PBS高端访谈:残疾乘客要求航空公司小心对待轮椅

Millions of Americans are traveling this week for the holidays.

数以百万计的美国人这个星期将外出度假。

But for passengers with disabilities, the challenges and problems of air travel can be significantly heightened.

但对于残疾乘客来说，航空旅行的挑战和问题可能会显著增加。

People continue to report embarrassing security pat-downs, damaged and even lost mobility¹ devices.

人们继续报道令人尴尬的安全搜身，移动设备损坏甚至丢失。

In July alone, there were 834 reported incidents of damaged wheelchairs or scooters, an average of 28 a day.

仅在7月，就有834起报告的轮椅或小型摩托车损坏事件，平均每天28起。

We're going to look at this tonight, beginning with some individual voices.

我们今晚就从倾听一些个人的声音开始。

I am Dr. Oluwaferanmi Okanlami.

我是欧路瓦非蓝米·欧坎拉米博士。

I am the director of student accessibility and accommodation services at the University of Michigan.

我是密歇根大学学生无障碍和住宿服务的主任。

I experienced a spinal² cord injury in my third year of orthopedic surgery residency, which then left me paralyzed from my chest down with minimal³ use of my upper extremities⁴.

我在骨科实习的第三年经历了一次脊髓损伤，这使我从胸部以下瘫痪，上肢也很少使用。

My name is Corey March. And I have ME/CFS, myalgic encephalomyelitis, or chronic⁵ fatigue⁶ syndrome⁷.

我叫科里·马奇。 我患有ME/CFS，肌痛性脑脊髓炎，或者说慢性疲劳综合症。

I can't actually sit upright for very long, so I'm in a reclining wheelchair that's like at this -- at this kind of angle, which makes it harder to get a loaner or replacement⁸.

我不能直立坐很长时间，所以我坐在一个倾斜的轮椅上，就像这样——以这样的角度，这使得我很难得到替代品或进行替换。

My name is Fletcher Cleaves⁹.

我叫弗莱彻·克利夫斯。

And my formal title is the WheelchairNomad.

我的正式头衔是轮椅流浪者。

I am a incomplete quadriplegic,C5-C6 vertebrae spinal cord injury. I use a wheelchair 24/7.

我是一个不完全四肢瘫痪者，C5-C6脊椎脊髓损伤。我每天24小时都坐轮椅。

My name is Andrea Dalzell,and I have transverse myelitis that caused me to be a wheelchair user from the age of 12 years old.

我叫安德里亚·达尔泽尔，我患有横向脊髓炎，从12岁开始我就一直坐轮椅。

I'mCharles Brown. I'm the national presidentfor Paralyzed Veterans of America.

我是查理布朗。 我是美国瘫痪退伍军人协会的负责人。

I was injured in 1986 in a diving injury while serving at Cherry Point, North Carolina.

1986年，我在北卡罗来纳州的切里波因特服役时，在一次跳水中受伤。

You probably can't see it, but I'm in a power chair.

你可能看不出来，但我坐在轮椅上。

I am a quadriplegic,and I have been in a wheelchair for 35 years now.

我现在四肢瘫痪，在轮椅上坐了35年。

I'm afraid to say that I have not had probably any trips thatI have gone on that have not resulted insome damage to my manual frame wheelchair.

我不得不说，在我的旅行中，我几乎没有任何一次旅行没有对我的手动框架轮椅造成损害。

I was missing the back ofmy wheelchair. You can see right here it was completely gone.

我的轮椅靠背没了。你可以在这里看到它完全不见了。

And I was like, excuse me. This chair is not the condition I gave it to you in.

我说，不好意思。 这把轮椅不是我让你进去的条件。

I was on my way home from Florida.

我在从佛罗里达回家的路上。

Looking out of the window, I saw my chair sitting to the side of the steps of the gate.

我向窗外望去，看见我的轮椅放在门口台阶的一侧。

And I'm like, OK, they will come get it.

我说，好吧，他们会来拿的。

And all of a sudden, I feel the plane move back.

突然间，我感觉飞机向后移动。

I see the gate starting to move away.

