Flying High

Hayleigh Barclay is 23 years old and uses a wheelchair. She wants airlines to be more accessible for wheelchair users.

Talking to Scope about her concerns, she says: "Last year I was part of a group who did research into issues which affect disabled passengers whilst travelling and booking holidays. Throughout the research it was discovered that many people are facing the same issue as myself - we cannot travel on board airplanes. My own reason for this is that my condition means that I must sit in m own wheelchair for comfort and cannot use the standard aircraft seat, and so flying is simply impossible as wheelchairs thus far have no space provided on airplanes. During the research others reported that as a result of having to have their wheelchairs transported in the hold, their equipment suffered damage and at times complete breakage or even being lost. As you can imagine, people cannot afford the money or the risk of having their wheelchairs compromised."

Hayleigh has started a campaign to encourage the aviation industry to improve services for disabled passengers. She wants them to start researching ways to allow wheelchairs to be securely fitted into an aircraft, making overseas travel more accessible for wheelchair users and their friends and family.

To find out more about Hayleigh's campaign and support what she's doing, visit her Facebook page and sign her petition.