“Excuse the cart!” “Watch your elbows and toes!” “Beverage cart coming through!”
You may have heard flight attendants shouting this at some point during a flight, but have you ever heard this and thought about those passengers who can’t move their arms and legs out of the way? I know that may sound like a fairly easy task to most, but it isn’t always.
On a recent flight of mine two passengers needed to board first due to their disability. They were both paralyzed. One paralyzed from the waist down, the other, the entire right side of her body.
It is important to note that flight attendants have a tablet which allows you to see a list of your passengers and notes those with disabilities or other special requirements- so it is imperative that you check it as a personal briefing to be aware of individual needs on your flight. To be fair, in this situation the only information our tablets gave us was that these two passengers would be needing a wheelchair for boarding and deplaning, in which a lot of cases is simply used for ease for our elderly passengers. I had noticed, however, that they both needed assistance in getting in and out of their seats as they could not do so on their own.
Once we were up in the air leveled off it was time for the beverage service! I’m on the cart in main cabin with another flight attendant who is politely giving the “cart coming through!” warnings and as we inch closer to a passenger fast asleep she notices his legs are tilted out into the aisle. She wakes him asking him to slide out of the way joking that she doesnt want to have to run him over with a heavy cart. He is trying to move his legs as she continues to joke and is very obviously getting upset. I realized this is one of our passengers who needed assistance so I quickly grabbed my co-worker’s attention to let her know he cannot move his legs on his own.
After we had finished the beverage service I felt so awful that she was unknowingly giving him such a hard time and I apologized for our ignorance. Turns out he's a former law enforcement officer who was shot on duty paralyzing him for life. He was just getting accustomed to his new way of living and admittedly becomes easily frustrated at times. I feel for him, and MAJOR PROPS to him and all those who serve to keep us safe. These people are putting their lives at risk and I just want say thank you.
Bonus story (and this one’s a wild one)— if you remember I mentioned we had two passengers on this flight with paralysis.
As we were deplaning and waiting for her wheelchair we got to talking. She’d been a busy lady traveling the last few days as her twin daughters were both graduating college in different states, and on Mothers Day I might add. Props to her for not letting this disability stand in the way of making it to both ceremonies-- as she was in great spirits with such a kind positive attitude. I felt we had established a bit of a bond with the graduation talk so I felt comfortable asking her what had been the cause of her paralysis. She said she was very open about her story, thus it begun… she had literally been stabbed in the back with a screwdriver multiple times by an intruder in her home. She now cannot use the entire right side of her body nor has any feeling in it. I was honestly just speechless… I mean what do you say to that? She lightened the mood a bit mentioning the incident had happened over 20 years ago and she’s moved past it.
Man, oh man… I may not always know where you’ve been, but I sure as hell can promise that you’re in good hands with me on your way to where you’re going. Every passenger has a story and I’m here for it! Much love to these two in particular ❤️