News Archive
A New Voice Presses Federal Officials To Fix the Dinky Airplane Restrooms (9/2/04)
By Bob Grupe
Report on Disability Programs
September 2, 2004
If air travelers with disabilities eventually get some relief from the cramped restrooms on single-aisle airplanes, they may have a nine-year-old to thank.
Coppell, Texas, third grader Rasha Kawar, who has cerebral palsy, started an online petition a few months ago to get a response from either national lawmakers or federal regulators. Both have responded, but so far there have been no promises. In the meantime, Kawar’s petition has garnered 11,000 signatures through Aug. 30, United Cerebral Palsy’s (UCP) Jim Baker told RDP.
After Kawar and her mother failed to get her clothes back on her in a restroom on a flight back from Israel last summer, Kawar wrote to President Bush. But apparently, Bush responded without really addressing the problem.
"Our President wrote me back and said he enjoyed hearing from me and he appreciated my friendship. He also sent pictures of himself, his wife, and his dogs. This was very nice, but he did not solve my problem," Kawar wrote.
Getting Around to the Right Agency
The petition was born soon after. Kawar sought to promote it in letters to both Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Rep. Pete Sessions (D-Calif.). The congressmen forwarded their correspondence from Kawar to the Access Board, which in turn referred the matter along to the Department of Transportation (DOT).
Next, Robert Ashby, DOT’s deputy assistant general counsel for regulation and enforcement, wrote Kawar in June explaining, in part, that current regulations call for accessible restrooms only on larger, two-aisle aircraft. Several years back, Congress also amended the Air Carrier Access Act to make foreign airlines, one of which Kawar and her mother traveled to Israel on, subject to U.S. accessibility law when they do business in this country.
In his letter, Ashby also said he was writing a proposed rule, which DOT will issue this fall, to cover foreign airlines. But that still leaves out the question of accessible restrooms on single-aisle airplanes. Ashy said the rule will ask whether there should be accessible restrooms on more aircraft than there are now.
When that rule is issued with a request for public comments, it will present a golden opportunity for the disability community to really press the issue, UCP’s Julie Ward told RDP. The bottom line is that airlines will only act on this issue after they are told to.
While the cost of building accessible restrooms is relatively inexpensive, about $12,000 to $13,000 each, what really hurts airlines are the 2-4 seats lost by extra restroom space, Ashby told RDP. Given the current economics of the airline industry, DOT is hesitant to add more requirements.
But what DOT and the airlines do not factor in when making these cost arguments, Ward added, is that there is a much larger market of airline customers — besides persons with disabilities — who will appreciate roomier lavatories. These include the elderly and parents of young children.
Contact Robert Ashby, DOT, 202-366-9310; Jim Baker, UCP, (800) 872-5827, TTY: (202) 973-7197.
Copyright 2004 Business Publishers Inc. Reprinted with permission from Report on Disability Programs newsletter.