D'Arcee Neal, a man with cerebral palsy traveling from San Francisco to Washington, D.C.'s Reagan International Airport a week ago, had to crawl during an United Airlines flight when the airline did not provide him any kind of assistance. Neal, 29, had to crawl his way to the airplane restroom when the crew made him wait for his wheelchair for 30 minutes after landing.
"I lifted the armrest and got down on my hands and knees and proceeded to crawl. I was half in the middle of the plane at that point, and I crawled the rest of the way up the aisle. I got to the entry way, and I crawled to make sure [I] didn't fall. It's humiliating," Neal said according to NBC 12.
Neal crawled to his wheelchair as the airline crew watched.
"I expected them to ask to assist me, but they just stared," he said.
D'Arcee Neal: United Airlines apologizes after disabled man crawls off flight: https://t.co/tAtQ5MCIxk pic.twitter.com/WhSs223l2Z
— Fox29WFLX (@Fox29WFLX) October 26, 2015
"As customers began to exit the aircraft, we made a mistake and told the agent with the aisle chair that it was no longer needed, and it was removed from the area," a United Airlines spokesman said in a statement, according to CNN. "When we realized our error - that Mr. Neal was onboard and needed the aisle chair - we arranged to have it brought back, but it arrived too late."
Neal did not raise any concerns to the company about the incident but one flight attendant felt obliged to do so. Neal said he was surprised by the apology.
"Quite frankly, I was just shocked, because this had happened a couple of times before (with various airlines), and no company had ever bothered to apologize when they've done something wrong," he said, according to NBC 4 Washington.
Thanks all for your support. I'm grateful to @united for their quick response and for decisive action. Now, let's get ADA seats on planes. — D'Arcee Neal (@DrChairington) October 26, 2015
The American Association of People With Disabilities (AAPD) noted that this incident was nothing new. Despite the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), a law passed in 1986 that prohibits discrimination against passengers with disabilities, not all airlines comply.
"The ACAA has been a law on the books for nearly 30 years," AAPD President and CEO Helena Berger said, according to the AAPD Statement on Airline Accessibility. "yet people with disabilities are still treated like second class citizens when traveling by plane. Airlines can and must to do better."
