Disabled Leader Forced to Crawl To Board Plane

WASHINGTON Rick Douglas did not have to cast far for an exampleto use in his Saturday night speech, celebrating the thirdanniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, on challengesstill facing the disabled.

To get to the speech in Allentown, Pa., the executive directorof the President's Committee on Employment of People withDisabilities had to drag himself up five steps and crawl onto aUnited Express plane at Dulles International Airport as passengersand airline personnel watched.

After landing, he waited until the other passengers had gottenoff and then dragged himself from his seat and down the steps.

Douglas, disabled by multiple sclerosis, said United Expresspersonnel at Dulles Airport first told him that he could not fly onthe commuter airplane at all because he needs a wheelchair, then saidthat he could go only if he got aboard without any assistance.

"It was humiliating. My clothes are covered with aviation fueland oil," he said Sunday in a telephone interview from Allentown. "Iwas coming up against the day-to-day discrimination that discourages(disabled) people from traveling and even working."

Douglas, 50, who lives in Washington, said United Expressviolated federal law requiring equal access to public transportationfor disabled people. The incident is an example of how airlinestaffs have not been properly briefed on the laws, he said.

Douglas said he and his wife had traveled Saturday fromCharleston, S.C., and were transferring at Dulles to United ExpressFlight 6251 to Allentown. When he purchased the ticket, he explainedthat he is a wheelchair user and that information was put on histicket record with the airline, he said.

But airline personnel stopped him at the gate. When he draggedhimself up the steps at Dulles, the United Express ground crew "justwatched me," he said. Finally, one female staff member "broke ranks"and helped him lift his legs up the steps, Douglas said.

After landing in Allentown, none of the ground crew would helpwith his bags, so the co-pilot carried them, he said. Douglasreturned from Pennsylvania on a USAir flight Sunday and airline staffcarried him up the steps in a chair to board, he said.

A United Express spokesman, Barron Beneski, said personnel hadfollowed airline and Federal Aviation Administration rules in makingDouglas board unassisted. The 19-seat commuter plane had no flightattendant, and in case of emergency, passengers must be able to getout on their own, Beneski said.

"If you can't get yourself on the airplane, you can't board"when there is no flight attendant, Beneski said. "You are apotential safety threat in the event of an emergency to yourself andother passengers."

Access to transportation has been a major issue for disabledpeople. Advocates for the disabled have been lobbying airlines andairports, particularly those with small commuter planes, to invest inspecial lifts to get disabled people onto airplanes usually boardedusing steps, Douglas said.