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Wheelchair-using Taiwanese singer Zheng Zhihua has complained that staff at an airport in China left him to “roll and climb into a plane”. The entertainer raised a red flag in a bid to boost awareness over a general lack of accessibility for the disabled. Zheng, 63, is famous in the Chinese world after the two songs written and performed by him, Sailor and Star Lighting, became hits in the 1990s. He has used a wheelchair for a lengthy period after being diagnosed with polio at the age of two. The inspirational song Sailor pays tribute to life’s resilient characters, and Zheng is somewhat of an icon among the disabled. On October 25, Zheng said on social media platform that Shenzhen Airport in southern China was “cruel to disabled people”. He said that he was made to board a plane parked at a remote stand, and while he was boarding, the lift that carried his wheelchair stopped when there was still a 25cm gap between the platform and the doorstep of the plane. As a result, he had to “roll and climb into the plane”. Zheng complained that the lift lorry’s driver disregarded his safety, adding that he could not tolerate such “inhumane behaviour and attitudes”. Within nine hours of Zheng’s social media post, Shenzhen Airport had apologised and promised to improve accessibility for the disabled. The airport said the incident happened while Zheng was boarding a Shenzhen Airlines flight to Taipei. The airport said that safety protocols require the boarding vehicle to maintain a 20cm difference from the plane’s door, to prevent equipment from scraping the aircraft. The airport promised that starting from October 25, they will make sure people using wheelchairs are catered for properly. They also vowed to boost staffing. Zheng accepted the airport’s apology and thanked its staff. He said he wanted to raise awareness about accessibility for disabled people. In a separate post, he recalled that he was asked by security staff to put a metal support for his feet through the scanning machine in Nanjing Airport in eastern China’s Jiangsu province. “I have been to more than a hundred airports around the world and have never been treated like this before,” Zheng wrote. He said he was passionate about singing and performing all over the world, but the airports’ “malice” made him think about retirement. “The economy and technology develop, but sympathy and kindness with each other have gone,” he said. An online observer who also has a leg disability agreed with Zheng. “I had a similar experience. Barrier-free facilities in public spaces still need improvement. Also, service staff’s awareness of accessibility for the disabled needs to be raised.”
