Jetstar wheelchair policy angers Paralympian

The Human Rights Commission will be asked to look into the wheelchair policy of Jetstar after Australian Paralympian Kurt Fearnley slammed the airline for making him check his personal chair in with his luggage.

Fearnley, a wheelchair marathon champion, says he chose to crawl through Brisbane Airport rather than use an unsuitable chair offered by the airline.

The incident occurred on the weekend after Fearnley returned from crawling the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea.

"I said there is not a chance that I am going to sit there and be pushed through an airport," he told the National Disability Awards dinner in Canberra on Monday.

"An able-bodied equivalent, a normal person's equivalent, would be having your legs tied together, your pants pulled down and be carried or pushed through an airport."

Fearnley said he took issue with the airline's wheelchair policy, not the staff.

"The staff have always been great with me but with the policy about taking my wheelchair away - taking every person with a disability their wheelchair away and not giving them a right to choose."

Parliamentary Secretary for Disability Services Bill Shorten said he would contact Jetstar and the Human Rights Commission on Tuesday.

"Our question to Jetstar is how can you guarantee this won't happen again," Mr Shorten told reporters.

"And obviously we will be alerting the Human Rights Commission to what's happened."

Jetstar is investigating the incident but says its policy is standard across the industry.

- AAP