RantCrush Top 5: June 30, 2017

A disabled man had to crawl up a staircase to board a flight in Kagoshima Prefecture in Japan, as there was neither a ramp nor a lift for his wheelchair to access the plane. He was flying with the Japanese budget airline Vanilla Air. His friend was not allowed to carry him up the stairs. So Hideto Kijima, who is paralyzed from the waist down, had to pull himself up the stairs using only his arms. The airline said in a statement that allowing a person in a wheelchair to be carried up would violate safety rules, unless it was notified five days in advance.

Reportedly, the airline’s policy is that a “person who cannot walk is not allowed to board a plane.” Kijima happens to be the head of the Japan Accessible Tourist Center, an organization that reviews accessibility issues for tourists visiting Japan. He said he has been to more than 200 airports in 158 countries since an accident that paralyzed him in 1990, but has never been denied boarding access because of his handicap until now. After heavy criticism on social media, the airline apologized.

Japanese airline forces disabled passenger to crawl up stairs to board plane https://t.co/RBoQVKoU2E pic.twitter.com/ckSm55oHVa

— scroll.in (@scroll_in) June 29, 2017

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.