Shoji Nakanishi
Chairperson, Human Care Association
On 22 June 1999, DPI-Japan and Human care Association co-organized
the
first training seminar for the airport staff at Narita New Tokyo
Airport.
For last ten years lots of troubles have happened between airport
staff
and passengers with disabilities. We PWD wanted to go up to the
door-side of the plane by our own wheelchairs, but the staff compelled
us to transfer to the airport wheelchairs. Their wheelchairs so
often does not fit to us, because of no headrest or big size preventing
legs to be put on the .footrest. The staff could not understand
that the wheelchair is the part of ones body.
The Human Care Association had negotiated with the New Tokyo International Airport Authority and major airline companies including JAL to provide better service in order to avoid risks disabled persons faced at the airport since November 98. They gradually understood this situation and wanted to improve at last. The transportation is one of the big agenda for DPI-Japan which has been working for the improvement of the public transportation for more than 10 years, so that it joined the negotiation. The training workshop was proposed to the Airport Authority for the representatives of 42 international airlines which use the airport and the grand service companies.
Approximately 100 staff attended the seminar and they were
taught why disabled persons did not want to transfer to the airport
wheelchair, how
electric wheelchairs are to be handled, what the main causes of
the damage of wheelchairs are. The Association's staff who are
both disabled and non disabled demonstrated how to transfer safely
from the wheelchair to the plane seat. Then some of the participants
did the same way. The DPI staff with visual impairment also spoke
and demonstrated them how to guide the blind passenger through
the narrow aiel.
All the participants were very much impressed. They said "This seminar should be held every year because 200 fresh man come every year ." and also "Video tape of this seminar is useful for us to train the other staff who could not participate." DPI-JAPAN will continue this kind of seminar at the every 50 airport in the country until year 2002 when the World Assembly takes place in Sapporo.
(The above article was printed in Disability International 1999 published by Disabled Peoples` International.)