Holiday Travel, Anyone?

While I do have a post brewing on some more human rights in education issues, given the time of year and the fact that I have a few other irons in the fire at the moment, I'm hoping you will forgive my tardiness. And, for now, see fit to accept this collection of potentially useful links for traveling this holiday season (or any other time, for that matter).

But first, some background on the Canadian Transportation Agency.

The Canadian Transportation Agency is an independent administrative body of the Government of Canada. It performs two key functions within the federal transportation system:

• As a quasi-judicial tribunal, the Agency, informally and through formal adjudication, resolves a range of commercial and consumer transportation-related disputes, including accessibility issues for persons with disabilities. It operates like a court when adjudicating disputes.

• As an economic regulator, the Agency makes determinations and issues authorities, licences and permits to transportation carriers under federal jurisdiction.

Part of the Agency's mandate includes dispute resolution (resolving complaints about federal transportation services, rates, fees and charges) and accessibility (ensuring Canada's national transportation system is accessible to all persons, particularly those with disabilities).

And, by the by, the CTA is also the Agency responsible for the historic One Person, One Fare” decision, in which the the right of  individuals with disabilities to have access to a second seat when traveling by air in Canada without having to pay a second fare for an attendant or other use, to accommodate their disability was recognized.

So now that you are sufficiently versed in the "who", let me share with you the "what". For your viewing pleasure, I offer the following three documents from the CTA:

Carriage of Mobility Aids On Board Planes, Trains and Ferries
This document sets out the standards, regulations, policies and procedures concerning the carriage of mobility aids in air, rail and ferry travel. It also provides some helpful tips for those traveling with mobility aids, as well as the procedure to be followed in resolving any problems/issues.

Take Charge of Your Travel: A Guide for Persons with Disabilities
This guide helps to anticipate the questions and prepare for the challenges that can arise when traveling. Starting with suggestions on making reservations, the document goes on to look at potential issues around the terminal, getting on board and your arrival at the other end (including mobility aids, medical clearances and service animals). There are some handy reminders and advice about what to do when things don't turn out as you expected, as well as a section with useful information sources and an index to help with quick searches. A reservation checklist is also included.

Accessible Transportation Complaints: A Resource Tool for Persons with Disabilities
As the title suggests, this document deals with the procedures involved in resolving accessible transportation complaints.

I haven't personally reviewed the documents at any great length or had any reason to use them yet (although I hope to change that soon - meaning I hope our family will be doing some travel by air this summer) but I hope you find them useful, either now or in the future.

H/T to the Arch Disability Law Centre and their great newsletters

Good News From Metro Transit

You might recall some previous posts I've written, one about my own efforts to have our local bus company institute a policy to which would allow the accompanying support person of a person with a disability to ride the bus free of charge. Because, as I noted at the time, although they had a policy in conjunction with the CNIB, providing that a blind person could travel with a support person without paying or a second fare, no such policy existed for individuals with any other type of disability. Which efforts, I was pleased to note, were ultimately successful.

A year later, I wrote about the issue Metro Transit, the Halifax Regional Municipality's transit system, was facing when some complained about their long-time policy of offering free bus passes to people who were blind.  But not to anyone else.

At any rate, I am pleased to advise that Metro Transit will be launching major policy and operational changes to improve accessibility on all of its routes later this year. This was apparently motivated by a Human Rifghts Commission complaint by passengers Tammy Robertson and Michael Craig.

Both Ms. Robertson and Mr. Craig are wheelchair-users and were unable to use most of the routes on the transit system despite most of the bus fleet being accessible. We are told that "Their experience reflected widespread frustration among people in the disabled community". I imagine so.

At any rate, upcoming changes are to include:

• passengers using wheelchairs being able to use low-floor buses serving any route, providing the ramp can be lowered so they can board the bus. At the moment, low-floor buses only pick up passengers if the route is designated fully accessible.
• passengers, with proper identification, who require attendants having their attendant's fare included in their own. [ED. Thank you very much]
• snow clearing at the Mumford and Dartmouth terminals being improved and increased to a 24-hour priority.
• the Request a Stop program, which provides for disembarking between stops for safety at night, being extend to disabled passengers at any time of day if it becomes reasonably necessary to accommodate them, such as situations of adverse weather or for safety reasons.

