Girl With Cerebral Palsy Fights for Rights

[Guest guest]

Girl With Cerebral Palsy Fights for Rights

COPPELL, Texas - Rasha Kawar, who suffers from cerebral palsy and

depends on an electric wheelchair to get around, is determined to

live like any other 9-year-old girl — and travel like one.

Rasha has begun a crusade to make airplane restrooms bigger after

having a hard time negotiating one in her wheelchair while flying

home last summer from a visit with her grandparents in Israel.

She started an online petition asking Congress to pass a law that

would require all new airplanes to have at least one wheelchair-

accessible restroom. The petition is up to almost 5,000 signatures,

and lawmakers and organizations that help the disabled are taking

notice.

" It is one thing to be stuck on a plane with no accessible bathroom, "

said , president and CEO of United Cerebral

Palsy. " It's quite another when a 9-year-old takes it to the level

she has. "

Last summer, Rasha and her mother burst into tears when they couldn't

get Rasha's clothes back on after she used a small airplane restroom.

Her mother, Laila Kawar, said Rasha looked at her and said: " This is

so unfair. What are we going to do about it? "

When she got home, Rasha typed a letter to President Bush (news - web

sites). It took her almost three weeks.

Rasha has little control over the muscles in her body, but can

control her head. She can talk, but people who don't know her well

have a difficult time understanding her. Instead, she communicates by

using a pointer, attached to a piece of headgear, to type out words

on a computer keyboard. Machines translate her words into audio or

written text.

Despite her limitations, she attends public school in suburban Dallas

with the help of an aide, and will enter the fourth grade this month.

She learned to read at age 4 and finds it exasperating when people

assume she is mentally disabled because of her wheelchair.

" I am smart, " she said. " My body just doesn't do what I want it to. "

The White House responded to Rasha with a letter signed by President

Bush, but it did not address her problem, her mother said. That's

when Rasha and her mother decided to start the online petition, which

has signatures from people around the world.

Many people who sign the petition include short notes. One reads: " My

8-year-old disabled son and I have had this experience too many

times. With all the space on airplanes, it is grossly unfair not to

allocate a few more feet so that disabled people can travel with

dignity. " Another wrote, " You opened my eyes to something I could not

see. I proudly stand beside you. "

Supporter U.S. Sen. Cornyn (news, bio, voting record) contacted

the Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites), which in turn

contacted the U.S. Department of Transportation. The department sent

Rasha a letter explaining the federal guidelines relating to

accessible restrooms and said the main barrier to including those

restrooms on all airplanes is cost.

" Many airlines are losing huge amounts of money these days, " wrote

C. Ashby, a regulation and enforcement attorney at the

transportation department. " It's hard for the department to tell them

to lose even more. "

He said accessible restrooms would cost about $12,000-$13,000 each,

but the major loss for airlines would be space. Adding one restroom

would take away two to four seats on most airplanes, which he said

translates into millions of dollars in lost revenue.

The Americans with Disabilities Act does not cover airplane

restrooms, he said, but the Air r Access Act of 1986 requires

that airlines be accessible to people with disabilities. That act

requires airplanes with two aisles to have one wheelchair-accessible

restroom. Those with only one aisle, like the one the Kawars were

traveling on, are not legally required to do so.

Rasha and her mother plan to send her petition to the major airlines

as well as the Department of Transportation later this summer. The

United Cerebral Palsy organization is helping Rasha collect more

signatures by posting a short note from her and a link to her

petition on their Web site.

Rasha says she will work as long as necessary for the change. She

knows the fight will not be easy, but for a girl who faces daily

battles with her own body to do the most basic tasks, dealing with

adversity is second nature.

" Rasha has lots of determination, " her mother said. " She does not

accept that she cannot do things. "