Auden and Caprice
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‘Airlines should be made to have hoists available at every terminal in Australia. Using aisle wheelchairs is dangerous and humiliating.’
Caprice’s partner Auden has quadriplegia.
He needs to travel by air regularly.
At check-in, six to eight staff – often not properly trained – transfer Auden from his power wheelchair ‘to a tiny aisle wheelchair’, which doesn’t have the recommended support.
Often staff use a slide board but these can be dangerous and cause injury.
Caprice says passengers should have the option to stay in their wheelchair until they reach the plane.
Once onboard, the same number of staff, sometimes using a slide board, transfer Auden from the aisle wheelchair into his seat.
On a recent flight, a staff member slipped and Auden almost fell.
‘On top of this risk for physical harm,’ Caprice told the Royal Commission, ‘it is a humiliating and demeaning experience for my partner.’
Several times, Auden’s power wheelchair has been damaged during transfers.
‘He’s been left strapped in to a tiny airline wheelchair and expected to stay bound into an aisle chair for over an hour.’
Occasionally, some flights have a hoist. One or two staff are able to transfer passengers directly from their own power wheelchair to the aircraft seat.
Caprice and Auden want every airline and airport in Australia to have a hoist.
They would also like the passenger’s wheelchair to be available at the arrival gate, instead of the baggage area, for immediate transfer.
‘These are simple solutions that would save airlines money and mean they are no longer discriminating against people with disabilities,’ Caprice said.
‘[Auden] deserves the same rights and treatments as other Australians.’
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.