Sports

Aussie athlete forced to urinate in bottle because plane didn’t have wheelchair

Related Story: Paralympian 'humiliated' by Jetstar's wheelchair policy Related Story: Humiliated Fearnley blasts Jetstar policy

Darren Belling helped take Australia to its first Para-ice hockey World Championships, but his journey was book-ended by humiliation after being forced to urinate in a water bottle and later stranded in Brisbane while his wheelchair sat more than 12,000km away.

Key points:

  • Belling said staff attempted to charge him for a blanket so he could urinate in his chair
  • When he returned home he discovered his wheelchair had been left in Dubai
  • Belling said it's the worst he's been treated in 35 years of flying

The Sunshine Coast man travelled to Helsinki this month with the IceRoos, where they would compete for the first time on the world stage against Finland and China.

The paraplegic athlete said while he was buzzing from the excitement of helping to pioneer the new sport for Australia, what he endured on the flights tainted the experience.

The 53-year-old flew from Brisbane to Helsinki via Dubai, with budget airline Flydubai.

Belling said he was unable to use the toilet during the seven-hour flight from the Middle East to Finland because the airline didn't have an onboard wheelchair.

Australian Para-ice hockey athlete Darren Belling smiles in his wheelchair, dressed in his Ice Hockey Australia uniform.

The narrow wheelchairs allow passengers to travel along the aisles because full-sized chairs cannot be used on flights.

Without any way to access the toilet, Belling said staff supplied him with a one-litre water bottle and attempted to charge him for a blanket so he could urinate in his chair.

"She advised me they don't have an onboard chair," he said.

"There's no access to the toilet. She said to hang on.

"It's a seven-hour flight. I mean we've done three hours in.

"I'd like to see someone else who's had a big cup of coffee after three hours and thinks, 'I don't need to go to the dunny'."

'A wheelchair isn't a bag. It's a necessity'

Heading home from the competition with a bronze medal, Belling faced more humiliation and discomfort.

When he arrived in Brisbane after a 14-hour Emirates flight, his wheelchair wasn't there for him as he left the plane.

"I'm thinking, 'No it can't possibly be'," he said.

It was on another continent.

Group photo of Darren Belling (front row, 3rd from left) with his Australian Para-ice hockey team mates, date unknown.

Staff let him know some of his luggage had been left behind in Dubai.

"How can my wheelchair — when all these chairs were booked together — get left behind?" Belling said.

The staff member rang the team in Dubai, who advised him the chair didn't fit in the hold.

"I'm straight away like, 'Mate, it's not a bag. I can understand bags being left behind — it's a wheelchair. It's a necessity. I can't walk. I need the wheelchair. The bags I can do without'," he said.

"The ladies pushing me were quite embarrassed that my chair hadn't turned up."

Belling ended up borrowing the loan wheelchair so he could move around his home, but its size meant he still couldn't access his toilet.

"In 35 years of flying around for competitions with basketball, wheelchair NRL, tennis, arm-wrestling and now ice hockey, I have never had my disability thrown in my face as much as I have on this trip," he said.

Both Flydubai and Emirates airlines have been contacted for comment.

It is not the first time airlines have come under attack from people travelling with disabilities.

Australian Paralympian triathlete Bill Chaffey told ABC he felt "like an animal in a zoo" when he was left without his wheelchair after flying with Jetstar from the Gold Coast to Sydney in 2016.

He was left in an aisle chair, unable to push himself, with no access to toilets or food.

And in 2009, Paralympian Kurt Fearnley also took aim at Jetstar after he chose to crawl through Brisbane Airport rather than be left stuck in an unusable wheelchair because his own had been checked as luggage.

Original Article

[contf]
[contfnew]

ABC .net

[contfnewc]
[contfnewc]

Related Posts