There Are More Planes Than Wheelchairs

Ready to fight the good fight!

We had completed another successful trip to D.C. I had my entire family with me which was such a blessing and so much fun.

The fun ended with the plane ride back. We had protected my wheelchair as best we could. We get on the plane, we settle in, and a flight attendant gets my dad and tells him they cannot get my wheelchair into the belly of the plane. This is not his first rodeo. He walks down with a crew member and Mom and I are waiting for dad to come back. When he came back, Dad tells us my wheelchair broke the plane. Even for the Thompson family, this is a new experience. Dad says, "I think your wheelchair is broken because the back looked too far forward". This is a brand-new wheelchair. Both Dad and I had agreed the old wheelchair would break if I we took it on one more flight. Of course, Mom is saying we are idiots for bringing the new wheelchair. No, we should be able to trust a new wheelchair. I looked Mom in the eyes and said, "the three of us should be able to trust a new wheelchair". We were working ourselves up over something we had no control over. All of us did our best to relax after that.

Clearly, I wasn't too worried about the plane. There are millions of planes but only one wheelchair. OK, my old wheelchair was waiting at home, but you get the point. We had to wait two hours to have the plane get approved for takeoff. Other passengers were quite aware of the reason why. Most people were kind while others expressed their annoyance. If I had driven on the plane, broken the plane on purpose, you would have a right to get mad. That did not happen. The crew is so incredibly ignorant about how to handle wheelchairs; it makes me angry. I really felt like getting on the intercom and saying this is life with a disability; all of you can deal with it for two hours. Nobody was unkind to me, they directed it at my parents. I hate that because if you can't express yourself to my face then don't say it to anyone affiliated with me.

I was extremely anxious about seeing my wheelchair; it had been five hours of nerves. Dad and I were walking off the jet way and we fall flat on our faces. I mean flat on our faces! This is the crew's worst nightmare. Dad and I get up and I need a minute to collect myself. I really fell hard. I was okay but definitely shaken up. Mom was in front of us, so Dad had to tell her we fell. She checks us both out and my nose is definitely bruised but we were okay.

Before any of this happened and we were boarding the plane, I made a split-second decision. I had lowered the back of my wheelchair. Call it gut instinct, woman's intuition, I just made my wheelchair as small as possible. I will say it looks very broken in this position. Guess what? My instinct paid off. The wheelchair was fine! Dad just asked me to tell him next time that I made the chair look broken. Mom said they would have broken the chair if I hadn't decided to do that. I really am incredibly grateful that the wheelchair wasn't broken. As for the plane, I don't know but there are more planes than wheelchairs.

If you are traveling, safe travels and remember to be kind.

Love,
Hannah!