Gerald Hashey, the Human Rights Commission's manager of dispute resolution, is quoted as stating that "this initiative has allowed the largest transit system in the Maritimes to provide leadership on our commitments under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities". He notes, quite rightly, that public transit is key to independence and participating fully in life for people with disabilities.

I can't find the press release (which I received in an email) anywhere online so I am going to reproduce it in its entirety here.

But before I do that, there's one other thing I would like to mention.  And that is how pleased I am to see the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities* being used in such a manner.

One of the (many) things I never got back to discussing after posting about the Values, Vision and Action Workshop I attended this past March was the discussion around the use of the Convention in our advocacy work.

I've written before about some of my hesitation reservations around the practical usefulness of the Convention from a legal point of view.  But one of the things discussed at the CACL workshop was taking a copy of the Convention along with us when we visit our MLAs or MPs on various issues and pointing out the relevant sections to them.

Now that I like because although I am hesitant as to how much teeth the Convention might actually have in a court of law, it's primary usefulness may well be to quote from it in our advocacy work with politicans and the media.  Which, apparently, is exactly how Ms. Robertson and Mr. Craig used the Convention when they filed their Human Rights complaint. Now that's what my mother would call "using your noggin".

Following is the text of the press release.

Public transit improvements will soon benefit riders with disabilities in Halifax Regional Municipality.

Late this fall, Metro Transit will launch major policy and operational changes to improve accessibility on all of its routes.

Metro Transit worked with the Human Rights Commission and passengers Tammy Robertson and Michael Craig to help create many of these changes.

Ms. Robertson and Mr. Craig, who both use wheelchairs, could not use most of the routes. Their experience reflected widespread frustration among people in the disabled community.

When the changes are introduced passengers using wheelchairs will be able to use low floor buses serving any route, passengers who require attendants will have the attendant's fare included in their own and snow clearing at the Mumford and Dartmouth terminals will be improved and increased to a 24 hour priority.

Media Contacts: Gerald Hashey
Human Rights Commission
902-424-3132
E-mail: hasheygj@gov.ns.ca

Lori Patterson
Metro Transit
902-490-6609

Michael Craig
902-454-6859 or 902-476-8288

Tammy Robertson
902-789-1530

Release Date: 07/31/11

'All Aboard The Bus' - Some Troubling Thoughts

I put off blogging about this particular issue because, quite frankly, it troubles me. I had hoped that discussing the matter with others in the disability community and taking some time to mull it over myself might help to settle my thoughts, but to no avail.

It started when I stumbled across this story last week - I was completely unaware that Metro Transit had a history of offering blind and visually impaired passengers free passes on the Halifax buses.

Apparently they were about to pull the plug on the practice after receiving "informal complaints from disabled folks who said it wasn’t fair that one group was getting complimentary passes, but not others". Combine the complaints with the fact that some $420,000 in possible revenue was at stake and some feared the die was cast. End of the day, however, Halifax Council, for whatever reason, caved and the free bus passes for the visually impaired continues.

Here's my problem. I really am not sure on which side of this issue I sit, either legally or personally.

Legally, we all know that sec. 15(1) of the Charter prohibits discrimination on the basis of "physical or mental disability". So if free bus passes are given out to the blind but not, for example, to the mentally challenged, aren't those with intellectual disabilities being discriminated against?

And legally, is this really any different than allowing a blind person's support person to travel for free without having a similar policy for individuals with other disabilities?

Actually, despite how it may appear at first blush, I would answer probably not.

If a disabled person is unable to access a mode of public transportation (be it bus, aircraft or taxi) without the assistance of a support person, then to make that person pay two fares to access a system that the rest of the public can access by paying only one fare may well be discriminatory.

And if a public transit provider was to have in place a policy whereby they allowed individuals with one type of disability (ie. blindness) to have a support person travel for free but did not allow those with different disabilities (who also validly needed the services of a support person to access the mode of transit) to do so, I would say they were only helping to pound the nails into their own coffin.

READ MORE

Just How Equal Are We?

