Gary Leonard Talbot

14 CFR Part 382 [Docket No. DOT–OST–2011–0098] RIN 2105–AD87 Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel; Accessibility of Aircraft and Stowage of Wheelchairs My name is Gary Talbot and I have been a fulltime wheelchair user for over 30 years and have logged over 1 million miles of airline travel in the past 30 years. I currently sit on the U.S. Access Board although my comments are my personal opinions and not the opinions of the Access Boards. A well signed, designated space in the main cabin is all we need to ensure people with disabilities are able to fly and travel independently without fear of our chairs left behind, damage to the unit or other passengers hating us because they just got bumped off the flight due to seat strapping of our device. The issue of main cabin stowage of folded wheelchairs is critical for people with disabilities and the seat strapping solution is one of the most degrading experiences I have had in any of my flights and experiences that span over a million flight miles. My thoughts are listed in bold below to the questions asked in the NPRM: Gary Talbot 126 beach Street Foxboro, MA 02035 Talbotgt1@aol.com Seat strapping (1) Is an awkward way of transporting a wheelchair in the cabin; a. This is absolutely correct. Seat strapping folded wheelchairs takes time and can be very difficult for the employees. Flight attendants may see 100 different type folding chairs (or more) and each one could require slightly different strapping techniques. These complexities alone will require additional time to strap the folded chair and could delay flights and bring additional negative attention on the wheeled mobility user. When the aircraft has a designated storage area/closet the folded wheelchair is simply placed inside the space or closet requiring no special skill or training by the airline employees. The sequence to simply fold and stow the folded wheelchair in the designated space is extremely