Questions and Answers

Hello OMAAT:

Just a quick question – how do disabled people use toilets on planes?

On many narrow body planes, surely the toilets are far too small to be used by those that require accessible facilities? How are disabled people expected to go to the toilet on planes? Surely not providing an accessible toilet is discriminatory towards those with disabilities?

I’m less interested in the practical aspects of this question but more with the legal aspects and would be very appreciative if this could be answered!

Many thanks,

Cregor.

Looks like the [URL=’http://civilrights.findlaw.com/discrimination/air-passengers-with-disabilities.html’]Air Carrier Act[/URL] is what governs this situation. However in my (very brief) search online, what I found dealt with actually boarding/disembarking and not restroom facilities.

I’ve seen this many times in practice. There is a small folding wheel chair that flight attendants access from a front closet of a narrowbody plane. They set it up and roll it back to the bulkhead aisle seat (only place I’ve ever seen it used) and two flight attendants help the passenger into the chair and wheel them to the lavatory. From there, the passenger grabs the bars on the wall of the lavatory. A flight attendant waits outside until the passenger is finished.