This said video captured an incident where a teenage boy with disability was purportedly mistreated by IndiGo airlines. This incident took place on 7 May.
In the video, several passengers in the airport are seen asking the IndiGo staff to let the boy and his family board the flight after they were denied from doing so. The ground staff allegedly said that the child was in a state of panic and would be a threat to other passengers' safety if he was allowed to board.
As the incident caused a furore with many tagging Union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to take action in response to the outrage , the airlines said in a statement that "the ground staff waited for the child to calm down till the last minute, but to no avail".
Soon after, IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta also released a statement expressing "sincere regrets over this unfortunate experience" and offered to purchase an electric wheelchair for the boy as a token of appreciation.
He also said that "Having reviewed all aspects of this incident, we as an organisation are of the view that we made the best possible decision under difficult circumstances."
But many felt that while this incident showed an example of the many difficulties that people with disabilities face in navigating a society that is largely driven by an ableist approach, it was also heartwarming to see how common citizens showed awareness and sensitivity in this particular incident and stood up for this teen and his family.
In this episode, you will hear from Dr Sumit Ray, a senior consultant in critical care medicine, who was waiting at the Ranchi airport when the incident took place, witnessing it first hand. He was also seen intervening with the staff on video footage. We will hear from him what exactly happened at the airport that day.
And we also spoke to Prachi Deo, founder of Nayi Disha, an organisation that provides families and primary caregivers of children affected by autism and other developmental disabilities with counselling and guidance. We talk to her about how public spaces and airport staff can be sensitised towards children and adults with disabilities.
Host and Producer: Himmat Shaligram
Scripting: Shorbori Purkayastha
Music: Big Bang Fuzz
Listen to The Big Story podcast on:
Apple: https://apple.co/2AYdLIl Saavn: http://bit.ly/2oix78C Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2ntMV7S Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IyLAUQ Deezer: http://bit.ly/2Vrf5Ng Castbox: http://bit.ly/2VqZ9ur
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
[00:00:00] Are we as a society practicing inclusivity and showing sensitivity towards people with disabilities? A video from Rachi Airport that went viral on social media platforms recently is raising this question. This said, video captured an incident where a teenage boy
[00:00:29] with disability was perpetually mistreated by IndiGo Airlines. This incident took place on the 7th May and in the video several passengers in the airport are seen asking the IndiGo Airlines staff to let the boy and his family board the flight after they were
[00:00:41] denied from doing so. The ground staff allegedly said that the child was in a state of panic and would be a threat to other passengers' safety if he was allowed to board. As the incident caused a furor with many tagging Union Aviation Minister Jyotirajatya Sainviya
[00:00:52] to take action, in response to the outrage, the airline said in a statement that, The ground staff waited for the child to calm down till the last minute but to no avail. Soon after IndiGo CEO Ranjai Dutta also released a statement expressing that,
[00:01:07] Since he regrets over his unfortunate experience and offered to purchase an electric wheelchair for the boy as a token of appreciation. He also said that, Having reviewed all the aspects of this incident we as an organization are of
[00:01:18] the view that we made the best possible decision under difficult circumstances. But many felt that while this incident showed an example of the many difficulties that people with disabilities face in navigating a society that is largely driven by an oblivious approach, it was also heartwarming to see how
[00:01:34] common citizens showed awareness and sensitivity in this particular incident and stood up for this teen and his family. In this episode you'll hear from Dr. Sumitri, a senior consultant in critical care medicine who was waiting at the Rachi airport when the incident took place, witnessing it first hand.
[00:01:49] We'll hear from him what exactly happened at the airport that day. And we also speak to Prachi Dio, founder of Nehidisha, an organization that provides families and primary caregivers of the children affected by autism and other developmental disabilities with counseling and guidance.
[00:02:02] We talk to her about how public spaces, airport staff can be sensitized towards children and adults with disabilities. Get tuned in to the big story, the podcast where we dissect the headline making news for you and I'm your host, Ahmed.