我看到大门开始移开了。

And my chair is still sitting outside on the tarmac.

我的轮椅还在外面的停机坪上。

And I'm, like, pressing the stewardess¹⁰ button.

然后我就按下了空姐按钮。

And she comes to me, and she's like:Can I help you We're about to take off."

她来找我，说:我能帮你吗 我们要起飞了。”

And I'm like: "My legs are outside. My legs are outside."

我说:“我的腿在外面。 我的腿在外面。”

I have had several injuries, and I have had quite a few damaged wheelchairs over my time with traveling.

在旅行期间，我受过几次伤，轮椅也有几次损坏。

And it's not just me. It's many people across the nation that suffer through this process.

不仅仅是我。 全国有很多人都在经历这一过程。

So, in the first year, my chair was damaged about four times.

所以，在第一年，我的轮椅被损坏了四次。

I have since learned better ways of protecting mychair.

从那以后，我学会了更好的保护轮椅的方法。

And part of what I do is, I put like a pleaon my chair to the baggage handlers that say: "This chair gives me my life back."

我所做的一部分是，我因我的轮椅恳求行李搬运工说:“这把轮椅让我活了过来。”

When airlines start getting fined and start losing money,that's when they typically tend to care, orgetting negative exposure and negative press.

当航空公司开始被罚款，开始亏损，或者得到负面曝光和负面报道时，他们通常才会在意。

In my case, it would benice to have a dispensation like to pay for a regular ticket and be able to get the seat that functions for me, and to have some kind of penalty for the ground crews or some kind of penalty on the airline if they break a chair.

我得情况是，如果能买到一张普通票，能坐到适合我的座位，如果我的椅子被他们弄坏了，地勤人员就会受到惩罚，或者航空公司也会受到惩罚，那就太好了。

People don't think that this is a serious concern and it's just a matter of finding space to put your wheelchair, like not having enough space for your luggage in the airplane.

人们并不认为这是一个严重的问题，这只是一个找到空间放置你的轮椅的问题，就像在飞机上没有足够的空间放置你的行李一样。

They miss the fact that this is individuals' lives that are at stake.

他们忽略了一个事实，那就是这事关个人的生命。

I can tell you that, for a lot of people, air travel becomes a situation where they choose not to do it to prevent damage to their chairs or even their bodies.

我可以告诉你，对很多人来说，航空旅行变成了一种他们选择不去做的情况，以免他们的轮椅，甚至他们的身体受到损害。

Congress needs to understand that these devices arenot as easy as just going to your local Walgreens and picking up a wheelchair.

国会需要明白，这些设备并不像去当地的沃尔格林药店拿个轮椅那么简单。

These devices are literally¹¹ tailored for every single individual, and then making sure that each airline is held accountable and enforcing that they have the training and the educational resources that they need to be able to handle these devices.

这些设备实际上是为每个人量身定做的，然后确保每一家航空公司都被追究责任，并强制要求他们拥有能够操作这些设备所需的培训和教育资源。

These are just some of hundreds of stories that are almost exactly like what you just heard.

数以百计的故事和你刚刚听到的几乎一模一样，但这只是其中的一部分。

1 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

2 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

3 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

4 extremities   

n.端点( extremity的名词复数 )；尽头；手和足；极窘迫的境地

参考例句：

• She was most noticeable, I thought, in respect of her extremities. 我觉得她那副穷极可怜的样子实在太惹人注目。 来自辞典例句
• Winters may be quite cool at the northwestern extremities. 西北边区的冬天也可能会相当凉。 来自辞典例句

5 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

6 fatigue   

n.疲劳，劳累

参考例句：

• The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
• I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。

7 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

8 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

9 cleaves   

v.劈开，剁开，割开( cleave的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• This wood cleaves easily. 这木材好劈。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The water cleaves the banks away like a knife. 河水象一把刀似的，把两岸削掉。 来自辞典例句

10 stewardess   

n.空中小姐，女乘务员

参考例句：

• Please show your ticket to the stewardess when you board the plane.登机时请向空中小姐出示机票。
• The stewardess hurried the passengers onto the plane.空中小姐催乘客赶快登机。

11 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。