When I wrote enthusiastically about Air Canada's new (albeit forced) policy to allow support persons to travel for free when accompanying a person with a disability, I noted on their website a laundry list of disabilities which, according to the airline, would "require medical approval for travel". A list which caused me a little concern.

In the same post, I noted the case of a partially deaf and blind Vancouver man who was awarded $10,000 by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal after Air Canada insisted he fly accompanied when he felt perfectly capable of flying on his own. Although the Human Rights Commission did not order the airline to automatically allow Mr. Morton to fly unaccompanied it did order the airline to give him an individual assessment of his abilities before making any decision as to whether or not he could fly alone.

Which I must say, makes a lot of sense to me. If the airline is truly worried about the safety of its passengers, as it asserts, than common sense tells you it needs to inquire into whether or not Mr. Morton will be able to travel safely on his own. Not make blanket decisions and issue proclamations based on stereotypes.

Actually, it's much like the well-recognized Bona Fide Occupational Requirement (BFOR) in the human rights employment context. If the employer can prove that doing X is an itegral part of the job and that even with accommodation, a person is unable of performing X, a BFOR has been established. Let's give Mr. Morton a chance to show whether or not he is capable of reacting to standard safety procedures without assistance. If he can, there is no need for a support person.

But apparently Air Canada disagrees. The airline has appealed the Human Rights Tribunal decision to the Federal Court of Canada.

READ MORE

Balancing Act

Writing about Air Canada's implementation of the One Passenger, One Fare policy last week, I noticed,but failed to comment on this:

If any of the medical conditions listed below apply to you, you will require medical approval for travel. . . .

• You have an unstable medical condition (physical or psychological).


• You have suffered from a recent major medical incident (e.g. heart attack, heart failure, stroke, respiratory failure)


• You have chronic obstructive lung disease and/or a chronic heart condition.


• You have undergone surgery in the last 2 weeks on your brain, eyes, ears, sinuses, chest or abdomen.


• You have anaemia or leukemia.


• You require oxygen or need to use your personal oxygen concentrator (POC
  . . .


• You require the use of a battery operated medical device during the flight.


• You have an infectious or contagious disease such as the chicken pox, tuberculosis, etc.


• You require an attendant to assist you with your personal and physical needs during the flight. See the 'Travel with an attendant' section below.


• You have thrombophlebitis.


• You have had an incident on board a previous flight or at the airport and may require medical attention.


• You have caused a flight diversion on a previous flight you have taken.


• You are an Unaccompanied Minor and have a medical problem.


• You have an intellectual disability (e.g. Down syndrome, Alzheimer's disease). Air Canada offers a Service for Unaccompanied Adult Requiring Assistance


• You suffer from epilepsy.


• You are travelling with an infant aged 7 days or less or a premature infant or an infant with a medical condition.


• You have a cast that was placed on a part of your body less than 72 hours ago.


• You require an extra seat for medical reasons (e.g. leg cannot bend or flex or must remain extended at all times, back problems, full-leg cast, etc)

Now, some of those things I can most certainly understand (such as requiring oxygen, as an obvious one), but some did cause me to raise my eyebrows just a little. Like having an intellectual disability or epilepsy.

Sure, depending on the severity of your condition, I can understand that there may be times when an airline would need to know. But if you have well-controlled epilepsy or are mildly mentally intellectually challenged ... not so much.

And since when did mentally or physically challenged individuals need a doctor's approval to travel? Say what?

I was reminded of this when reading today's Chronicle Herald (scroll down to the bottom of the linked page) and saw this short piece.

READ MORE

'One Passenger, One Fare' Comes Home To Roost

If you're planning on doing any air travel any time soon, head over to Air Canada's site and check out their Extra Seating for Passengers with Special Needs page.

Making reservations for this summer, I was pleased to find that, in addition to other services*** offered to individuals with disabilities, and in compliance with the requirements of the Canadian Transportation Agency, as of January 9, 2009, Air Canada has passed its policy making available extra seating free of charge to passengers travelling within Canada who require additional space due their disabilities, including obesity, or to accommodate an attendant.

The procedure to be followed can be found here (and I would strongly recommend you read that before booking any tickets) and the medical form to be filled out by your attending physician and then returned to Air Canada can be found here.

