London [United Kingdom], October 3 : A journalist with the BBC has detailed his harrowing experience onboard a flight from Warsaw, Poland during which he claimed he was forced to "crawl along the airline's floor" to access the plane's toilet due to lack of in-flight wheelchair access.
The BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner took to social media platform X to post a picture which showed his legs on the floor of an aircraft, which he said was on a flight back to London, operated by LOT Polish Airlines, on Monday.
He said he "just had to crawl along the floor to get to the toilet as 'we don't have onboard wheelchairs. It's airline policy'".
{{{{twitter_post_id####}}}}Wow. It’s 2024 and I’ve just had to crawl along the floor of this LOT Polish airline to get to the toilet during a flight back from Warsaw as “we don’t have onboard wheelchairs. It’s airline policy”. If you’re disabled and you can’t walk this is just discriminatory. pic.twitter.com/aFuxo89DR5— Frank Gardner (@FrankRGardner) September 30, 2024
He stated, "If you're disabled and you can't walk this is just discriminatory." He noted that the cabin crew was helpful and blamed the airlines stating that he won't be flying with the airlines again untill they change their policy.
"Won't be flying LOT again until they join the 21st century," Gardner said on X.
Other users on X who commented on the journalist's post described their harrowing experience of dealing with other airlines that do not accommodate Persons with Disabilities.
Airlines based out of the European Union are required to ensure the fulfilment of Rights of Travellers with disabilities. According to Europa, these includes various rights such as Persons with disabilities having the right to assistance free of charge in air.
Frank Gardner has been with BBC and mainly covered West Asia in his career reporting from dangerous warzones from Afghanistan to Somalia. He was shot 6 times at close range while on assignment in Saudi Arabia in 2004, which left severely wounded and dependant on a wheelchair, as described by him on his official website.
He is a prominent voice from the PwD community and was voted as one of the 100 Most Influential Disabled People in Britain, in 2017. He also also received UAE's Zayed Medal for Journalism in 2008 and was awarded as the Journalist of the Year by the European Diversity Awards in 2017.
The World Health Organisation reports that nearly 16 per cent of the world's population suffers from disability.
According to the United Nations, disability inclusion is critical towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals. The World Programme of Action (WPA), adopted on 3 December 1982 by the UN is a global strategy to enhance disability prevention, rehabilitation and equalization of opportunities, which pertains to full participation of persons with disabilities in social life and national development.
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