August 20 is National Accessible Air Travel Day in the United States. The day was initiated by All Wheels Up (AWU), an organization set up in 2011 to increase awareness for safer and more dignified accessible air travel through research and advocacy. AWU created this annual day in 2022, to raise awareness about the need to improve accessible air travel for people with disabilities and to recognize achievements being made. To mark the day, Canada's Chief Accessibility Officer, Stephanie Cadieux, is providing an update on progress made since Canada's first-ever National Air Accessibility Summit. The following statement summarizes her update:
"In recognition that air travel accessibility is an issue worldwide, I thought it a good day to provide an update on the efforts underway since the National Air Accessibility Summit held in Ottawa on May 9, 2024. Holding this summit was a commitment that the federal government made last year, after meeting the National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC) to discuss how to make sure that when persons with disabilities travel by air they are always treated with respect and dignity.
It's been about 10 months since the night my wheelchair was left behind when I flew home from Toronto. People with disabilities know too well that my incident was far from unique. Many serious incidents have captured the public's attention over the last couple of years and been reported on by media.
These incidents have fixed a bright spotlight on how much the air travel sector needs to change. The recommendations that came out of the May summit are a starting point. In the months since, I have continued to meet with organizations involved in the sector to keep the issue top of mind. I'm pleased to report that there has been progress.
The commitments made at the summit were:
- the industry must develop a simplified approach for accommodation requests and accessibility (not medical) documentation that can be shared between airlines,
- the sector must proactively collect data about the experiences of their passengers with disabilities and make it public, and
- the federal government will take a leadership role with international partners to promote better passenger experiences for persons with disabilities, including championing international global standards and harmonizing regulations.
