They call it a power chair for a reason, they’re powerful. I’ll call this one Jules. From now on, I am not fully me without her. To those who don’t use a wheelchair, she might just look like how I get from point A to point B. But to all the wheelchair users out there, they know she is so much more than that. Her seat elevator will give me a seat at any table I wish to sit at, no matter what height. Her tilt feature will allow me to hold my head up comfortably since my weakening trunk and neck muscles can no longer do so at a 90 degree sitting position. My recline feature will keep my hips stretched and prevent surgeries that I had to get in the past that were so excruciating that I spent my entire eighth grade year praying that I wouldn’t wake up in the morning. Not because I ever wanted to die, I just wanted the pain to end. And the standing feature will allow me to keep my bone density strong and so many more things. Her chest strap gives me more range of motion with my arms because I no longer have to depend on them to hold up my body all day in an unsupportive chair not made for my body. The laterals will keep me from wobbling off of my seat during car rides and will help me sit up straight during the day. So this and so many more reasons are why it feels so inhumane to assume replacing a chair is a viable solution to aircrafts being inaccessible. My chair is so much more than a seat, without her I can’t function properly and it takes time to build a custom chair. Yes replacing a chair is what should happen after every chair is damaged, but the disabled people are who is left to suffer the consequences of all airlines refusal to update and accommodate disabled passengers in the meantime. That’s why I think simply saying one airline is terrible or the target of all the blame isn’t productive or even helpful at this point, it’s ALL airlines. The ADA does not apply to air travel and because of that I am sharing with you the same story being told by 29 wheelchair users every single day. In over 100 years, ZERO updates have been made in the way they load disabled passengers. It’s time for that to change.