Wheelchair user alleges discrimination by Air India Express staff at Mumbai airport

Arvind Ramesh Prabhoo a senior sports administrator who is a 100 per cent disabled wheelchair user has raised allegations of discrimination against the staff of Air India Express at the Mumbai airportPrabhoo stated that he was made to wait at the airport for two hours as a key part of his wheelchair the footrest was missing once the flight landed in Mumbai from Kochi Kerala He claimed that the wheelchair had all its components when he boarded the flight in Kochi as he usually avails himself of the option of being taken to his seat in the wheeled mobility deviceWhat happenedPrabhoo told midday ldquoI was returning to Mumbai from Kochi on Monday After I landed at 922 pm I waited for my wheelchair to be brought to the door of the plane but I was told that the wheelchair had gone to the baggage claim area instead which had never happened before After I tried explaining to the staff on board that the cabin wheelchair was too uncomfortable to sit in the staff got me out of the plane and into a nearby ambulance I was taken to the terminal entrancerdquoOnce Prabhoo and his aides reached the baggage claim area they saw that one of the footrests of the wheelchair was missingHe stated ldquoWe immediately alerted the airline staff at the baggage claim By this time I had already been waiting for about an hour to deboard the plane and now I had to wait at the baggage belt for the staff to check once again if the footrest had been left back on the plane By this time the supervisor who was with us had started getting irritated and he even went on to ask me how I was sure that the footrest was attached to the wheelchair when I boarded the flight in Kochi I was very shocked and offended by thisrdquoAlleged mistreatmentPrabhoo alleged that after waiting for another hour he was tired and wanted to go home and he told the supervisor that he would use the airport wheelchair and send it back safely immediately after reaching his residence ldquoThe supervisor however refused saying I couldnrsquot take it I then told him that I would buy it and he refused again I bluntly asked them then for a solution as to how to get to my car to which they had no answer so my attendant and I headed towards the parking area where my car was waitingrdquoAfter they had reached the parking lot Prabhoo claims that the supervisor proceeded to send Central Industrial Security Force and airport security personnel after him alleging that Prabhoo was stealing the wheelchair ldquoI had to explain to the CISF and security personnel that I couldnrsquot use my own wheelchair due to the missing component but to no avail With a lot of difficulty my aides helped me into my own wheelchair and we eventually headed homerdquo he added ldquoIn many years of travelling I have never faced such discrimination I was lucky that this was at the Mumbai airport where I could easily go home in my own car but at any other such facility it would have been hell The accusation of being a thief had really hurt me since I had promised that I would send the wheelchair back I am travelling again in a week for work now I am sceptical about that as there is a part of me which fears that this will happen againrdquoPrabhoo explainedHe added ldquoThere needs to be some accountability for the lack of sensitivity training that the airport staff receive as this behaviour is not acceptable Since I am an experienced traveller I can still travel but if it was someone else who faced this issue while being dependent on a mobility device it would have shattered their confidence completelyrdquoPrabhoo has demanded a proper investigation into how the wheelchair had arrived in Mumbai ldquoAccessibility is not a favour Dignity is not optional I want to know what steps the airline will be taking to make sure no one else faces these kinds of things in the futurerdquoThe aftermathmidday contacted Air India Express at 1005 am on Wednesday regarding the incident but received no response by press time Prabhoo was contacted by airline representatives around noonApology for Prabhoo butldquoI got two calls from two different representatives from the airline and they apologised for the inconvenience I experienced and said that they were looking into the issue and would keep me apprised of the situationrdquoHe further claimed that the representatives only told him that they would try to get the footrest located and sent to him but did not mention anything about the alleged behaviour of their staff at the airport and the issue of lack of sensitivity trainingpopcorn numberOCT 5 descDay incident occurred classDefault