Disability Advocate Engracia Figueroa Died After An Airline Damaged Her Wheelchair

Engracia Figueroa, a outstanding advocate for incapacity rights, died on October thirty first on the age of 51. Many individuals mourn her loss, and so they argue that her tragic loss of life may have been prevented.

In July, Figueroa attended the Care Can’t Wait rally in Washington, DC. After Figueroa traveled again house to Los Angeles, she made an terrible discovery — United Airways employees had by accident broken her wheelchair. The $30,000 wheelchair had been loaded into the cargo maintain, the place it was destroyed. Figueroa had a spinal damage and a leg amputation, and her wheelchair was custom-designed to help her physique. With out her wheelchair, Figueroa had issue balancing and sitting upright.

Figueroa represented Hand in Hand on the Care Can’t Wait rally, and Hand in Hand reported on her death. Figueroa usually labored with Hand in Hand, which is a network that advocates for better working conditions for domestic workers like nannies, house cleaners, and home attendants. “Engracia was pressured to sit down in a damaged handbook wheelchair” for 5 hours within the airport, Hand in Hand explains — “Her wrestle to keep up her stability over that size of time within the defective gadget led to the event of a stress sore. When she was lastly in a position to return house, she skilled acute ache, and was admitted to the hospital shortly after.”

United Airways initially refused to interchange Figueroa’s {custom} chair. Underneath the Airline Service Entry Act, airways should restore or exchange misplaced or broken assistive units. Nonetheless, merely repairing a wheelchair might not be an enough resolution. Hand in Hand says, “a motorized wheelchair that has undergone that a lot harm poses a extreme danger of fireside, and is unsafe.” Disabled folks additionally should wait, generally for weeks at a time, for his or her wheelchair to be repaired.

Months after the accident, United lastly agreed to interchange the chair, however Hand in Hand argues that Figueroa suffered well being issues within the meantime: “the months through which they [United] fought in opposition to the alternative took a toll on her physique. Whereas combating with United to interchange her chair, Engracia was pressured to make use of a loaner chair that was not correctly fitted to Engracia’s physique.”

These Tweets depict among the harm to Figueroa’s wheelchair.

As a result of Figueroa had to make use of a wheelchair that didn’t help her torso and hips, her stress sore turned worse. This sore developed an an infection, which unfold into her hip bone. Medical doctors tried to avoid wasting Figueroa’s life with emergency surgical procedure, however she handed away shortly thereafter.

A consultant from United told The Independent, “We have been saddened to listen to about Ms. Figueroa’s passing, and we provide our condolences to her household and buddies.”

To Defend Passengers, Airways Should Defend These Passengers’ Wheelchairs

When Figueroa discovered about her destroyed {custom} wheelchair, she labored with Hand in Hand to marketing campaign for airways to undertake new insurance policies about transporting wheelchairs. Figueroa’s wheelchair had already been broken on three separate journeys earlier than this fourth and ultimate incident.

In 2019, 10,548 disabled people reported that their wheelchair, scooter, or other assistive device had been lost, damaged, or stolen during their travels. Airlines damage at least 29 wheelchairs a day.

“Mobility units are an extension of our our bodies. When they’re broken or destroyed, we change into re-disabled. Till the airways learn to deal with our units with the care and respect they deserve, flying stays inaccessible,” Figueroa stated throughout an interview with ABC in August. Within the interview, Figueroa defined how devastated she was after United broken her chair: “I simply thought, the entire independence that I fought and strived for and efficiently survived for … it is stripped away, and I used to be fully disabled and traumatized in addition to harm and exhausted.”

Figueroa devoted her life to service and made a optimistic distinction in her neighborhood. She was a storyteller, an actor, and President of the Board of Communities Actively Dwelling Impartial and Free, a middle that helped disabled folks dwell independently in Los Angeles. Hand in Hand encourages folks to honor Figueroa’s reminiscence by stopping airways from by accident damaging wheelchairs sooner or later.

Airways can implement new coaching insurance policies and procedures that educate workers learn how to correctly deal with, retailer, and transport wheelchairs and different assistive units.

Hand in Hand has launched a petition that encourages airways to “create laws and programs to guard these units and guarantee accessibility to folks with disabilities.” Readers can click here to sign this petition here.

Creator be aware: United Airways didn’t instantly reply to an e-mail request for remark. Readers could discover that the creator makes use of phrases like “disabled folks” as an alternative of “folks with disabilities.” Some writers and researchers debate the advantages of utilizing identity-first or person-first language. Since many advocates embrace their disabilities as an vital a part of their lives, the author has chosen to mostly use identity-first language on this article.