Touching Video Shows Son Carrying His Mom Onto Airplane— 'I Carried My Son For 9 Months And Today He Is Carrying Me'
Her post opened up the conversation about accessibility and disabilities.
dea_schwarz / Instagram Andrea Shwarz is a mom, an entrepreneur, and the CEO of iigual, a consulting company in Brazil that centers on inclusion and diversity in the workplace. Shwarz, 44, has been a wheelchair user for over 20 years. Despite advances in accessibility, the larger world doesn’t always accommodate people who have disabilities, are neurodivergent or who require the use of a wheelchair.
The wheelchair-using mom shared a touching video of her son carrying her onto an airplane.
"I carried my son for 9 months and today he is carrying me,” she wrote in the caption that accompanied her Instagram reel. Shwarz explained in Portuguese that her son, Gui, helped her board an airplane, as the aisle was too narrow for her wheelchair to fit. Their seats were in economy class, at the start of the aisle, yet Swarz was unable to get to them on her own.
She chose to view the situation by focusing less on what she didn’t have access to, and more on what she did. She wrote, “It’s like I say in my lectures— ‘Everything is possible when we have love.’”
Shwarz embodied graciousness and a positive mindset. Along with her son’s help, she was able to board the plane and make the journey she had planned to make. The world has stayed open to her, and it’s clear through her work and social media presence that she wants the world to remain open to everyone, not just herself.
In a 2019 interview with Spaces, a co-working company, Shwarz discussed various issues of accessibility and access a person might have when they’re not able-bodied.
She spoke to her own personal experience using a wheelchair and how her experience intersected with her professional goals. As Shwarz explained, “Becoming a person with a disability woke up my desire to work on building a better, more inclusive, and thoughtful world for all.”
She described the goal that her company, iigual, aims towards, stating that they want to “increase the quality of job opportunities offered to professionals with disabilities and reduce the prejudice and lack of information on the subject.”
Shwarz referred to an expansion of job accessibility through the Quota Law, which is a piece of legislation in Brazil requiring companies with 100 or more employees to hire a percentage of workers that have disabilities, ranging from 2% to 5%. Still, Shwarz noted, the world is far from perfectly accessible to all, even though changes have been made.
“The Quota Law was responsible for opening the doors of the labor market for people with disabilities but it is only just the beginning of the conversation,” she explained. “We still see few people with disabilities in management and leadership positions. In order to change this for the better, it is important to stress awareness, culture, research, and communication.”
Her post opened up the conversation about accessibility and disabilities, yet not everyone saw her experience as a heartwarming one.
As one person commented, “Planes are not yet adapted for people with various disabilities. I know the video is [meant] to be emotional but it just made me angry. Don't romanticize that. You have the right to access the environments and… with the voice you have could help to start with this speech,” they wrote, careful to include the caveat, “I'm not criticizing you.”
Indeed, their critique was focused more on how the larger world operates than on Shwarz’s individual place within it. Other people noted the sweet generosity of her son’s gesture, yet acknowledged the fact that not everyone with a disability also has access to a person who’s willing and able to carry them onto a plane when they can’t make it there themselves.
It appears that Shwarz approaches life by working to make the world a more accessible place for everyone, yet her video shows there are still many changes left to make.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers social issues, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry