Disability
Related: About this forumAthletes call for change after airline damaged wheelchairs
Athletes from all across the country traveled to central Virginia this week for the National Wheelchair Basketball Championships. But for some players, the road to victory was met with challenges even before tip-off.
Hours and hours of practice culminated in preparation for the National Wheelchair Basketball Championships, Henrico Countys new Sports and Events Center put out the red carpet for the best-of-the-best in wheelchair basketball.
Myranda Shields is a wheelchair basketball athlete and the social media manager for the Ability 360 Wheelchair Phoenix Suns team. She told 8News about how her team, among others, found their wheelchairs broken and damaged by Southwest Airlines, with some of the wheels having been removed. This left the athletes stranded on their plane at Richmond International Airport.
They treat it like its luggage and its not luggage
its a part of our bodies, Shields said.
While family members tried to get the proper parts back to the athletes so they could exit the ramp, the team said Southwest Airlines called the police on them for violating protocol. Player Justin Walker remarked how this type of mistreatment shouldnt be happening in 2024.
These devices
its our second life. Its giving us our freedom, Walker said. If you take that away, were basically animals at that point.
https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/henrico-county/its-literally-our-legs-athletes-call-for-change-after-airline-damaged-wheelchairs/
I guess Southwest gets the traveling "Shithouse of the Skies" trophy this week.
RainCaster
(11,504 posts)I will never fly that airline after hearing this. Others should do the same.
Jilly_in_VA
(10,838 posts)Every single airline is guilty of this. Every single one.
RainCaster
(11,504 posts)At that point, I used a wheelchair to get around airports, and I was working for a firm in the UK. I flew through LHR 6-8 times a year in addition to my many trips across the US. At T5, I was always the last one off the plane, but the flight crew pushed me up to their special path through Customs, and I was always the first passenger through that phase from my flight. Now I have two good legs again, so I don't need that anymore.
Diamond_Dog
(34,504 posts)What in the heck did the airline do to their wheelchairs that caused such pervasive damage?