Blind passenger alleges he couldn't get help to get inside Toronto airport

A blind lawyer and disability rights activist has filed a complaint with the Canadian Transportation Agency after he was unable to get helpto get inside Toronto's Pearson International Airport safelylast weekend.

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David Lepofskyhas travelled frequently for work and has always relied on the curbside assistance program airlines are required to offer to help those with disabilitiesnavigate from thetaxi to the airport counter.

All a customer had to do was call a central number en route and a staff member would meet that personat a predetermined spot outside the terminal,Lepofsky said. But when he called Saturday, the 59-year-old lawyer said hewas told he could no longer access the service through that number andwas instead given a number for Air Canada.

Taxi driver helped

Leopofsky saidhe called the number given, but the Air Canada representative there told him the airlinedidn't know of any such service.

It's unclear exactly what happened inLepofsky'scase, because an Air Canada spokesperson said the airline doeshave staff available to meet people with disabilities outside the terminal. The airline, however, is in the middle of revamping its service, a statement from Air Canada to CBC Newssaid.

"The service is changing and to improve our special assistance handling even furtherAirCanadais currently establishing its own centralized area at the airport for special assistance," thestatement said.

That counter would be near the curb so that vehicles could drop passengers just outside it, the statement said.

"People without disabilities, if this was the kind of service they got just to get in the front door of an airport [they] wouldn't use this airportagain,"Lepofskysaid."And there's no reason why people with disabilities should be treated like this."

In this case,Lepofsky'staxi driver was the one to help him inside. Cab drivers are not allowed to leave their vehicles unattended and can facesteep fines if they do so.

Lepofsky said he has yet to understand why no one was able to meet him from the airline last weekend.

"I've gotten multiple explanations," he said. "I've gotten all sorts of conflicting advice from good ground people who all just have a different story."