OLYMPIA, Wash. – Senator Tammy Duckworth (D) and US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (D) hosted a conference at the White House on Thursday which proposed new accessibility rules for wheelchair users on airplanes.
The event, which included a group of disability access advocates, highlighted new pending Department of Transportation rules which would impose new rules on airlines.
If approved, airlines will be penalized for losing or damaging customer’s wheelchairs, and will be responsible for replacing wheelchairs if they are mishandled.
Airline employees would receive mandated annual training on how to assist passengers with disabilities, and will be required to efficiently notify customers when their wheelchairs have been unloaded from the plane and placed on a different flight.
Buttigieg and Duckworth argued that the rules, which are currently open to public comment, are an important step in creating an equitable transportation system.
“This proposed rule is critically important. As someone who does travel with a wheelchair, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen my own assistive devices and others’ broken,” Duckworth said.
Duckworth lost her legs in an attack during her military deployment to Iraq in 2004, after which she was awarded a Purple Heart for her military service. Buttigieg served a tour in Afghanistan in 2014.
The rules are currently undergoing a federal approval process and will receive input from both airlines and community members.