A few other interesting points:

• Passengers who are quadriplegic may get permanent confirmation for an attendant. They must keep the Air Canada Medical Assistance Desk advised of any changes to the information they have provided in the Fitness for Travel form, or of any new medical condition.


• Passengers who are disabled by obesity will get confirmation for 2 years, unless there are other medical concerns. It is the passenger's responsibility to inform the Air Canada Medical Assistance Desk of any new medical concern, or of any significant changes to the information they have provided in Section 3 of the Fitness for Travel form.

Future travel for passengers with a long-term medical approval:
For all future travel, you will only be required to contact the Air Canada Medical Assistance Desk once you have booked your flight, and provide your booking information and authorization number. The medical information you will have provided on the 'Fitness for Travel' form will be on file. However, it is the passenger's responsibility to advise Air Canada of any changes to the information they provide on the Fitness for Travel form.

~ ~ ~ ~

Air Canada offers a Service for Unaccompanied Adult Requiring Assistance. [Ed. Who knew??]

Happy flying.

"We'd sit outside and watch the stars at night
She'd tell me to make a wish
I'd wish we both could fly"
— James McMurtry, the song 'Levelland.'

***The bottom third of this page has lots of useful info starting with the sections in grey entitled Extra Seating down to the bottom of the page.

Obesity as a Disability

And now for something a little different ...

You will recall our previous discussions around the release earlier this year of a landmark decision by the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) concerning the right of individuals with disabilities to travel by air without having to pay for a second seat, for an attendant or other use, to accommodate their disability.

I am pleased to grant the request of Ms. Kelly Kilpatrick to write a guest post on a slightly different aspect aspect of this decision, as set out below.

After all, the issue of who is included and who is exluded from participation in a particular group is certainly one that strikes a chord among the disability community. But what about the question of who exactly is included by the term "disability"?

Something to think about ...

Obesity as a Disability

I almost don't want to touch this one because it's such a hot button issue for so many. The Canadian Supreme Court ruled that is requiring airlines based in that country to accommodate disabled and obese passengers when they need an additional seat or an attendant to accompany them.

The Supreme Court of Canada had refused to hear an appeal from Air Canada, upholding a Transportation Agency ruling ordering carriers to charge all passengers the same fare and not make people pay extra when they need an additional seat for medical reasons.

Whether or not obesity should be defined as a disability in legal terms remains hotly contested. Many feel the obese are NOT disabled because for the vast majority of obese people, there is no medical reason for their obesity. Their size is largely due to high-calorie diets and low activity levels.

There is no doubt that the debate over the obesity issue as a medical condition will only continue to grow as the battle over coveted and expensive airline seats rages on.

Obese people are getting more of the treatment reserved for the disabled. Many are able to secure handicapped parking permits and preferred parking. There have even been some cases where obese people attempt to sue for disability payments. But is this fair? After all, obesity is not caused by an injury or disease (yes, obesity is itself a disease). There are many corresponding and disabling conditions associated with obesity that cause significant mobility impairment and some conditions that can be fatal if not controlled.

But, what makes a person disabled? Is it merely the fact that, no matter how you got to that point, there are things you can no longer do or activities for which you require extra assistance?

The issue of obesity-caused disability will only worsen as time goes on and the number of obese Canadians skyrockets. Obesity has reached epidemic proportions and we, as a nation, will need to decide if accommodating the limitations people place on themselves by being obese make sense or if they only enable those suffering from it.

By-line:
This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of a nursing assistant. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot com

Welcome To The Wild Blue Yonder

You might recall our discussion earlier this year when the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) released a landmark decision concerning the right of individuals with disabilities to travel by air without having to say for a second seat, for an attendant or other use, to accommodate their disability.

Known as the historic decision in the “One Person, One Fare” case, the agency recognized the right of these individuals to have access to a second seat when traveling by air in Canada without having to pay a second fare.

But let's never take anything for granted. Reading yesterday's newspaper, I discovered that three of Canada's major airlines (Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz and WestJet) had applied to the Supreme Court of Canada for permission to appeal that policy. Fortunately, they were unsuccessful in their appeal, with the SCC refusing to hear the case.

