Jakarta, Kartunet.com – The commitment of PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) to improve services for people with disabilities appears to have made progress. This experience was felt by Sunarman, a wheelchair user, when using flight GA254 from Adi Sucipto airport, Yogyakarta to Ngurah Rai, Denpasar at 8:30 PM WIB (March 21, 2013). The officer serving Sunarman no longer asked him to sign a medical statement.
Upon arrival at Adi Sucipto Airport, Sunarman requested a wheelchair from the airport staff. The counter officer asked him if he was ill. Sunarman firmly replied that he was not ill but required wheelchair assistance. Latra, Sunarman's travel companion, added that Sunarman's leg condition was caused by polio.
“The counter officer looked at me for a moment, then called an assistant to retrieve a wheelchair. Soon after, the assistant (female) arrived with a wheelchair and a medical statement,” Sunarman wrote in his email.
He continued that after he was seated in his wheelchair, the assistant asked him to sign the medical certificate. Just as he was about to respond, the counter officer intervened, stating that he didn't need to sign because he wasn't sick. “There's no need to sign that; this gentleman is not ill,” the counter officer said, as quoted by Sunarman.
Following this, he successfully utilized Garuda Indonesia's services all the way to Ngurah Rai airport without having to sign a medical statement. Even when boarding and disembarking the aircraft, he was able to request assistance from staff who promptly lifted Sunarman's wheelchair.
From a conversation with the officer, it was revealed that he had never received proper training on how to assist wheelchair users. What he did was based on experience from several instances of helping wheelchair users who had given him advice on comfortable methods.
“Policies should also be accompanied by capacity building for staff implementing them, specifically regarding the correct and appropriate attitudes and skills for serving people with disabilities, so that Garuda has clear standards,” Sunarman suggested in a separate email.
This positive change in Garuda staff service at Adi Sucipto airport deserves appreciation. At the very least, there is now one officer who understands that people with disabilities are different from sick individuals. Hopefully, this will also apply to Garuda Indonesia staff elsewhere, as well as other domestic airlines.
However, the effort to eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities in domestic airlines is not yet complete. This positive trend is merely a beginning and needs to be monitored until its full implementation. Awaiting a written decision and a media statement from Garuda Indonesia's top leader, Emirsyah Satar. Only then will there be fundamental changes that strengthen the position of people with disabilities once that official decision has been made. (DPM)
Editor: Muhammad Yesa Aravena