstates with parks, including transit routes, and filling in sunken highways to reclaim the land for housing.

For the needs of this text, it’s price specializing in the Secretary’s acknowledged accomplishments within the space of wheelchair accessible air journey. Among the many Division’s actions throughout his tenure included:

• The Division established a brand new rule that mandates airways (a) present “protected and dignified” help to disabled passengers; (b) publish plane cargo maintain dimensions, (c) implement enhanced coaching for airline personnel and contractors; (d) adhere to a brand new set of clear requirements within the occasion of wheelchair harm or loss; and (e) reimburse the fare distinction for passengers unable to take their most well-liked flights as a result of a mobility gadget won’t match within the cargo maintain, amongst different provisions.
• The Division fined American Airways $50 million — the most important such high-quality in American historical past — for severe violations of the civil rights legal guidelines defending disabled passengers between 2019 and 2023.
• Secretary Buttigieg revealed a doc entitled the “Airline Passengers with Disabilities Invoice of Rights,” which describes the phrases of the Air Provider Entry Act.
• The Division established a closing rule on “accessible” toilets on single-aisle plane, requiring airways to make toilets on these plane sorts giant sufficient for disabled passengers and an attendant to strategy, enter, and maneuver throughout the bathroom.
• The USDOT claims to have “laid the groundwork for airways to switch their cabins to permit passengers to stay of their wheelchairs onboard an plane and for a future rulemaking that may handle the difficulty throughout the business.”

The DOT’s quite a few actions over the previous 4 years are finest described as “restrained” — though some new laws had been an enchancment over the established order, I didn’t think about any of them to be “residence run” victories that enormously expanded accessibility. The extremely touted “Airline Passengers with Disabilities Invoice of Rights” established no new rights, and was merely a doc that defined the Air Provider Entry Act in layman’s phrases — a worthy endeavor, however actually not groundbreaking (an ACAA explainer has appeared on this web site for practically a decade).

A rule that ascribes a “rebuttable presumption” of guilt to airways that harm wheelchairs and mobility gadgets is a superb step ahead in observe, however the DOT doesn’t have a historical past of holding airways accountable for incapacity rights violations. The historic high-quality levied towards American Airways is notable, however it occurred within the closing months of Secretary Buttigieg’s tenure — civil rights legal guidelines should not well worth the paper they’re printed on except they’re aggressively and religiously enforced. One massive high-quality seems extra like a PR play than a change in departmental observe (which is basically pushed by profession staff, who haven’t prioritized accessibility).

The so-called “accessible toilets” rule doesn’t ship really accessible bogs, and the meat of the rule won’t affect new plane deliveries for greater than a decade. As a result of airframes are utilized for 20 to 30 years on common, nearly all of plane could not function the bigger toilets for as much as 4 a long time! Though it seems wheelchair securement areas on airplanes (see this prototype and this one) could also be simply across the nook, the DOT made no provision for wheelchair customers to entry the bathroom in their very own wheelchair. The rule was destined to be, as I reported, “outdated earlier than it goes into impact.”

Although the DOT claims to have “laid the groundwork” for a wheelchair house on airplanes, the required innovation was led to by advocates (meet Chris Wooden and Michele Erwin) and corporations like Delta Flight Merchandise and Collins Aerospace. The FAA’s approval course of for the Delta resolution has been sluggish. Secretary Pete’s feedback on the significance of advancing the event of a wheelchair securement resolution and finally mandating it by rule set a bar that I’m hopeful the incoming administration will attempt to achieve.

So, what’s Secretary Buttigieg’s legacy? For my part, the affable secretary can be remembered as a wonderful communicator, one who mentioned the suitable issues concerning the significance of equal entry in air journey. His checklist of accomplishments on the DOT is longer than lots of his predecessors, and the actions of his Division made the incapacity neighborhood consider in a brighter future.

Additionally it is vital to acknowledge that the accessibility insurance policies promulgated throughout Buttigieg’s time period had been “protected” fairly than barrier-breaking. He didn’t excel at corralling profession service personnel, who resisted the general public’s requires consequential motion and undermined disabled vacationers’ civil rights by the opaque EAD docket. Maybe, if given extra time, Secretary Pete may have cleaned home and reclaimed energy from the forms. Whereas he left the Division with a lot work nonetheless to be accomplished, I’m grateful for his service.

What can we anticipate from incoming DOT Secretary Sean Duffy?

I do not need a crystal ball, and make no ensures that my learn of President Trump’s likely-to-be-confirmed nominee, former Congressman Sean Duffy, would be the proper one. However I did overview his testimony earlier than the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, which you’ll be able to watch right here:

Mr. Duffy obtained supportive introductions to the committee by the 2 United States senators from his native State of Wisconsin — Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican, and Senator Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat. Senator Johnson remarked on Duffy’s character, noting that in 2019 he resigned his congressional seat to take care of his new child daughter, Valentina, who has Down Syndrome.

Although Mr. Duffy’s shut connection to incapacity is not any assure that he’ll champion the accessibility laws wanted by the neighborhood, I anticipate that he’ll deliver to the Division an open thoughts. In response to Senator Baldwin’s query about how he would enhance accessibility in air journey, Duffy acknowledged that “ensuring that individuals who have disabilities have entry to all modes of transportation…is critically vital.” That’s the suitable response and I used to be joyful to listen to it.

Questions on accessibility for disabled vacationers additionally got here from Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois), who’s a retired Military Nationwide Guard lieutenant colonel and bilateral above knee amputee. She is a member of our neighborhood and champions enhancements in accessibility. Duffy recommitted to creating the transportation accessible to all, and to working with Senator Duckworth to attain that finish.

The nomination listening to was not a controversial one — committee members approached the listening to with an curiosity in bipartisanship, understanding that Mr. Duffy would be the subsequent Secretary of Transportation. Senators acknowledged their priorities and expectations, which included aviation security, funding in transportation, and accessibility in air journey and public transit, amongst different considerations. Congress will play a big position in setting the agenda because it all the time does, however advocates will consider closely as properly. It will be important that disabled individuals proceed to advocate for the prioritization of equal entry all over the place, for better transparency, and for the dismantling of the “shadow docket.”

I stay up for persevering with to have interaction with the Division of Transportation and hope that Mr. Duffy will serve the American individuals properly — together with and particularly disabled individuals — as the following Secretary of Transportation. Protection of vital DOT actions regarding accessibility will all the time be lined on this e-newsletter.