Gary N. Gray

 What Do the Disabled Do During these  Times?

Father God,
We come to you in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, asking you to be with our nation in this time of great need. Please be with our leader, President George Bush, please give him the knowledge, strength and guidance to handle this tragedy in the way that you need him to. God, please be with the families and friends of the people on the flights that crashed. Give them peace, and comfort them in the way that only you can. Be with the families and friends of the people who have died or are wounded. Be with the health care workers who are treating the victims of this tragedy; give them the knowledge, peace and organization that they need to treat the victims appropriately. Please be with all of the flights and people aboard who are still in the air being diverted at this time. Give them peace and a safe landing wherever they might be. Help us all to deal with the issues of family and uncertainty that come with great tragedies such as this one. Help us to realize that you are in control and help us to accept your will. Again, please be with our leaders of this nation and guide them. We ask all of this in the name Your Son, Jesus Christ.

AMEN AND AMEN 

Now, what do you do if you are disabled and there is an emergency on a train, plane, or bus? One would think the new federal ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) passed a decade ago would guarantee the disabled safety; one would think that all of these transportation industries would want the disabled to ride in comfort. I have seen this industry come full circle on the issue of disability. 

With what happened in New York’s Twin Towers (World Trade Center) last week, Disabled Americans need to know these facts. You are on your own once you board a plane, bus, or train. I have been a passenger in planes since 1974 and believe me, my first flight was a blast. Every moment, every sound and every color would be remembered. Every sound, and every color.  

After last week’s tragic events, I will be thinking about safety when on any plane. I will be making fast friends with the person in the seat next to me because my life could depend on it. 

Getting on a plane from your wheelchair can also be a very embarrassing moment. The disabled person may feel helpless because he will need assistance to accomplish this fete. Two airplane employees have to lift you out of your wheelchair to put you in a chair called the L-chair. They strap your body on this chair and lift you up the ramp way stairs. Then airport employees have to lift you from the L-chair to the airplane seat. 

On my first flight I boarded the red and white Trans World Airlines plane. At that time TWA hub city was St. Louis, Lambert Field. My first sight when I boarded this 707 plane was the head Flight Attendant. She started talking to me, giving me extra food and helping open food packages. She even offered me assistance to the rest room.                                                                                               

These wonderful people calmed me down because I was scared and hyped at the same time. My first flight was from St. Louis Lambert Field to Philadelphia International Airport.  The attitude of most airline companies was to help the disabled as much as they could. 

Being a freshman at Southern Ill. University, this was an adventure of a lifetime.  I have been aboard many other planes but they were on the ground at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey.  These planes that I boarded were from the new Cobra chopper to the now famous F-15 Fathom air fighter. I loved Armed Forces Day. So it was a childhood dream, a childhood wonder to be finally aboard an aircraft flying over 300 miles an hour. Disabled or not I wanted to fly.  

Today, when you board a plane the flight attendants will no longer help you. A few disabled folk sued United Air Lines, US Air Lines, Trans World Air Lines, and Northwest Air Lines because they did not give service to them while on the aircraft. Flight attendants did not assist them to the rest room, nor did they assist them in walking on the plane during flight. Flight attendants did not assist them in opening food containers--one disabled passenger fell from a cart while being transported from arrival gate to his departure gate in Dallas.  All of these disabled litigants won their cases in various courts throughout America. Thus the plane industry had to change the procedures on boarding disabled passengers. They also had to change the procedures on serving the disabled one on board. 

If you have limited mobility and take your seat on a domestic flight, that is where you will stay until the plane lands at your final destination.

What would the disabled passenger do if the plane got hijacked or crashed like the planes did last Tues. morning in New York City?  JUST PRAY THAT YOU WILL BE SAVED. 

Focus on Boston’s Logan International Airport.  A plane skids to a stop at the end of the runway. The plane’s nose is in Boston Harbor and water is slowly filling up the front cabin.  Everybody gets off the plane except one person.  YOU GOT IT: a disabled person who needs assistance to leave. 

That Disabled person is in the fourth row of the plane. It takes Boston Airport EMT minutes to get to the plane. Boston Police boats pick up all of the passengers and in their haste they forget the disabled woman. She does not make it because other passengers left her there. She did not make it because the flight crew forgot her. Yes, even the Boston police forgot her. This is not the first time that this has happen nor will it be the last.

In most transportation accidents, this will be the case unless you are traveling with a companion. 

If you are disabled you should have a plan of escape, a plan to live, a plan to act,  or when the time comes, it will be too late. Write it down and memorize it.

BE SAFE
GOD BLESS AMERICA
THAT IS THE GRAY LINE….