Air Travel Barriers

Airports and planes can be tricky to navigate when you have a disability. Traveling by plane is something I do quite frequently, and I am constantly on alert.

Everything is different each time you go – security screenings, staff, departure gates, boarding protocols, seats, in-flight services, landing gates, baggage carousels. You can’t just cruise through and ride the bumps when you have access needs.

I struggle to walk down plane aisles as I have poor balance. I also like to let the attendants know about my deafness before everyone comes in. I always ask the staff at my gate if I can board early, and they are usually very accommodating.

Once aboard, my biggest struggle is understanding the announcements. I make a genuine effort to hear. I honestly do. I have noise-cancelling headphones which I tuck my microphone into, to try to hear as much as possible. It’s not clear, but it’s the closest I can get.

This is me holding my headphones in my lap, on the plane. I’ve tucked my auditory processor into one of the headphones.

I am hyper vigilant and always reading situations for other, non-auditory clues.

I stare blankly at the “announcement in progress” and feel like an invisible blob. I look to the faces of neighbouring passengers to get a sense of urgency -

• a smile: did the pilot just make a travel pun? Are we arriving early at our destination?

• a groan: are we delayed? Do we need to get off the plane? Have we run out of food?

• a flash of fear: are we about to crash? Have we run out of food??

A view down the aisle of a plane. On the back of the seats are screens which read “an announcement is in progress. Please wait”.

I would really like to see these announcements captioned. Failing that, I’d like the crew to come and speak to the person with a communication disability and tell them what they’ve just told the rest of the passengers.

Information is power.

This is the difference between having a disability and being disabled.