When Accessibility Fails: Shane Hryhorec’s Virgin Australia Experience Raises Questions
There are some stories that genuinely make you wonder how we are still getting accessibility so wrong in 2026, and this is one of them.
Disability advocate Shane Hryhorec, who is a quadriplegic and uses a wheelchair, says he was left feeling humiliated after he and his service dog, Whitney, were escorted off a Virgin Australia flight from Adelaide to Sydney.
From what has been reported, the issue came down to Shane’s SmartDrive mobility device and its battery.
This equipment isn’t a luxury. It helps power Shane’s wheelchair and gives him greater independence. But when it came time to store the battery on the aircraft, there apparently wasn’t enough suitable space around Shane’s allocated seat. And this is where I struggle to understand how the situation got as far as it did.
There was reportedly an empty seat elsewhere on the aircraft and alternative storage was discussed. Yet instead of the situation ending with a safe solution being found, it ended with Shane and his service dog being escorted from the plane.
Shane has reportedly taken more than 300 flights with his mobility equipment and service dog, so this is not someone who has no experience navigating air travel with a disability. (news.com.au)
I completely understand that airlines have safety procedures they are required to follow, especially when lithium batteries are involved.
But accessibility and safety should not have to compete with each other.
Surely the goal should be to find a solution that achieves both. Instead, Shane says he was left feeling humiliated and degraded after being removed from the aircraft in front of other passengers.
Virgin Australia has since said it is reviewing what happened.
This Isn’t The First Time Shane Has Had To Fight For Basic Accessibility
What really stood out to me about this story is that Shane was involved in another accessibility dispute only a few months ago. This time, it happened at Adelaide Airport. Shane’s mum had arrived at the airport to collect him and attempted to use the designated accessible pick-up area. The issue was that Shane’s disability parking permit wasn’t displayed in her vehicle.
According to reports, she was told she couldn’t use the area and was warned she could receive a $400 fine, despite Shane being there in his wheelchair waiting to be collected with his service dog. (abc.net.au)
Now, I understand why disability parking rules need to be enforced. Those spaces exist for people who genuinely need them and we absolutely should protect them from misuse. But there also needs to be room for common sense.
The person the accessible area existed for was literally standing there waiting to be picked up.
Adelaide Airport later apologised and acknowledged that discretion should have been used in the circumstances.
Accessibility Has To Work Outside Of The Rule Book
I think this is where the bigger conversation needs to happen. We can have accessibility policies, procedures and designated spaces everywhere, but they mean very little if the people who need them are still being placed in situations where they feel like an inconvenience.
Most able-bodied travellers probably never have to think about where a wheelchair battery will be stored before boarding a plane.
We don’t have to wonder whether our mobility equipment will be accommodated, whether there will be enough physical space for our bodies, whether a service animal will be accepted or whether the person collecting us will be allowed to access the appropriate pick-up area.
For people living with disabilities, these aren’t small details. They can determine whether travelling is possible at all.
That is why I think accessibility needs to involve more than simply following a checklist. There needs to be flexibility where it is safe to do so. There needs to be communication. There needs to be compassion. And most importantly, there needs to be a genuine willingness to find solutions.
Shane has been advocating for better accessibility for years and has previously spoken publicly about difficulties he has experienced while travelling(abc.net.au)
His latest experience raises a question that I think is worth asking.
If someone who has travelled hundreds of times and knows how to advocate for himself can still encounter barriers like this, what happens to the person who doesn’t have that experience, confidence or platform?
Nobody is asking airlines or airports to disregard safety. We are asking them to make accessibility actually accessible. Because when a system designed to accommodate people with disabilities ends with the person feeling humiliated for needing that accommodation, something clearly isn’t working.
Watch his story here 👇🏾
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