What that means, from a practical point of view, is that following a six year legal battle, the airlines, all of them, will finally be forced to make those additional seats available at no charge to disabled or obese passengers.

Which, while good news, is really pretty sad, don't you think?

I mean, really, should it have ever been fought in the first place? Isn't it really just an issue of basic human rights? I can only echo the question asked by legal counsel for the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, which my gut tells me had played a big role in this victory.

"Where is the federal government’s leadership on this issue?" said the council’s Pat Danforth. She argued a quicker and easier solution would have been for Transport Canada to impose industry-wide regulations on all air carriers.

Indeed.

Update: By the way, just to be clear, although the article in the Chronicle Herald speaks of a second seat for a disabled person who needs additional room for a wheelchair or stretcher, or an obese person who needs an additional seat, don't be fooled. The decision also applies to a person with a mental or developmental disability who requires an attendant to fly with them.

Small Victories

I wrote earlier this year about my personal endeavour to have our local bus company institute a policy to which would allow the support person of a person with a disability to ride free of charge when accompanying the person with a disability. As I noted at the time, although they did have a policy in conjunction with the CNIB, providing that a blind person could travel with a support person without paying or a second fare, no policy existed around any other disabilities.

It was just in the midst of that little debate that the Canadian Transportation Agency "released a landmark decision concerning the right of individuals with disabilities to travel by air without having to pay for a second seat, for an attendant or other use, to accommodate their disability. In a historic decision in the “One Person, One Fare” case, the agency has recognized the right of these individuals to have access to a second seat when traveling by air in Canada without having to pay a second fare".

Which sounded like good ammo to me.

At any rate, I am pleased to announce that in June, 2008, Kings Transit passed the following policy:

Where any rider with a disability that requires the need of an attendant to ride the Kings Transit bus system the attendant shall be entitled to ride free of charge.

All riders requiring attendants shall fill out a form and register with Kings Transit identifying who their attendants are.

Attendants are only entitled free ridership while in the presence of their client and if necessary their return trip should they be returning alone.

Riders shall notify Kings Transit of any changes with their attendants.

Which just goes to show, I suppose, that we should never, ever give up. We will get there. Eventually. One step. One policy at a time.

And, lest we foget, kudos to Kings Transit.

'Disabled Canadians Jubilant to Have Transport Barrier Removed'

Does your adult son, daughter or friend need a support person with them when traveling by public transportation? Have they or you ever expressed frustration with the fact that it costs twice as much for a person with a disability to use the same public transportation available to other Canadians?

I know I have. And still do, as a matter of a fact. Right at this moment, I am haunted by one of the many items on my never-ending To Do List, this one to recontact our local bus company to continue the debate about whether I should have to pay a second fare for my teenage daughter's support person. It turns out that they do have a policy in conjunction with the CNIB, providing that a blind person can travel with a support person without paying or a second fare. But they don't have any policy around any other disabilities.

After telling them how great I thought it was that they have this policy in place for the blind, I calmly pointed out that to have such a policy for one type of disability and not for others might, by some, be considered discriminatory. Somehow, that seemed to get their attention.

They advised me that would be making a policy around the issue for all disabilities and provided me some with free bus passes in the interim. Which was fine, except that was quite a while ago, the bus passes have long since been used up and I need to call them back again and get them moving on this issue. Just one more time and place when I have to do someone else's job.

But fortunately, and the reason why I am now writing this post, I will now have some backup when I make that call and write that letter.

Today the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) released a landmark decision concerning the right of individuals with disabilities to travel by air without having to say for a second seat, for an attendant or other use, to accommodate their disability. In a historic decision in the “One Person, One Fare” case, the agency has recognized the right of these individuals to have access to a second seat when traveling by air in Canada without having to pay a second fare.

Sometimes, I like to convince myself that I haven't simply been procrastinating (or more accurately, been too overwhelmed to finish what I started in a timely manner) but that it's all fate, you see ... of course, I hadn't been aware of it but I had just been waiting for this decision to be released so I would have some good quality ammo on my side for the next time we spoke.

The media release from the Council of Canadians with Disabilities can be found here.

Read it, Preach it, Use it!