Good for her! yay! Go sign the petition.

Tamar Mag Raine
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The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.
Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
-George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950

IM: tamarmag48
Oakland Mayor's Commission on People with disabilities


> [Original Message]
> From: Michai Freeman <[log in to unmask]>
> To: berkeley-disabled <[log in to unmask]>; golden_embers
<[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 8/31/2004 7:09:49 PM
> Subject: [berkeley-disabled] Disabled girl making waves-go girl!
>
> Girl With Cerebral Palsy Fights for Rights
> 9-Year-Old Wants Wheelchair-Accessible Restrooms on Airplanes
> By KRISTIE RIEKEN, AP
>
>
>
> COPPELL, Texas (Aug. 16) - Rasha Kawar, who suffers from cerebral
> palsy
> and depends on an electric wheelchair to get around, is determined to
> live like any other 9-year-old girl - and travel like one.
>
>
> Rasha has begun a crusade to make airplane restrooms bigger after
> having
> a hard time negotiating one in her wheelchair while flying home last
> summer from a visit with her grandparents in Israel.
>
> She started an online petition asking Congress to pass a law that
> would
> require all new airplanes to have at least one wheelchair-accessible
> restroom. The petition is up to almost 5,000 signatures, and lawmakers
> and organizations that help the disabled are taking notice.
>
> "It is one thing to be stuck on a plane with no accessible bathroom,"
> said Stephen Bennett, president and CEO of United Cerebral Palsy.
> "It's
> quite another when a 9-year-old takes it to the level she has."
>
>
> Last summer, Rasha and her mother burst into tears when they couldn't
> get Rasha's clothes back on after she used a small airplane restroom.
> Her mother, Laila Kawar, said Rasha looked at her and said: "This is
> so
> unfair. What are we going to do about it?"
>
> When she got home, Rasha typed a letter to President Bush. It took her
> almost three weeks.
>
> Rasha has little control over the muscles in her body, but can control
> her head. She can talk, but people who don't know her well have a
> difficult time understanding her. Instead, she communicates by using a
> pointer, attached to a piece of headgear, to type out words on a
> computer keyboard. Machines translate her words into audio or written
> text.
>
> Despite her limitations, she attends public school in suburban Dallas
> with the help of an aide, and will enter the fourth grade this month.
> She learned to read at age 4 and finds it exasperating when people
> assume she is mentally disabled because of her wheelchair.
>
> "I am smart," she said. "My body just doesn't do what I want it to."
>
> The White House responded to Rasha with a letter signed by President
> Bush, but it did not address her problem, her mother said. That's when
> Rasha and her mother decided to start the online petition, which has
> signatures from people around the world.
>
> Many people who sign the petition include short notes. One reads: "My
> 8-year-old disabled son and I have had this experience too many times.
> With all the space on airplanes, it is grossly unfair not to allocate
> a
> few more feet so that disabled people can travel with dignity."
> Another
> wrote, "You opened my eyes to something I could not see. I proudly
> stand
> beside you."
>
> Supporter U.S. Sen. John Cornyn contacted the Federal Aviation
> Administration, which in turn contacted the U.S. Department of
> Transportation. The department sent Rasha a letter explaining the
> federal guidelines relating to accessible restrooms and said the main
> barrier to including those restrooms on all airplanes is cost.
>
> "Many airlines are losing huge amounts of money these days," wrote
> Robert C. Ashby, a regulation and enforcement attorney at the
> transportation department. "It's hard for the department to tell them
> to
> lose even more."
>
> He said accessible restrooms would cost about $12,000-$13,000 each,
> but
> the major loss for airlines would be space. Adding one restroom would
> take away two to four seats on most airplanes, which he said
> translates
> into millions of dollars in lost revenue.
>
> The Americans with Disabilities Act does not cover airplane restrooms,
> he said, but the Air Carrier Access Act of 1986 requires that airlines
> be accessible to people with disabilities. That act requires airplanes
> with two aisles to have one wheelchair-accessible restroom. Those with
> only one aisle, like the one the Kawars were traveling on, are not
> legally required to do so.
>
> Rasha and her mother plan to send her petition to the major airlines
> as
> well as the Department of Transportation later this summer. The United
> Cerebral Palsy organization is helping Rasha collect more signatures
> by
> posting a short note from her and a link to her petition on their Web
> site.
>
> Rasha says she will work as long as necessary for the change. She
> knows
> the fight will not be easy, but for a girl who faces daily battles
> with
> her own body to do the most basic tasks, dealing with adversity is
> second nature.
>
> "Rasha has lots of determination," her mother said. "She does not
> accept
> that she cannot do things."
>
>
>
> 08/16/04 05:45 EDT
>
>
>
>
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