Athletes call for change after airline damaged wheelchairs

Athletes from all across the country traveled to central Virginia this week for the National Wheelchair Basketball Championships. But for some players, the road to victory was met with challenges even before tip-off.

Hours and hours of practice culminated in preparation for the National Wheelchair Basketball Championships, Henrico County’s new Sports and Events Center put out the red carpet for the best-of-the-best in wheelchair basketball.

Myranda Shields is a wheelchair basketball athlete and the social media manager for the Ability 360 Wheelchair Phoenix Suns team. She told 8News about how her team, among others, found their wheelchairs broken and damaged by Southwest Airlines, with some of the wheels having been removed. This left the athletes stranded on their plane at Richmond International Airport.

“They treat it like it’s luggage and it’s not luggage… it’s a part of our bodies,” Shields said.

While family members tried to get the proper parts back to the athletes so they could exit the ramp, the team said Southwest Airlines called the police on them for “violating protocol.” Player Justin Walker remarked how this type of mistreatment shouldn’t be happening in 2024.

“These devices… it’s our second life. It’s giving us our freedom,” Walker said. “If you take that away, we’re basically animals at that point.”

https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/henrico-county/its-literally-our-legs-athletes-call-for-change-after-airline-damaged-wheelchairs/

I guess Southwest gets the traveling "Shithouse of the Skies" trophy this week.