Disabled passengers say new Canada Transportation Act rules increase air travel barriers - Global News

Tracy Odell recalls with a mix of pride and pain the sunny spring day two years ago that her daughter got married in California.Pride in the milestone. Pain at having to miss it.Airlines, she said, effectively failed to accommodate her disability, a problem that thousands of Canadians continue to face despite new rules designed in theory to open the skies to disabled travellers.Story continues belowREAD MORE: Review finds Ontario far from goal of full accessibility by 2025As seating space shrank and cargo doors were often too small for customized wheelchairs, Odell cut back on the flights she once took routinely for her work with a non-profit.“My wheelchair is part of me,” said Odell, 61, who was born with spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic condition that gradually prevents forming and keeping the muscles needed to walk, balance, eat and even breathe. “I’m helpless without it.”“It’s like if someone says, ‘I’m sorry, you can travel but we have to unscrew your legs,’ ” said Odell, who last took an airplane in 2009.WATCH: Accessibility advocates criticize N.S. over access to the Halifax provincial court

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September 08, 2019 at 10:36PM