I flew to Detroit for work this month, then on to Phoenix to see my parents, and then back home to Kansas City, Missouri. But traveling by airplane has gotten more complicated for me because of my multiple sclerosis (MS). I don’t need assistive devices, so I know my…
air travel
I’ve done quite a bit of flying, for business and pleasure, over the 42 years I’ve lived with multiple sclerosis (MS). It’s not easy traveling by air with my scooter, and I can’t imagine trying to fly with a 450-pound power wheelchair. Actually, I don’t have to imagine.
The case of Women’s National Basketball Association star Brittney Griner is an important reminder for all of us who travel internationally with our medications: What you might be able to do in your home country, might not be the case in another. And the penalty could be severe. Griner was…
Kevin Schaefer hadn’t been in an airport since he was 4 years old, so he had been looking forward to flying from his home in Cary, North Carolina, to Anaheim, California, in June for the 2019 Cure SMA Conference. As it turned out, his experience didn’t go as expected.
It’s happened to me, and if you fly with a scooter or a wheelchair, I bet it’s happened to you, too: a busted or missing set of wheels on arrival. On a flight from Washington, D.C., to Venice, my scooter went to Copenhagen. On a flight from…
The United Spinal Association will hold a webinar this week to seek ideas for making air travel better for wheelchair users, including multiple sclerosis patients. One focus of the event will be the problems wheelchair users have encountered at airports. Another will be bills in the U.S. House and Senate…
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Airport Tips for Holiday Flyers
Thanksgiving is just a few days away, so I thought it would be a good time to repeat a few of my airline travel tips and add a few new ones. Get the wait-time app Needless to say, you need to get to the airport early on busy travel…
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society and a dozen other advocacy groups have banded together to support the Air Carrier Access Amendments Act of 2017, a bill seeking to strengthen the rights of airline passengers and close service gaps often faced by patients with disabilities, including those with multiple sclerosis (MS).