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Officials defend refusal of blind JFK visitor

ABOARD THE USS JOHN F. KENNEDY — Officials onboard the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy defended their decision Sunday not to let an unaccompanied blind man tour the ship during general visitation hours.

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The decision was purely about safety, the ship’s spokesman said, and in no way was the Navy trying to discriminate against anyone.

In fact, officials say, a blind man who came accompanied by friends was allowed to tour the ship the same day.

Boston native Mika Pyyhkala said that after waiting in line and at checkpoints, he was about to board the aircraft carrier about 1 p.m. Sunday when two naval officers approached and told him it was against ship policy to admit legally blind people, according to the Boston Globe.

“While we regret any inconvenience to Mr. Pyyhkala, our concerns were strictly safety related,” said Lt. Walt Matthews, the Kennedy’s spokesman. “We did offer him the opportunity to return to the ship yesterday [Monday], provided he was accompanied, to tour the ship, but he declined.”

The ship could not offer the private tour Tuesday because the crew is focused on getting underway and back to Mayport, Fla., after being delayed an additional day due to weather, he said.

Matthews said the ship was taking on 3,500 people an hour when Pyyhkala was turned away. “There simply were not enough people to give Mr. Pyyhkala his own dedicated escort and still man all the required watch stations to safely allow the general visitation tours to continue,” he said.

Officials said there were roughly 800 sailors onboard to maintain security and conduct tours of the ship’s hangar bay and flight deck each of the two visit days. Because the Kennedy is slated for decommissioning, the ship’s company has been reduced to about 2,200, and it no longer has an air wing.

The city provided a wheelchair ramp to accommodate some handicapped visitors to the ship, according to Lt. Paul Brawley of the Navy’s office of community outreach in Boston.

The National Federation for the Blind on Monday demanded an apology from the Navy, according to the Boston Globe. Marc Maurer, president of the association, said in a statement that the advocacy group plans to pursue legal action against the Navy and the state.

“If we allow the claim we cannot visit an aircraft carrier ... we will next be told that we cannot visit a restaurant or a school or a park,” he said. “Blind people work, play and move about in the world as well as anyone, and we will not stand for being treated like small children.”

Brawley said Pyyhkala was given a chance to return to the ship Monday but did not take the Navy up on its offer.

“When I spoke to Mr. Pyyhkala yesterday morning, he did not ask for an apology,” Brawley said Tuesday. “Since the ship did not leave yesterday, we ... extended him an invite to come onboard. He said he would call me back, but never did.”

Instead, Brawley said, he got a call from Maurer.

Brawley said the Navy’s efforts to accommodate Pyyhkala were enough.

“We are very sorry he was inconvenienced and offered to show him the ship,” Brawley said. “But he declined our offer.”