Fee for improved mobility at airport is unacceptable

People with disabilities sometimes have difficulty doing things other non-disabled persons may take for granted, such as travelling abroad by air. The greatest challenge people with disabilities have had to face has been society's misconception that they are "a breed apart". Nevertheless, in this day and age society has recognised that people with disabilities have the same abilities, needs and interests as the rest of the population.

I welcome the news that Malta International Airport (MIA) has enhanced its facilities for passengers with a disability and those with a degree of mobility impairment (Improved Mobility At MIA Translates Into Nominal Charge For Passengers, June 18). This is in line with the EU regulation that stipulates that such people should have equal opportunities for air travel. Indeed, everything comes with a price in life and as a person with a physical disability I am ample proof of this. But to charge a fee to render a service for mobility impaired and disabled travellers is unacceptable and an act of sheer robbery at the expense of people with disabilities.

Last September I travelled to Dublin by air via Luqa airport. I notified Ryan Air, the airline I travelled on, well beforehand to prepare the necessary facilities for departure. However, the chaos and disappointment I went through was unbelievable. Since I am tetraplegic, that is paralysed from the chest down, I use a powered wheelchair - and my wheelchair is my freedom. Globe Ground Malta, the handlers responsible for disabled travellers for Ryanair, truly lack communication skills.

Since my physical impairment is quite severe, I have to be bodily lifted by two assistants onto a small and narrow chair referred by ground staff as siġġu bambin. This procedure occurs onboard the ambulift prior to boarding the aircraft.

Then I am wheeled through the aisle and lifted into a passenger seat. The sole siġġu bambin owned by the handling company was being used by another passenger with a disability at that moment and the "handlers" wanted to bodily lift me onto the passenger seat like some sack of potatoes. The verbal abuse by the handlers was unbelievable. I have travelled to numerous European airports in the past and always the handlers were courteous and well trained.

I would like to put forward the following questions to MIA.

Have the handling staff been professionally trained by paramedics in how to lift severely disabled passengers? Is this nominal charge going to be levied on Maltese patients travelling abroad for medical reasons when the ambulift is required or is it aimed at the disabled Maltese and foreign passengers travelling on holiday/business? Can MIA specify how the equipment has been improved for this service?

Most European airports have kept upgrading their facilities for disabled travellers without having to be stimulated by any EU directives and without imposing any charges.

According to the MIA chief executive, 4,500 passengers with a disability are expected to use the new service in the next six months. That is a revenue of €2,070.00 at 46c each. It is disgusting of MIA to turn an equal opportunities service into a profit making service with the right to revise the tariff up and down depending on the number of disabled travellers that use the service.

I expect the National Commission for Persons with Disability and other related organisations to take a stand on this abuse.