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Volume 4, Numbers 5 and 6
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ISSUES FINAL RULES TO IMPLEMENT THE AIR CARRIER ACCESS ACT OF 1986
On March 6, 1990 the Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), issued final rules under the Air Carrier Access Act of 1986, governing nondiscrimination on the basis of handicap in air travel. The Act provides that "no air carrier may discriminate against any otherwise qualified handicapped individual, by reason of such handicap, in the provision of air transportation."
The DOT regulations require airlines to provide services for persons with disabilities including narrow wheel chairs to allow access to lavatories, assistance as requested in boarding and leaving the plane, in preparing to eat opening packages and identifying food, and in loading and retrieving carry-on items. The regulations also provide that the airline may not limit the number of persons with disabilities on a plane, or require that persons with disabilities be accompanied by an attendant except where actually necessary, or require advance notice except when special accommodations are needed. The regulations also require that new aircraft, or dered by the carrier after the effective date of the provision, or delivered to the carrier more than two years after the effective date, meet certain structural requirements:
1) Aircraft with 30 or more passenger seats shall have movable aisle armrests on at least one-half of the passenger seats.
2) Aircraft with 100 or more passenger seats shall have a space in the aircraft desig nated for the storage of at least one folding wheelchair.
3) Wide-body aircraft would have to have at least one accessible lavatory, allowing for a person in a wheelchair to maneuver.
4) Aircraft with more than 60 passenger seats, and with an accessible lavatory, shall be equipped with an operable on-board wheelchair.
Maureen McCloskey of the Paralyzed Veterans Association said, in a telephone interview with MONITOR staff, that the New Mexico Chapter of PVA has petitioned for review of the regulations in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit Court. McCloskey said PVA is concerned about the attendant rules and advance notice requirements as they give too much discretion to the air carriers. Readers wanting additional informa tion should contact Ms. McCloskey at (202) 872-1300.
The Federal Aviation Administration's rule regulates exit row seating in aircraft and requires that only per sons who are determined by airline personnel "to be able without assistance to activate an emergency exit and to take the additional actions needed to ensure safe use of that exit in an emergency may be seated in exit rows." Thus, the airline would be allowed by FAA to refuse exit row seating to persons who are blind, persons less than 15 years of age, or persons with severe hearing or speaking difficulties.
A spokesperson for the Air Transport Association which represents major airlines said the regulations would compromise safety and that the ATA was considering court action (Wash. Post, 3/3/90). Nancy Van Duyne, an attorney with the ATA, said in a telephone interview that the organization requested a stay of the effective date for six months, but was turned down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. ATA has not challenged the DOT regulation on substantive grounds, but on May 4, 1990 ATA petitioned the court for review of the FAA exit row seating rule.
The National Federation of the Blind considers the FAA exit row seating rule discriminatory. Marc Maurer, president of the NFI3 has said that in emergencies involving thick smoke or at night blind persons would be su perior to sighted persons in dealing with the emergency (Wash. Post 3/3/90). The NFB is working with Senator Hollings (D-SC) and Representative Traficant (D-OH) to pass legislation to allow blind persons to sit wherever they choose, (the Air Travel for Blind Individuals Act, S 341, HR 563). The bill was introduced in response to the FAA's proposed rule. On June 12, 1989, the bill was reported out of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. No action has been taken in the House.
  
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