Over the two years, I got chance to travel to many countries
learning and sharing many things, advocating and studying the practice of “accessibility”
and disability rights. During my quest
and adventures, I flew with many airlines, and all of them treated me well and
assisted to my solo travel with equality and fair treatment. However, in my
most-recent travel case, I had to face severe hardship with the people and the
system of Biman Bangladesh airlines.
Unfolding my story, I got an invitation to come to
Bangladesh for a conference as a special guest. Although I was working hard in
Nepal with many projects and campaigns, I was not pretty sure whether I was accepting
the invitation and making my way to Bangladesh or not. In early 2014, I got to
see Bangladesh when I cultivated the ever-lasting friendship with many
individuals, dove into Bangali culture and society. Having remembered all those
great memories of warmth and hospitality that Bangladeshi friends exhibited
towards me, ultimately, putting my works aside, I decided to get ready for the
trip to Bangladesh for few days.
Everything worked out well for me, I got visa, I packed up
everything. The final step I needed to do was to purchase plane ticket for the
round trip.
Just the day before I was intending to fly, in the morning, my
brain was about to explode when I heard from my travel agent that Biman
Bangladesh Airlines rejected my flight-booking to Bangladesh via their
aircraft. The reason was simply groundless and nonsense. They argued that I
wouldn’t be allowed to fly unless I would bring someone sighted or guide-dog.
After hearing this, I straightly went to the office of Biman Bangladesh and
told everything to the front-desk attendant. She was utterly unaware of my case
yet she treated me well. She was positive towards my case and led me to the country
manager . I, my brother and a friend of mine saw the country manager, Mr.
Mohammed Amrul Ques. I introduced
briefly about me, my works and my adventures to him, and also I told him why I
was intending to go to Bangladesh. I asked him why Biman Bangladesh rejected my
booking and put some conditions which were totally out of the ground. He said
that he would love to help and he would treat passengers with all kinds with
equality. However, he repeated the same argument that the blind passenger must
be accompanied by a sighted person or guiding-dog. He, then, contacted Dhaka
head office and airport. He clearly told me that in the manuals of their
airlines, the rules have been coded that the passengers who are blind must be
accompanied by someone or have guide-dog with them to assist. I found these two
conditions were flatly discriminatory that was against our dignity and right to
travel. “Bringing sighted companion for whom paying extra ticket out of my
pocket is almost impossible, and having guide-dog in the context of Nepal is
not applicable.” I tried to convince him with this arguments and also told him
about my travel history and the right-based support that other airlines
provided me in my previous travels.
After the long conversation, he agreed to let me book my
flight and also informed me that he would be flying on the same day with the
same flight to Bangladesh. He said to me that he would assist me in the flight.
I was satisfied with his positivity, but still not satisified with the system
and the conditions of Biman Bangladesh airlines. He was willing to assist
himself only because he was flying with the same flight on the same date, but
what would happen if he was not flying? Would he be still willing to let me
book the flight? It was my serious concern, and I lastly repeated my argument
that the policy of the airlines should be changed in any case.
I agree that the country manager was positive, however my
struggle was neither against him nor with the staffs of Biman Bangladesh. My
concern was with the discriminatory policy of Biman Bangladesh and against
their unfair system which would not recognize the right of persons with
disabilities to travel independently.
As a youth and disability rights activist, I realized that I
had two choices: either to act and move my next step against their unfair
policy or just to give up, but ultimately chose the first option. I came back
home, wrote a post in facebook and also wrote the E-mail to Biman Bangladesh’s
higher authority. My Facebook post got huge public support with hundreds of
comments and shares which I thought would be effective to pressurize the decision-makers
of Biman Bangladesh to change their discriminatory policy for the passengers
with special needs.
I was not talking about charity, I was not asking for their
pity either, but I just wanted to tell them about our right to the same freedom of travel that
other people without disabilities would enjoy.
Now, the story is still unfinished. On the day of my flight,
At the airport, while I was trying to check in, the staffs at counters asked me
if anyone was travelling with me. When I said “no”, they tried to stop me
saying their airline’s policy and insisting the same thing that was told to me previous
day. I, then, told them that I had already talked to the country manager and he
would assist me, they were still treating me very rudely. Ultimately after a
while, they arranged wheelchair for me to escort up to the aircraft.
Later in the waiting area, I met their station manager and
later the country manager appeared, apologized and assured that the blind
passengers in future would not face the same problem and harsh treatment from
them. They also asked me to delete the facebook post that I wrote the previous
day assuring me that they would welcome blind passengers in their service and
they will treat and assist the travelers with special needs in future. I
traveled together
with country manager who assisted me throughout my journey
and held a great conversation on how they could better help the passengers with
disabilities
in future. He told me that in his 30 years of service
experience in Biman Bangladesh working in many countries, he had never faced
this sort of case before.
He committed to make the service of Biman Bangladesh
accessible for all. He escorted me in the Dhaka Airport up to the exit. When I
met the person who was there to pick me up, I said good-bye to the manager.
Upon receiving such positive responses and commitment to
take action for equal access, I deleted my facebook post as a sign of gratitude
to their initiation.
This is not the end of the story and the struggle. That day,
the country manager travelled with me and offered the great assistance by his
heart, but my question is with the unfair policy of Biman Bangladesh: how will they
make sure that the passengers like me who can’t see or who have some kind of
disability will receive fair treatment and be assisted and allowed to travel
via their aircraft? Obviously the country manager has positive heart, who
invited me in his office once I would return to Kathmandu, but my concern is that just like this time in future, he won’t
always be available personally to assist other passengers with disabilities every time who might travel to Bangladesh via Biman Bangladesh, right? So, what about the discriminatory policy
of this airlines which has negative perception towards blind/visually-impaired?
If we don’t ask for our rights, the answer is always “no”. I
wish somebody from Biman Bangladesh would read my post, understand the rights
of persons with disabilities and change their discriminatory policy while
treating blind/visually-impaired passengers like me. This is indeed a very
unfair policy of Biman Bangladesh that has to be changed soonest the possible.
If the business companies like Biman Bangladesh do not
consider us as their valued clients, then we will be compelled to take another
step to claim our rights. We should act for the fact and fight for the rights,
that’s all what I believe.
I am raising the voice on this issue in the favor of justice
not because I faced hardship with this airlines but because I felt our rights
were taken away by the unfair system of Biman Bangladesh. I raised and spoke up
about this issue not only for me but for the future travelers with visual
impairments or other kinds of disabilities who might want to travel to
Bangladesh via their aircrafts. I really want to see the change in such unfair
system. Independent traveling is our right, which should be recognized and
respected and offered assistance whenever persons with disabilities would need!
No comments:
Post a Comment