• Man Drags Himself Through Terminal After Flight Forgets His Wheelchair
    56 replies, posted
Wheelchair user sues Luton airport after dragging himself throug.. Guardian >A man who dragged himself through a terminal at Luton airport after his self-propelling wheelchair was left behind on a flight is suing the airport. Justin Levene, a paraplegic man, arrived at the airport in 2017 and found his custom-made, self-propelling wheelchair had been left behind. The international wheelchair athlete told the BBC airport staff had offered to push him through the terminal on a high-backed wheelchair, which he rejected as degrading. >Instead, he felt he had no choice but to drag himself across the floor for hundreds of metres. It's not like they didn't offer assistance I guess.
Is it bad if my immediate thought was that he refused the push wheelchair and dramatically dragged himself across the floor in order to give news outlets a sensational title and give him a reason to sue If I'm being horrible please let me know
That's pretty much my thinking as well. But at the same time I don't know the ins and outs of wheelchair etiquette. He's an athlete so maybe it's the fact someone was going to wheel him out that upset him, I just don't understand why he didn't or couldn't wheel himself out using the one they offered.
In my eyes it's more of a form if protest since flight companies do this shit all the time with little to no consequences outside of just putting it on the next plane. A wheelchair is one thing that is absolutely vital to have once you touch down on the runway. Regular bags can be just as important but "man left without laptop at airport" isn't going to be a headline. Of course he could just be a dick who wants some sob points, I have no idea.
The assistance they offered him was legitimately degrading. They didn't offer him a replacement wheelchair, they offered him one which he could only be strapped into and sit there helplessly. It's like if someone offered to push you in a baby's pram to your taxi. As someone who normally pushes himself that must have been a fucking insult.
I'm glad someone here sees this situation for how bad it is. Independence is one of the most important things for disabled people, when you have it taken away you do everything you can to get as much back as you can. To him dragging himself along the floor is much less degrading than being pushed around when he is perfectly capable of moving himself. The lack of empathy and understanding here for disabled people and the importance of independents is pretty depressing. If you have never lost your independence, and had to fight to get it back, you have no right to judge him. The sad thing is, I'm not surprised people have jumped to such horrid conclusions as 'he's doing it for attention' or 'a reason to sue' without evidence due to how badly people still treat disabled people. I really hope those who did jump to those conclusions listen and learn from what disabled people say about their experiences and feelings.
This is the sort of wheelchair he would have been offered. https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/223974/b8cf02a6-758b-486e-887f-d767903c04f4/5135tg.JPG It's not like he rejected a replacement manual wheelchair. He rejected being strapped into one of these and pushed to a taxi, without a wheelchair as someone else's problem so the airport could save face. He has every right to reject that. It's demeaning, and if they can't provide a temporary personal wheelchair to someone after they've lost theirs, they deserved to get sued.
Really considering airports have shit like AED's I really have no idea why they wouldn't have folding self-propelled wheelchairs on hand. My stepfather was in one for a while and those things take up less room than a goddamn folding card table.
This explains why he wouldn't take it, high backed wheelchair doesn't really do the article justice.
Yep, all the airport offered was to strap him to a trolley and dump him out of it outside the terminal. Instead, he chose to hijack a baggage trolley and push himself to the taxi. People need to look at it like that and consider what is more dignified. They didn't offer him a replacement wheelchair until they got his back or anything like that.
luton think they're in the right when countries abroad have manual wheelchairs at airports... why wasn't there extra emphasis on ensuring the wheelchair was on the plane in the first place.. this isn't a piece of luggage with shitty personals, this is a vital equipment which he cant carry out his daily tasks without.
...Okay yeah. I'd be insulted as well.
what the fuck. Making him the wheel in a wheelbarrow would be less demeaning...
No self-respecting disabled person would ever sit on that wheelchair.
no legal obligation to provide a self-push wheelchair as they adequately provided and accommodated a disabled person, which is what is legally required of them, he doesn't have a leg to stand on here im sure his lawyer told him this before he was paid. good luck with this one lad.
Jesus fuck, did they steal this from the psychiatric ward?
Mocking the disabled. Classy mate. Fuck you.
and what if the only assistance was demeaning and degrading to the individual? and furthermore, by increasing the risk of developing pressure sores you are forcing this person into an unhealthy situation. don't add "lad" and act like a prick because you read in some shitty book about the law, why not talk to people and understand real life issues.
I'm a little lost. What's so particularly demeaning about that particular wheelchair?
They did not adequately provide assistance or accommodate them, had they done so they would have provided a self-push wheelchair for use until theirs arrived. The "assistance and accommodation" they would have provided is take them to a taxi and make them someone else's problem
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This makes it make way more sense, I apologize for my previous statement
That's correct! We should push to make it a legal obligation, thanks for pointing out how disabled people are legally oppressed in society.
plus it doesnt even look very comfortable either.. immigration at UK airports is shit, sometimes 40 minute plus queues. so you're forcing someone to shit on a shitty carry chair for hours.
Those high back wheelchairs are used to get passengers off the airplane since they fit between the aisles. Once the passenger is off, they are moved onto a regular wheelchair waiting on the jetbridge.
it's not very dignified. in the UK of all places where healthcare strives to make it a dignified experience (well it says it does), for them to not have good facilities to aid disabled passengers is simply pathetic. I went to sainsburys and they had 8 manual wheelchairs and 6 buggies for less-able customers to use. And that's a fucking sainsburys, not an airport.
Yeah , I will readily admit that it's not the best experience but it's something that works where space is pretty limited. The alternative would be letting them drag themselves through the floor of the airplane, which gets filthy because people are gross, or having them carried out, which I'm not really sure is a more dignified way of doing it for the passenger. Not to mention that a lot of times the people working in assisting these passengers are underpaid and not exactly suited for the job. I had a wheelchair passenger waiting an additional 20 minutes one time because the person that was supposed to be assisting him said he was too heavy to push through the airplane in the chair for her and wanted to call for help. I ended up doing it myself instead once I realized what was going on.
I mean if you fly in to Luton you're kinda asking to be treated like a sack of shit.
why do people rate dumb when its true, luton is the worst airport in europe
I don't know about you but I don't usually get to choose my connecting flights.
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