Consumer Action Guide on Air Travel

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.

The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network (DHHCAN) has just released their new Consumer Action Guide on Air Travel.

This guide is based upon the recent update of the Air Carrier Access Act regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation in May 2009, during one of the most comprehensive overhauls since the Act was enacted in 1990.

The Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) sets out requirements for disability access at airports and on airlines. These ACAA rules give protection from discrimination by:

• Prohibiting U.S. and foreign airlines from discriminating against passengers on the basis of disability
• Requiring airlines to make aircraft, other facilities, and services accessible
• Requiring airlines to take steps to accommodate passengers with a disability

“Today’s travelers need information from the minute they arrive at the departing airport until they leave the destination airport. It is crucial that they have prompt access to information once they self-identify that they are deaf, hard of hearing or deaf-blind,” says Barbara Raimondo, author of the DHHCAN Air Travel Action Guide 2009 and a mother of two deaf children.

The DHHCAN Action Guide on Air Travel was available online both as a summary and as a full document. This 7 page report is easy to read. The first page is a summary of the full text on pages 2 to 7. The guide used to be available from http://www.tdi-online.org/pdfs/DHHCAN_AirTravel_2009_guide.pdf.

One of the nice things about this Act is that it applies not only to all US airlines, but to any airlines flying to or from US soil.

Source: TDI News Release November 13, 2009. http://www.tdi-online.org/.