Kurt Fearnley is an Olympic paralympian.  He is a double amputee (no legs) and has done amazing things such as "walk" the Kokoda Trail in New Guinea by dragging himself along the track with his arms and elbows.

He hit the headlines in Australia last week because Jetstar Airline "forced" him to check in his wheelchair as luggage, and they then provided him with an airport wheelchair plus an assistant to escort him onto the plane.  Kurt normally wheels himself rather than be pushed, but he wasn't able to do this in the wheelchair they provided.  He was so outraged at the idea of being pushed that he refused to use the wheelchair, and instead, dragged himself to the boarding gate and onto the plane.  Headlines screamed "Airline forces paralympian to crawl" and "Disabled deprived of wheelchair", and talkback radio seethed with outrage.  Kurt gave interviews saying that he had been totally humiliated by the airline and that it was akin to "having his legs tied together, his pants pulled down, and paraded publicly".

Jetstar apologised and said that they are reviewing their procedures for disabled people.

Well excuse me, Jetstar, but I don't think you have anything to apologise for.  The airline carries about 450 disabled people every week, and in my experience they bend over backwards to accommodate and assist them.  Of course you have to check in your own wheelchair!  Normal wheelchairs don't fit into the narrow aisles of aircraft.  And appointing a staff member to oversee and escort the person is a big gesture fo a budget airline - or any airline for that matter.  Kurt wasn't forced to crawl, that was his choice.

But I myself am outraged on behalf of all disabled people, by his claim that he was publicly humiliated by the airline. Kurt, believe me, you can sit in a wheelchair and be pushed by someone, and yet still retain your dignity and your self-respect.  We have worked hard to change attitudes and create a world where people with disabilities are accepted and respected.  There is no disgrace in what the airline was offering.  I think Kurt has actually done disabled people a disservice.

I wrote a letter to the paper about it, as follows:

"I am bewildered by the outcry over Kurt Fearnley being "forced" to check in his own wheelchair as baggage. There is nothing new about that; a regular wheelchair simply cannot fit into the aisle, and common practice is for airlines to provide their own compact, narrow wheelchair for the duration of the journey. Whenever I have travelled with my husband, who has multiple sclerosis, that has been the norm, and we have also been allocated a staff member to push the wheelchair from the check-in counter to boarding.  I understand Kurt was affronted at the idea of being pushed, and so he crawled instead.  That was his choice, but I hope his protests were not implying that there is no dignity or self-respect for a person in a wheelchair being pushed by someone else."

Of course, they didn't print it.  Politics exploded in Australia this week, and nobody wants to read, talk, or think about anything else.