It’s impossible to fully understand what it means to travel with a wheelchair until, well, you have to board a plane on a wheelchair.
The reality of the situation was highlighted in a viral video last month, in which a woman’s wheelchair was broken by airport staff.
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The heartbreaking video has racked up millions of views.
Gabrielle deFiebre and her friends were flying from NYC to Phoenix.
They posted this selfie in anticipation of their travel day, but things soon took a turn for the worse.
Delta Airlines staff broke Gabrielle’s wheelchair.
This isn’t just any wheelchair: it was custom-made for Gabrielle’s proportions. That means that it’s impossible to find an adequate replacement.
“My wheelchair is an extension of my body,” she told HuffPost. “It is the way I move through the world.”
Commenters soon called on Delta to do something.
To their credit, the airline did respond. They apologized to Gabrielle and promised to make things right by repairing her wheelchair.
“We fell short here,” they acknowledged . “We’re conducting a full investigation of what happened, because we need to be better.”
But, sadly, it’s a common issue for those who use wheelchairs.
All kinds of people on Twitter have shared their stories of airlines breaking their wheelchairs. It seems like, in many cases, they aren’t adequately compensated.
It’s a big problem.
According to The Washington Post , airlines mishandle about 29 wheelchairs every single day.
In all, this amounts to more than 15,000 wheelchairs that have been lost or damaged by airlines since 2018.
It’s a difficult problem to address.
While stories like this shine a light on the issue, it doesn’t make things any easier for people like Gabrielle who’ve had their wheelchairs damaged.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
