Woman with Muscular Dystrophy Says She Was Dropped During 'Traumatic' Experience Flying Home for the Holidays (Exclusive)
Nila Morton was born with a rare form of muscular dystrophy called Ullrich, which requires her to rely on a wheelchair
Nila Morton
Nila Morton smiling at the cameraNila Morton was born with a rare form of muscular dystrophy called Ullrich, which requires her to rely on a wheelchair
When it came time to travel home for the holidays this year, she at first didn’t feel much anxiety, but her trip took a "traumatic" turn, she shares
Afterward, Morton took to TikTok to share more about her negative flying experience in a video, which has since gone viral amassing more than 150,000 views and 4,000 comments
Nila Morton, a graduate student at Howard University, was excited to be traveling back to South Carolina for Thanksgiving after almost a year of being away from home.
Morton, 25, was born with a rare form of muscular dystrophy called Ullrich, which requires her to rely on a wheelchair. When it came time to travel home for the holidays this year from Washington, D.C., she didn’t feel much anxiety, since when she had flown alone for the first time last December, everything went smoothly.
But when she landed at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, her journey — which was supposed to be a joyful reunion — took a "traumatic" turn instead.
"I had to wait for all the passengers to de-board the plane before special assistance came to help me off," Morton tells PEOPLE exclusively. "Since it was late, I didn’t mind waiting, knowing my mom was already at the airport ready to pick me up."
"Then I saw the employee with the aisle chair, and another employee came to join," she continues. "I told them I would need a full lift since I have limited mobility. While they attempted the lift, they dropped me, and I hit my tailbone and left side of my body. I felt pain immediately, and I also got bruised from the fall."
She adds, "Throughout the whole time I was home for Thanksgiving, I was in pain. I thought I would be okay because I know that sometimes, when I'm in pain, my disease makes it worse and takes longer to heal. But I knew something was wrong when I started becoming uncomfortable sitting in my wheelchair or lying on my left side."
Nila Morton
Nila Morton smiling at the cameraThings only worsened for Morton on her way back to Washington, D.C., on Dec. 2. During her first flight, which had a layover in Atlanta, the plane was delayed because the employees had difficulty loading her chair onto the plane. Morton was confused, as when she initially booked her trip in November, she had called Delta to confirm that her wheelchair would fit on her flights.
Eventually, Morton landed in Atlanta, where she says she had to wait again for all the passengers to leave the plane before receiving assistance. Two special assistance employees — a young woman and an older man — came to transfer her to the aisle chair.
"Nervously, I asked them if they were confident in their ability to help me safely, especially after being dropped the previous week," she says. "They said I had nothing to worry about. The young woman grabbed my upper body incorrectly, and the older man corrected her grip."
"This made me even more anxious because it was starting off wrong," she adds. "I asked them again to make sure they wouldn’t drop me, but they became dismissive and started making comments under their breath. That made me feel like I was a burden or an issue just for wanting to make sure I wasn’t further harmed, especially since I was already in pain from the first incident."
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Once Morton was in the aisle chair and off the plane, she finally saw her wheelchair and, to her dismay, noticed the headrest was badly bent. She tells PEOPLE that the person who brought her the chair explained that they had to remove the headrest to fit it onto the plane.
"I couldn’t understand how removing the headrest had caused such damage, and my concerns about the employees’ handling of my wheelchair only deepened," she says.
"The final leg of my journey, from ATL to DCA, landed around 9:04 p.m.," she adds. "Once again, I waited until all passengers de-boarded before receiving assistance. When the employees transferred me to my wheelchair, I noticed the joystick cover was missing. This was the final blow after an already traumatic experience."
At the gate, Morton asked where she could report the missing cover. The gate agent directed her to baggage services and instructed one of the employees assisting her to make sure they took her there before retrieving her luggage.
However, Morton says that when they approached baggage claim, the employee focused solely on retrieving her luggage and did not take her to baggage services.
"I was overwhelmed by his lack of empathy and just wanted to get home," she says. "I asked if he could stay to help load my luggage into my Uber, and he agreed. He told me to follow him to the area where the Uber would pick me up, which was Terminal 2, Zone 1. Once we got there, he dropped my bags off and left."
"For 13 minutes, I was out in the cold waiting before my Uber arrived," she adds. "Thankfully, my driver kindly helped me load my bags, but I was left feeling abandoned, frustrated, and defeated."
Since the incidents, Morton says Delta has only contacted her about her wheelchair.
In a statement to PEOPLE, a Delta spokesperson says, "We sincerely apologize for this customer’s experience, and our Customer Care team is engaged. We treat the rights of our customers with disabilities with the utmost seriousness."
Nila Morton
Nila Morton smiles at the cameraAfter Morton got back to her apartment, she broke down crying. Looking back, she says the whole experience made her feel "worthless." But then, something inside her said to make a video, so she turned to social media to share more about her experience.
"It was mostly just to express my frustration about dealing with ableism," she says. "I wasn’t looking for sympathy or for people to care. It was mostly for me to help process what happened."
But then, her TikTok video received traction, amassing more than 150,000 views and 4,000 comments.
"When I saw all the comments and views, I was scared," she adds. "I showed a side of myself that I usually hide because I never want to be seen as weak or letting ableism get to me. Honestly, seeing how people understood my pain and showed support made me realize that I wasn’t as alone as I thought. That I do matter. My existence does matter. I shouldn’t be made to feel bad because of how ableist society is."
"I hope people can understand what ableism is. Something I believe many able-bodied people fail to understand is that combating ableism requires more than avoiding ableist slurs or befriending a disabled person you find cool. True allyship involves dismantling the systemic barriers that perpetuate discrimination and exclusion for disabled people."
Read the original article on People