[00:02:25] The whole incident came to light after a fellow passenger by the name of Manish Agapta wrote about it in a Facebook post describing the family's ordeal. At the time of recording of this podcast, the post was shared on 7th May
[00:02:36] and has about 3700 shares. For those who haven't come across the post yet, I just want to read out a few lines. The post reads that, quote, yesterday at the Rachi airport, an adolescent with special needs was in
[00:02:47] greed distress. He had a very uncomfortable car ride to the airport. By the time he had gone through security check and reached the gate, almost an hour ahead of boarding, he seemed to be in throes of hunger, thirst, anxiety, and confusion. His parents obviously knew how to handle
[00:03:00] smell down with patience from cajoling some sternness, many hugs, etc. And the other passengers were stopping by to ask if they needed any help or support. This caught the attention of the Indigo Airlines staff who walked up to the trio
[00:03:12] and warned them that he would not let them board if the child did not quieten down and become quote unquote normal, end quote. What happened after was recorded on video. The teenager was seen sitting on his wheelchair
[00:03:23] while passengers who were boarding the same Rachi to Hejabat flight as him, as well as other passengers from other flights, was seen opposing Indigo's decision and telling the staff that they cannot discriminate against the family. But in the end,
[00:03:34] the family wasn't allowed to board. Dr. Sumit Ray was one of the passengers who was in Rachi airport that day. He along with several other doctors were due to travel in a different flight and he tells us what circumstances led him and others to oppose the Indigo staff.
[00:04:19] And by the time he was controlled, as he was being controlled, he was crying, etc. And his restlessness, the queue for their flight which was an Indigo flight to Hyderabad started. So because he was crying, etc., so lots of other passengers,
[00:04:39] not passengers, kind of asked the family, the parents that do they need any help, etc. Everybody was very, very kind I must say. And so in the process and at that time I wasn't there
[00:04:51] when this happened, when the queue started, the child had settled down. So I was on the other side of the airport, the terminal. So the queue started and people were going in. Then this person who was supposed manager of Indigo said that you have to,
[00:05:11] I've heard this child crying and etc., and being in a panic, we can't allow him in this. He has to become normal. And they were at that time, I'll tell you honestly, I did not hear this part. Okay. And they stopped the child from going in
[00:05:29] and the parents to board and then many passengers took it up with the manager and said that look here, he's a special child and he needs to be on board. He was restless.
[00:05:42] It's okay. He has calmed down. And we are okay with it. And the parents were saying and then there was a team of almost six, seven doctors actually had also gone for a critical
[00:05:51] care conference there and a team of six, seven doctors from the same conference where boarding the Hyderabad flight. And some of them also said that we can, if there's anything we will
[00:06:00] take care of, he won't be, he's a child on any of these. He cannot be a threat to anybody. And so all this was happening. So I heard the commotion again. So I went back to that area.
[00:06:13] So this man kind of being very aggressive with everybody saying you don't understand, he's in panic. You are not able to understand. I cannot put this person on here. Those who have alcohol or people who behave like this cannot be put on a flight.
[00:06:29] So everybody got angry with him then. But still people were very polite. Okay, trying to suggest Kajol tell them that look here you don't know, call your senior. He said I'm the senior person.
[00:06:41] So then when I joined he was being very, so I said look here do you even understand what the child's problem is? So he says I know. I said what does he have? What disability does he say? That's not important. He was in panic. He was creating
[00:06:54] a war. Dr. Ray also says that as seen in the video footage, even though the child was initially restless, he had calmed down later and stopped crying. He was sitting calmly on the
[00:07:03] wheelchair for 25 to 30 minutes, even as all these arguments were going on around him. It's not about blaming any airline but it's about the incident showing a gap in the staff's training in how to address an eight passengers with disabilities. Dr. Ray says, why aren't you allowing and
[00:07:17] the obviously the parents are getting desperate. The longer the child waits there with you know, the special child, he is going to get more restless. But to tell you as you shall send you the video, he's sitting calmly for more than 25, 30 minutes. But all this is going on.
[00:07:32] Okay? This man I mean one see Indigo, I'm not trying to blame any airline by itself or anything. Indigo has a fair reputation about taking care of people with special needs etc. That's different. But obviously there's something lacking in their training and it's not just training. This is
[00:07:52] the particular way this person was particularly difficult. Even the policemen who are there who have no authority in allowing person on the flight, right? Once they're in the airline stops, they were themselves saying, we called up our journalist friends, journalists called him up
[00:08:11] telling him that allow this child what is the reason they called up journalists. I mean the Times of India journalist spoke to me said that I've spoken to the airport manager. He
[00:08:21] said my authority is still allowing him to the boarding area but beyond that only the airline can allow. Everybody has been positive. But the nicest thing to come out of this terrible incident,
[00:08:31] he says was the sensitivity displayed by so many people that day. Best part is I mean for such a bad situation but the good positive thing that has come which came out is people
[00:08:42] are so much more sensitive now. Right. Everybody there was not one single person who said this person should not be allowed. This child should not be allowed on the plane except this guy.
[00:08:53] I was there for about 25-30 minutes and the videos you probably will see is much later. Initially people were not even shooting videos or anything because they were just trying to convince him.
[00:09:02] They believed that he will accept it and let people know. It's only when he just became desperate that he raised our voices, shot videos just to make him feel because we were desperate that this flight will take off and without the without the yeah and you could see
[00:09:19] the desperation in the mother and the father. The child was sitting quietly. And surely enough no sooner did this incident come to light a great many number of people, journalists, activists, caregivers or people with disabilities took to social media to condemn
[00:09:33] the incident and urge strict action. While the aviation minister Jyothiradattya Sindhya responded saying that there will be code zero tolerance towards such behavior it has been reported that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation or DGCA has formed a three-member
[00:09:46] probe team to get to the bottom of this incident. But this issue goes beyond this specific incident. It goes on to show how there is as Dr. Ray says, a gap in sensitivizing the society in public
[00:09:55] spaces to meet the needs of people with physical disabilities and cognitive disabilities without discrimination. In 2016 the parliament had passed the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act aiming to provide more accessibility, equality and opportunities
[00:10:08] to those with different forms of disabilities. But many feel that six years since there's still a lack of the accessibility that the government promised. The Ministry of Social Justice also tried to run the Accessible India campaign in 2021 with the aid of other ministries to quote,
[00:10:22] build an inclusive society in which equal opportunities are provided for the growth and development of persons with disabilities so that they can lead productive safe and dignified lives end quote. And one of the things that had provided was a draft with
[00:10:34] a set of guidelines for civil aviation on how to give equal access to everyone. The draft comprehensively details on providing a lift, toilet, ramp, wheelchair, signage accessibility etc or traveling with service animals in airports. It also suggests that quote,
[00:10:48] airlines should ensure holding a disability awareness training for new hires and all staff to reiterate policies and SOPs on customer assistance with different types of disabilities be it hearing, visual speech, wheelchair users, autism etc. end quote.
[00:11:01] But in the absence of full support from other ministries, the campaign hasn't been too successful. Many also pointed to the fact that there's still a lack of sensitivity and understanding towards cognitive disabilities or hidden disabilities. And this is not just a situation transportation
[00:11:14] but a general problem in society according to Prachidio. So frankly, acceptance of disability within the family itself becomes a big thing. There are a lot of, so Naidisha works with families very closely with families and when
[00:11:29] I say families is usually parents and when I say parents it's usually the mothers. So right from the diagnosis of a child and I'm not just talking about autism, I'm talking about any other developmental disability also be it Down syndrome or any
[00:11:45] other foundation. What we have seen is acceptance of child having a disability itself is hard many times for the father and many times for the entire family also. And this is where the mother and the child many times face discrimination and there is that sigma kum nahi
[00:12:03] khut kia ho ba jisde bachcha aisa pyaida hua. Ya tumne kut sayi nahi kia yaa, tumare gharne thaak hain. One of the common questions any family must have for at least five times I would bet is, yeh sehle tohi asa hain. And I can't blame the society
[00:12:23] which is asking this because there is a severe lack of awareness about these foundations. Somewhere we have to assume that people are inherently good but if they don't have that information that is when the otherization happens or forces them. And we have been talking about
[00:12:40] this incident that happened at Ranchi but if we think about it for every one incident happening at Ranchi airport there might be hundreds of incidents that are happening at railway station
[00:12:51] and bus when a mother is trying to catch an auto, when a mother is trying to get a public transport and go with her child from one place to another. That's one part in public place,
[00:13:02] it's public path. So many families associated with that one thing that hurts every family and every mother especially is that the children our children are not accepted in path and playgrounds many a time. A mother might take her child to the path and playground
[00:13:17] and the barge of the person carrying out with another child might just go away thinking that this child is going to harm them whereas the child might be wanting to be friends with
[00:13:27] that family. Only the way that this child is imagine somebody who cannot speak for himself or herself. For the way a child would express his or her interest might be different from a neurotypical
[00:13:40] child but the intent is same to make friends and play. So playgrounds being called to birthday parties this is not something that happens and this is something that we need
[00:13:50] to encourage in the society. I think when we bring in awareness and when we are able to say that this is just a person who is different from you slightly different that's not very different
