Many years ago while on a flight from Istanbul to New York, I settled in to watch an inflight movie, when all of a sudden the headset I had brought stopped working. While the airline had packaged headsets provided for free use at each seat in order for passengers to listen to music or watch a film, I was unable to use that style (old-fashioned type ear buds with a “Y” shaped cord, which plugged directly from the jack in the seat to the ears). Since there were already hearing aides in my ear canals, I needed something that would fit entirely over the ear.

Because of this, I always would bring my own when flying. Mine required batteries, which had suddenly and unexpectedly died. After digging through my backpack and purse and not finding the extra batteries I thought I had packed, I explained the situation regarding the need for over-the-ear headphones to a flight attendant and asked if they had any spare batteries on board. There were none.

The movie screens on that particular jet were not the individual type in the backs of seats, but suspended from overhead and a number of seats forward. They were small, the picture was dark, and captioning was not provided – meaning there was no way I could follow along. Watching a movie would have provided some distraction and alleviated some of the boredom on that long flight of about eleven hours. Actually, it would have also been helpful to be able to hear any announcements that might have been made too. The worst part though, was watching everyone else enjoying the film when I could not, which left me with a tremendous sense of frustration and disappointment – a feeling of being left out and a bit “less-than.”

Following the flight and walking up the isle out of the “not-as-important” economy seats and through business class to exit the plane, you can only imagine how shocked and upset I was to see that there were a number of unused, over-the-ear headsets available for those people in “Business Elite”. While I assume it just was not on the radar of the flight attendant to offer me one of those headsets as an accommodation, it also infuriated me. I stewed about it for a bit. And then I wrote Delta.

I want to state here that in the past, Delta Airlines has been extremely helpful regarding accommodating my particular disability in other ways, which made it even more surprising that they could not (or would not) help me out in this instance. Their customer care response was apologetic with sort of a caveat – they made sure (probably to cover themselves legally) to point out that inflight entertainment is an “amenity” they provide, but is not guaranteed, nor a part of a ticket, therefore they are not required to provide the accommodation of that headset. They then went on to say there was no violation of a particular code, and that I was “handled properly.” They also offered me a partial voucher for a future flight.

I appreciated both the apology and the voucher, but honestly, the defense regarding “no violation occurring” and especially that I was “handled properly” got under my skin. While I offered that perhaps the flight attendant didn’t think of it as an option, I very much resented that part of the response. I replied that if entertainment and headphones were provided as a free commodity for everyone else on the flight, that it was unfair to exclude someone who could not access it, especially in this case, which was an isolated event. All it would have required was the simple loan of a different headset, of which multiple unused ones were available. Loaning a pair of headphones was an absolutely reasonable, no-cost, no-frills, easy, quick-fix accommodation for a hearing impaired person suddenly caught in an unexpected situation……. and beyond that, it would have been mostly a simple kindness. I would hope that my letter found its way to the proper channels, where it might have provided an awareness and sensitivity going forward.

The thing about hearing loss is that it is an invisible disability, one that affects from the very young to the very old. People don’t notice right away that some sort of adaption or adjustment to the situation might be required. More times than not it is necessary to let them know and advocate for yourself. And often, even when you do that, because there is not something obvious like a wheelchair or a cane, people tend to forget. So you have to remind them – over and over again. It can be both disheartening and exhausting.

Since that incident of well over a decade ago, it seems almost everybody travels with their own headsets now, some of them very high-tech. It is also possible to to stream movies directly into a person’s earbuds – or even hearing aides. Most airlines that provide inflight movies for long-haul flights have individual screens in the seatbacks. Or you can stream it directly into your own phone or tablet. Many of them are captioned, although I have found on the last three flights I was on (not Delta) the captioning did not always work correctly (that is a whole other issue). I think you can still be provided with headsets on flights, although the ones in economy are not very good (over the ear, but with a spongy piece). The ones offered in Business and First class are still big upgrades, of course. Basically, it’s better to bring your own and not have to depend on anything else.

Over all, you would think after all these years that there would have been many more improvements regarding accessibility for people who are hard of hearing. There have been some helpful changes, but disappointingly, that is not always the case. Even though the technology exists, many places do not utilize it or provide them. This is especially so regarding captioning and public loop systems.

Actually, what prompted me to write this airline incident memory from years back is a segue to something that is happening right now. This concerns my utmost disgust and growing tangle with a particular media company – one who obviously and disrespectfully could care less about disability accommodations for their paying customers. The whole story has gotten kind of crazy and might get even crazier. I’ll try and share that shortly.

~*~