From what friends tell me, and from my own experiences, I think that the most stressful part of solo travel for a visually impaired person is being left alone without a guide or point of reference. I have been left twice. The first time I was actually at the original boarding gate. However, the gate was changed and in spite of initial reassurances that I wouldn’t be forgotten, I was! I became agitated when I heard the final call for my flight and I wasn’t on it! When I managed to flag someone down, everyone was most apologetic.
The second time I was left alone at the end of a tunnel in Toronto. There was to be an exchange of guides but the first guide left me and the second one didn’t show up. Knowing that I could have easily wandered out onto the tarmac, there was great consternation when a baggage handler finally found me. Both of these instances were prior to 9-11 and the additional security following that date.
When I write of horror stories, I instantly recall hearing of the young woman who was left on the aircraft after the plane had landed. She was told to wait in her seat and someone would assist her after all the other passengers had disembarked. This is the usual practice. However, nobody came and the next thing the woman heard was the air circulation shutting down and the doors closing. She was alone and indeed stayed that way for several hours until the maintenance crew came along to clean the plane. Now that is a horror story to beat most tales of woe. Personally, I think that she should have been given a free travel pass for life but I understand that she did at least get an apology.
My friend, Norma, told me of her strange experience. Norma was travelling with her guide dog and in spite of showing her travel documents several times to ground agents and officials while being guided to her flight, she was put on the wrong aircraft. Norma protested at the time, but nobody seemed to listen. However, before takeoff, there was a great kafuffle and another blind passenger was led onto the same plane with her guide dog. The ground crew had mixed up the two women and put the other passenger on Norma’s flight. While Norma is Caucasian and of average height, the other passenger was a petite Asian woman. Both were travelling to entirely different destinations but both had guide dogs. Yes, just because we are blind, does not mean that we are all the same!
I think that in some instances it could be quite stressful to travel with a canine guide. Just last spring, my friend Sue was led on board to find that the seat numbers were different from the ones she had booked. There simply wasn’t enough space under the seat for her guide dog. The crew was unhelpful and both Sue and Button became agitated and stressed. Finally, when Sue stood up and declared that she simply couldn’t fly with the airline arrangements, a double seat was found in the rear of the plane. By this time, Button was just as stressed as Sue and simply refused to move from the place where she had collapsed in the aisle. As a last resort, the pilot himself came back and carried the dog to the new seat. Sue has great trepidations about flying again.
Well, some of you had asked, and so these were a few of the horror stories I referred to. I could go on, but I think that you get the drift.
Please, if you are travelling and see a white cane or guide dog traveller, don’t be afraid to offer assistance. Although I don’t always need the extra help, I am always grateful for the offer.
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