This young lady is 9 years old, has CP, and uses a wheelchair. She has a
very valid point and could use the help of all of us. Please sign her
petition.

Debbi in SO CA

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Girl With Cerebral Palsy Fights for Rights

Aug 16, 5:45 AM (ET)

By KRISTIE RIEKEN

COPPELL, Texas (AP) - 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
Stephen Bennett, 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. 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. John Cornyn contacted the Federal Aviation
Administration, 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 Robert 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 Carrier 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."

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On the Net:

Rasha Kawar's petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/r9f12n16