Disabled community accuses airline of discrimination

The Sun
by Elly Fazaniza and Trinity Chua

PETALING JAYA (Dec 25, 2012): An audio recording between a ticketing officer from budget airline Firefly Sdn Bhd and an individual posing as a wheelchair-bound passenger that went viral has resulted in an outcry from the disabled community over the airline's neglect of their needs.

Malaysian Association for the Blind committee member Mohd Faisal Che Yusoff said the recording is just the tip of the iceberg.

"The bigger picture is that all public transportation and services are inadequately equipped to accommodate persons with disabilities," he told theSun when contacted yesterday.

The six-minute phone conversation between activist Aruna Sena and the Firefly staff was first posted on a blog on Dec 17 and went viral on Facebook and other social networking sites.

When Aruna informed the airline staff he was wheelchair-bound, he was told assistance would be provided to him to reaching the aircraft but he would have to embark and leave the aircraft on his own.

Aruna said he recorded the conversation to raise the issue of lack of compliance of public transportation with legal requirements such as the Persons with Disabilities Act 2008 and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006.

Firefly Sdn Bhd corporate communications spokesman D. Kalpana, when contacted, said although the airline does accommodate wheelchair-bound passengers, they must inform the airline 48 hours before departure for arrangements to be made.

Kalpana said the airline has policies to assist passengers "right up to/from their aircraft seat".

Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee said Section 27 of the Persons with Disabilities Act 2008 provides that such persons shall have the right to access to, and use of, public transport, and should apply to air transportation as well.