How It Happens

I am recently home from a trip that took me by air through the city of Atlanta.  I have flown hundreds of thousands of miles in my adult life; heck, I even flew home from Finland in 1958 aboard the old Lockheed four propeller trans-atlantic workhorse, back in the day when everyone got a table cloth and real glassware at meal time.  But I digress.

In Atlanta I was met by staff who were supposed to escort me to my connecting flight.  How do I say this without becoming bellicose or just plain mean?  These escorts had no training in working with people with disabilities and they had poor communication skills.  One fellow insisted that I sit in a wheelchair if he was going to guide me.  His method of expression was to shout loudly: "You sit! You sit!"

I said I'd find my own way and booked it up the escalator.

Two Delta airlines flight attendants saw this situation as it unfolded and very graciously caught up with me and offered to help me.  They then revealed that the services for the elderly and people with disabilities at the Atlanta airport are in their view the worst in the nation.  They were embarrassed but also quick to point out that the company that provides this all important public service is not in any way connected with the airlines. "You get what you pay for," said one of the flight attendants.

How it works:

1. Devalue the elderly and people with disabilities at the management level of the Atlanta airport.
2. Hire a company that cuts costs by hiring people with poor public service skills.
3. Offer these underpaid and unprepared employees insufficient in-service training.
4. Imagine that you've got the job done!

So in essence, a handful of fat cats are banking the profits and real human beings are collectively under-educated, under-served, and poorly served.

I should add that in Ireland I was met at the airport by efficient, friendly, and competent personnel who took some pride in what they were doing.  And yes, they were workers from other countries in the European Union.  I surmise that it's possible to save money and still perform a public service with a social conscience.

And that is finally my point.  There are some very highly placed people in the Atlanta airport who lack evident concern about the governance and maintenance of the community's social conscience.

"You sit! You sit!"

Heck, my dog and I have better conversations than that.

S.K.   

Comments

[Georgia Whitney]

OK, it's early yet, but when I first read this story I thought the idiots at Hartsfield were talking to Vidal, not to you.
As a Georgia-bred girl, I apologize on behalf of my people. It's either that or I smack them upside the head with a rolled-up newspaper.
Georgia from Georgia

[Janet Gayes]

My son, David and I also had a bad experience at Hartsfield a year ago. Having just got off the plane, David was sitting in the aisle chair (very uncomfortable, but safely strapped in). His own chair had not yet arrived at the gate, and when it did come, it had to be reassembled. The escort insisted that he get out of the aisle chair now that he was off the plane because that was the "rule". She did not seem to understand or care that there was no place for David to go to. She became very upset when we told her that David would get out of the aisle chair when he could get into his own chair, and that we, also wanted to do that as quickly as possible. The escort was very upset and could not respond to reason. Eventually, it came out that she was terrified that she'd loose her job if her supervisor caught her using an aisle chair outside of the plane.

[Blue]

Sometimes I try to imagine an airport experience where all these unknown variables of disability access become fun. So far my creativity has failed, though the "adventure" never has.