DISQUS

Ben Vess · 1 year ago

Tomasz,

I hope you don't mind but I submitted your link to DeafRead.com and hopefully will bring you a few more readers with opinions and suggestions that might help you.

:)

Ben Vess

JB · 1 year ago

Deb should have answered "No, I don't need assistance. Thank you for asking." I do not think that Deb understood the employee.

Candy · 1 year ago

What kind of assistance does Deb need? She is at the counter and is able to converse with the UA employee, as we can see they are having a conversation.

I guess my question is what kind of assistance does Deb need? Deb never elaborated. All she said was Yes. Well, Hello! yes, what?

From my experience, the only kind of assistance that a deaf person would need is to be kept up to date on the status of the flight and any pertinent information that a deaf person would have a "need to know" in order to be able to catch his/her flight on time. I have found it to be very frustrating that the airline employee manning the boarding desk would not be able to keep a deaf traveler up to date on any delays or other need to know information. In my case, I was told that she could not do that (keep me informed,) rather she suggested I check with her every 15 min or so. [my flight was delayed for 12 hours! imagine, every time I heard something being said on the public announcement system, I had to go and find out what the latest development is and I probably went up to her like more than 50 times that whole time] The time table screen on monitors usually do not provide these information. My experience resulted in my having to go to the boarding desk and ask what is happening every time I hear a loud PA system blaring something I do not understand. What if a person was deaf? how would the person know that there is additional information being announced? And even when I was told what was happening, by the time three planes were available for take off, the boarding attendance was crowded by lots of people, and I almost got on the wrong plane because she was not available to tell me which plane I needed to get on. It was a horrible experience and I do wish there were PA announcement that is subtitled on a screen as well.

I'm sorry, but, I think both Failed.

We do not need interpreters at the airport. We do not need special treatment. I wonder if Deb was expecting to be bumped into first class as is the practice with some airline if you are deaf. And I am also aware of many deaf people doing that, acting dumb, going up to the counter and announce "I am deaf." and stares at the check in desk employee with hopes that they will upgrade their ticket to 1st class for free. We definitely DO NOT need a wheelchair, unless, of course...a deaf person is also physically disabled as such that he/she would need one.

What's the real story here with Deb, anyway?

TomaszStasiuk · 1 year ago

Dr. Mostert comments in his original post what he feels the UA employee should have done.

“Ok, it says here that you’re deaf. What can we do to help you? How about you stay as close to the counter as possible, and whenever there’s an announcement, either come over to me, or I’ll come to you, and tell you what we said.”

Just FYI.

mishkazena · 1 year ago

It happens more often than the public realizes. Deaf people have reported being handed Brialle materials by some people upon hearing that they are Deaf.

Dianrez · 1 year ago

Sounds as if the airline procedures manual might be inadequate. The training the staffers get is probably "offer all disabled people wheelchairs".

Suggestion: give each airline a sheet for their manuals, giving idiot-proof instructions on how to handle deaf passengers.
For example: seating near the stewardess station. Visual aids and captioning. Offer pagers with text information in case of delays or ask for pager address if the deaf passenger is carrying one. There are more ideas that others can contribute!