[00:14:03] and there are ways, there are adaptations you can make so that you can include this person in everything that you do. The mission is yes we have fellow Shikha Avian, yes we have rights to education act but on ground when our parents go for admission to school
[00:14:20] includes schools or normal so-called normal schools they are not given admission with some reason or the other. Thank you we are not equipped, we don't have special educators, we don't have shadow teachers. For end of the day there are very few schools that will admit our kids
[00:14:36] and they will on top of it our parents have to arrange for teachers who can shadow our children. So then it is left to people who are who can afford this because not everyone can afford school please
[00:14:47] plus an additional teacher as you can understand. So these are various places so discrimination is something that families face right from the beginning now I am a sibling myself my
[00:14:58] elder brother has Down syndrome so I can tell you when we were kids and we used to use public transfers it was very difficult my mother has to have used to feel very bad that people used to
[00:15:10] stare at my brother or nap. However she says that at the same time now there is generally an increase in awareness as well. I think there is definitely an increase in awareness I mean I come across people who actually ask me don't know how to interact with children
[00:15:26] with autism or Down syndrome can you give us tips on what we should be looking at so definitely I think there is the rising awareness and as I was saying earlier these incidents have
[00:15:38] happened many a times but what was happening here is the doctors the government officials and the teachers standing up for this child and saying that please allow him to come there is no such
[00:15:49] no such law they should be allowed to come in we will take responsibility that's just amazing But given that this incident has exposed how much is lacking in what needs to be done what should be the SOP in airlines this is what Dr. Sumit Ray said
[00:16:04] One is that they should have a SOP that if there is a situation like this if the person at the spot right is so many people are saying that he has to be more aware one
[00:16:16] he has to be more receptive second is if it's a situation if it seems like there's so many people saying a certain thing and which is in disagreement with what he believes he needs to involve his seniors right yeah he could have just called up nobody was talking
[00:16:31] in the everybody was saying you should have a bit of a you know SOP where they know this kind of a situation they should be more aware indigo claims to be very good with people with
[00:16:43] disabilities and I'm not going to you know counter their claim or but in this situation they I mean it was a failure on the part of an of a system and it's a certain particular personality and behavior of the person who was representing them there according to the
[00:17:00] national statistics office report released in 2020 officially at least 2.2 percent of India's population live with some former disability miss dio says that the only way to address their needs is by raising awareness yeah I think we have to start with a very basic
[00:17:15] that disability of any form can affect any of us right people get old and being old people do get disabled um so as of now we say that 15 percent of the population does have one or
[00:17:30] the other kind of disability so this is this is where he needs to raise awareness in every every case where everyone understand that this can affect me also one day and then you realize something like covid right initially there was so much stigma around covid but once everyone
[00:17:48] started and getting forward to stigma went away I'm not saying that everyone should have some form of disability but everyone needs to understand that it can affect me or someone in my family in
[00:17:59] any manner so this is something I need to be open about so when you speak about policy level I think it starts with having more information at the society level so if we can do if railway
[00:18:14] sensitize lot of children with autism are prone to uh wander also so we have a lot of lots of children and especially if a child can't speak for himself you can imagine the order in that child would go through and the parents would go through very lucky people
[00:18:29] very lucky families end up finding their loved one so if he can sensitize the railway railway staff if he can sensitize police all the customer facing uh staff if they can be sensitized anything and and it and it is also an economic economic factor to it right because
[00:18:49] again 15 percent of the people are impacted with disabilities so then you are also solving 15 percent of your uh personal ways better um again those of us in the sector those of us who have family members we continue advocating right we continue raising awareness we continue talking
[00:19:09] about equality but when rest of the society stays with that is where the real impact happens when you have every other person talk about it that really I think this incident is going to
[00:19:20] bring in a lot of awareness the way if you like listening to this episode please subscribe to the big story for episodic updates we're available on apple google podcast podify geosaven and most of the other popular podcast streaming platforms for other podcasts please log on to the
[00:19:40] quince website and for any feedback please shoot an email to podcast at the quince.com thanks for listening log on to the quince website and check out our other podcasts