EXCLUSIVE Sophie Morgan reveals she's been branded a 'troublemaker' by airline bosses after campaigning to improve air travel for disabled people By Sarah Packer, Chief Showbiz Reporter Published: 12:20 BST, 22 July 2024 | Updated: 12:20 BST, 22 July 2024 e-mail View comments Sophie Morgan has been branded a 'troublemaker' by airline bosses after campaigning to improve air travel for disabled people. The presenter is spearheading a campaign called Rights on Flights, which is calling on the UK government to make using aeroplanes more accessible for disabled people after Sophie's wheelchair was broken three times in just one year while flying. She is fighting to give the disabled community more rights on aeroplanes after her Channel 4 documentary Sophie Morgan's Fight to Fly, which airs Monday evening, exposed the inhumane ways wheelchair users are treated on board.
But after calling out her own mistreatment and speaking on behalf of her large following, who she says messages in their droves about their troubled experiences, Sophie, 39, has become even more 'distressed' by the attitude of airline bosses. The Loose Women panellist says as a result of their reluctance to make changes, which she hopes will not only be met by the government and new legislation, but the way aircrafts are designed in the future, the disabled community aren't flying at all. Sophie Morgan has been branded a 'troublemaker' by airline bosses after campaigning to improve air travel for disabled people The TV presenter is spearheading a campaign called Rights on Flights, which is calling on the UK government to make using aeroplanes more accessible for disabled people after Sophie's wheelchair was broken three times in just one year while flying She is fighting to give the disabled community more rights on aeroplanes after her Channel 4 documentary Sophie Morgan's Fight to Fly, which airs Monday evening, exposed the inhumane ways wheelchair users are treated on board Sophie told MailOnline: 'My wheelchair was broken three times last year even when I was running the campaign.
'I am very distressed by the attitudes of the airlines now, the amount of hot air I have been spun and I've been told through the grapevine how much of a 'troublemaker' they think I am. I just think..
. okay but I'm the good type of trouble. 'I'm not just doing this for me so I can go on holiday, I am doing this for the countless number of people that message me on a weekly basis ever since I put my head above the parapet with this, saying "I need your help" or "I won't fly" or "my children are too scared" or "my son is a wheelchair user and he can't transfer out of his chair so now he can't fly anymore.
" 'The consequences of the ableism in this industry is that countless of disabled people aren't flying. Every human being has an access requirement and the fact that the airlines don't seem to accommodate anybody's needs but one particular body type, it makes it so hard for everybody.' Sophie's Channel 4 documentary sees the TV star send a group of disabled friends undercover on flights from the UK to various destinations in Europe while recording the difficulties they face on camera.
The result exposed the 'dangerous' and 'unsafe' behaviours of the airlines as well as the 'undignified' way disabled customers are treated, from having their wheelchairs confiscated upon boarding to being placed in a machine which doesn't suit their individual needs. Disabled passengers are even forced to 'starve' and 'dehydrate' themselves because lack of accessibility and support means they're unable to use the toilet. During one shocking scene, a gentleman, who is a wheelchair user, was made to sit on the floor of a Whizz Air flight and pushed himself by his hands along the aircraft to use the restroom because no aisle chair was available.
Sophie's Channel 4 documentary sees the TV star send a group of disabled friends undercover on flights from the UK to various destinations in Europe while recording the difficulties they face on camera Disabled passengers are even forced to 'starve' and 'dehydrate' themselves because lack of accessibility and support means they're unable to use the toilet Sophie has been disabled since the age of 18 when she was in a car accident and paralysed from the chest down and told she would never walk again She has since established a successful TV career and this summer will be the first woman in a wheelchair to present the Paralympics for US broadcaster NBC following her recent move to Los Angeles (pictured May 2023) Sophie explained: 'As it stands, the way that an aeroplane is designed is completely discriminatory. 'We have to have our wheelchairs and mobility devices removed from us when we arrive at the aircraft door. On no other form of transport does that happen.
'The reason why it's so dangerous and I say dangerous deliberately and I would even go as far as to say abusive is because we are not only taken out of our devices, which are typically bespoke to us, we get put into these other wheelchairs to take us on board a plane and these wheelchairs are very small and not very well designed. 'You often feel you're going to fall out and people often do, there's a fear of getting injured and by the time you get to your seat, if you're lucky enough to be boarded first so you have a bit of dignity and privacy, and that doesn't always happen..
. 'The other day I boarded last, and everyone was watching and staring at me, it's all very undignified, but then you can't move around the cabin if you're someone like me. Both your body and equipment are at risk because it's out of your sight.
'We starve ourselves and get dehydrated on board because we can't get to the toilet, or our wheelchairs get lost or damaged. So many of us have ignored these problems or are outright just refusing to fly because it's so hard.' Sophie has been disabled since the age of 18 when she was in a car accident and paralysed from the chest down and told she would never walk again.
She has since established a successful TV career and this summer will be the first woman in a wheelchair to present the Paralympics for US broadcaster NBC following her recent move to Los Angeles. The activist hopes Fight to Fly will not only expose the 'horrifying' conditions disabled flyers have been made to endure for decades but urge the improvement of aircraft design and the training received by air travel staff. The activist hopes Fight to Fly will not only expose the 'horrifying' conditions disabled flyers have been made to endure for decades but urge the improvement of aircraft design and the training received by air travel staff Sophie said: 'I feel really grateful I've had cameras rolling on this situation because it's something I have been dealing with for 20 years and many others like me have been dealing with for as long as there have been aeroplanes.
'For us it isn't new news but for many others it is so revelatory and exposing and shocking and at times really quite horrifying. But for us it's normalised and understood. 'If I go back, the main reason I got into television is because when I became disabled when I was 18, I realised then how overlooked our lived experience is by other people.
I found myself constantly looking around me and saying, 'does everybody know that this is what we have to deal with?' 'We want to see an improvement in the design of aircrafts and we need training, so making sure that everybody who handles a person with a disability, they have training on how to handle us and our equipment better. 'I won't go into too much detail, but we do find a solution, which is so exciting. The prototype that is about to come out will change our lives for the better.
'A lot of people watching the documentary will say "well it is a plane" like we do with old buildings in the UK, people say, "you can't expect there to be access"...
But no, what's more important? A plane or a person?' Sophie Morgan's Fight to Fly is on Channel 4 tonight at 9pm Loose Women Sophie Morgan Channel 4 Share or comment on this article: Sophie Morgan reveals she's been branded a 'troublemaker' by airline bosses after campaigning to improve air travel for disabled people e-mail Add comment.
