I'm not even going to begin this post with a clever lead-in.
I'm going to say what I'm thinking, because it needs to be said.
How fucked up of a society are we that in this day and age, people with disabilities are still so incredibly discriminated against?
Ok, now that I've stepped down off of my soapbox, I'll explain that.
The basis of my anger today is a story out of the UK about a 12-year old girl (who happens to have Down Syndrome) not being allowed to fly as an unaccompanied minor on British Airways after a sales representative told her mother that they didn't allow children with the condition to fly with their company because "we've had problems in
the past."
The link to the original article can be found here.
The company is offering the family two return tickets as compensation. I say that that is not even scratching the surface of settling the
debt.
First of all, why are children with Down Syndrome, or any other disability, really that different from a normal child?
We've all been on that proverbial flight where a screaming child makes it the "flight from hell." Does it really make any difference if that child is handicapped?
The answer should be no.
Secondly, whatever ticket agent spoke to the girl's mother should be immediately terminated. The company maintains that it is not in fact company policy to prevent minors with Down Syndrome from travelling unaccompanied. This woman either was not properly trained, or let personal feelings take over.
Either way, a grievous error in judgement was made, and the company should take appropriate measures to ensure that it does not ever happen again, which they are doing in the form of a companywide disability awareness program and additional training for all customer service agents.
