Experts predict record-breaking numbers of travelers ahead of Thanksgiving. As the demand for air travel increases, issues for people with disabilities could also increase.
(WFIU/WTIU News)
As a record number of travelers take to the skies, people with mobility disabilities might struggle to navigate crowded airports and planes.
Shu Cole, an Indiana University professor of professor for the Department of Health and Wellness Design, will be looking at ways to make air travel more inclusive and fair with a five-year study.
Cole and her team will research the lived experiences of people with disabilities and recommend improvements for airlines. The study was made possible by a $2.5 million grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research.
As the demand for air travel increases, Cole said complaints around service for people with wheelchairs increases too. Through the study, Cole’s team will investigate how airlines can improve and standardize training for employees.
“What we were trying to do is to help to enhance that accessible air travel service, to make it more equitable and help people with disabilities to have a seamless air travel experience,” Cole said.
Despite interventions, problems persist
It’s illegal for airlines to discriminate against people with disabilities, and airlines have to “promptly” provide assistance on and off the plane. Cole said airlines usually are enthusiastic about inclusivity. But some problems continue to plague the travel industry.
Usually, people who use wheelchairs request service ahead of arriving at the airport. Cole said airlines receive hundreds or thousands of these requests daily.
“When you provide that service for large airports — from where people get into the airport, all the way through TSA and then to the gate — that can take 45 [minutes] to an hour just to provide one service to one customer,” Cole said.
Cole said a major issue in travel is damage to wheelchairs. More than one in every 100 wheelchairs and scooters are damaged, delayed or lost by airlines.
“The wheelchair is not just a piece of equipment,” Cole said. “That's their legs. That's their mobility. That's their independence.”
According to NPR, the U.S. Department of Transportation proposed new standards for how airlines handle wheelchairs and hefty fines.
"This is about making sure that all Americans can travel safely and with dignity," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told NPR.
In October, the Department of Transportation recently issued a $50 million fine to American Airlines for its treatment of passengers with disabilities between 2019 and 2024.
Passengers can’t stay in their wheelchair on the plane, Cole said, and they might get injured moving out of the wheelchair and into an airplane seat. And because airplane bathrooms usually aren’t accessible, people choose not to eat or drink for hours, Cole said. These issues, combined with narrow, crowded seats makes for an uncomfortable trip.
Training could be one solution
Cole is partnering with industry leaders Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and Open Doors Organization. Simon Darcy, an expert and professor in business management at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia, joins Cole.
Cole said the study will follow people with disabilities throughout their journey, host focus groups to discover their lived experiences and understand how they see available assistance from airlines.
“This population — people with disabilities or even wheelchair users for air travel — is not very well studied,” Cole said. “What we wanted to see not only is the barriers they encounter, but also we really want to understand their perceptions towards air travel.”
The study will include perspectives from the airline industry, Cole said. Priorities in management aren’t always aligned, and training for employees isn’t uniform or required. And sometimes airlines outsource these services to third parties, which can be hard to regulate.
The goal is to help airlines, Cole said, not criticize or shame them.
“There are some gaps,” Cole said. “We hope to identify those gaps and maybe provide some recommendations for the air travel service providers.”
Aubrey is our higher education reporter and a Report For America corps member. Contact her at aubmwrig@iu.edu or follow her on X @aubreymwright.
