Who is a special needs person?
All humans need help from others to live in the world. Some people need a little more help than others because they have a disability that prevents them from doing some things on their own. These people are known as people with special needs.
What is the incident with Indigo and the special needs child all about?
Indigo is a well-known airline in India. On 7th May 2022, a boy in a wheelchair was waiting to board an Indigo flight to Hyderabad from Ranchi. However, an Indigo staff decided not to allow him to do so. The staff claimed that the boy was in a state of panic and his behaviour would harm the safety of others on the flight.
Was the child really in a state of panic?
Nope. He was upset earlier in the day because of an injury to his arm. But later on, he sat quietly in his wheelchair and didn’t show any signs of trouble.
How did the people at the airport react?
The other passengers came to the child’s rescue. They told the manager that the law didn’t allow anyone to discriminate against a person with special needs.
Some doctors flying on the same plane promised they would take care of him. But the manager did not change his decision.
A lady filmed the event on her phone so everyone could learn how badly Indigo had treated a special needs child.
What happened next?
Indigo put the family on a flight to Hyderabad the next day. They said that about 75,000 special needs people use their services to fly every month. They had to make a difficult decision in this case because they were afraid of something going wrong on the flight due to the boy’s behaviour.
Let’s remember that we never know how difficult a stranger’s life is. We should always treat everyone with kindness. A smile doesn’t cost anything, so smile away!
