American Rodney Hodgins (49) and his wife Deanna were looking forward to celebrating their wedding anniversary in Las Vegas, but the start of the trip turned out to be much more traumatic than expected, according to The Guardian.
The 49-year-old suffers from spastic diplegia, a type of cerebral palsy (CP) that causes paralysis of both arms or both legs, according to SML. He normally uses an electric wheelchair and therefore requires assistance when this is not possible.
He didn’t understand that when he got off an Air Canada flight in Las Vegas this summer.
The plane had to turn around – an angry man scratched the captain in the face
– I can not go there
In a Facebookpost, the wife recounts how her husband learned that flight attendants could not provide wheelchairs upon exiting the plane after they landed in Las Vegas.
The plane was only between countries and had to prepare the plane for a new departure, the couple should have been informed. The cabin crew then allegedly asked Hodgins to go alone to the front of the plane, where his wheelchair was waiting for him.
– I said, “Of course I can’t.” I’m sitting in a wheelchair. I can’t go,” Hodgins said Vancouver Sunshineadding that at first he thought it was a joke.
He still had to use his upper body to drag himself through the 12 rows of people, while his wife helped him move his legs as best she could.
Apologized
The wife herself described the whole thing as painful, both physically and emotionally.
“We had to struggle to get him out, in front of around ten people who looked away and others who looked at us with shame. He hurt his legs and I hurt my back, but it hurt me more emotionally,” she wrote, adding that the airline violated her husband’s human rights.
Pilot charged – he allegedly tried to crash a passenger plane
Air Canada recently apologized for the incident, writes The Guardian.
“We utilize the services of a third party wheelchair assistance service in Las Vegas to provide safe transportation on and off the aircraft. Following our investigation into how this serious service outage occurred, we will evaluate additional mobility assistance partners in Las Vegas,” the airline said.
The wife wrote on Facebook that her husband “suffered for several days while we were in Vegas.” She reportedly felt really sorry for him, but she further writes that “he is so tough and determined that he fought through the pain so that we could enjoy our anniversary.”
