The Department of Transportation (DOT) has fined American Airlines $50 million, saying in an October announcement that the carrier “failed to provide safe, dignified, and prompt wheelchair assistance and mishandled passengers’ wheelchairs.”

This is hardly the first time airlines’ poor treatment of wheelchair riders and their equipment has made the news. But this particular DOT judgment seemed to hit a different way.

Here are my three takeaways from the DOT announcement.

1. A record-breaking fine to send a message

The DOT said the fine levied against American Airlines was “25 times larger than any previous DOT penalty against an airline for violating disability regulations.”

The eye-popping amount was meant to send a message, U.S. DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg explained. “By setting penalties at levels beyond a mere cost of doing business for airlines, we’re aiming to change how the industry behaves and prevent these kinds of abuses from happening in the first place,” he said.

Historically, airlines seem to have preferred to issue the occasional apology or pay an occasional settlement or fine rather than make meaningful improvements to how they transport wheelchairs and treat wheelchair riders as passengers. Here’s hoping this $50 million fine will motivate other airlines to finally reevaluate their mindsets and rewrite their policies so passengers with disabilities — and their assistive technology — are treated with dignity and care.

2. A policy that goes beyond broken wheelchairs

Most wheelchair-related complaints that have made headlines involve airlines breaking mobility devices during transport — such as in last fall’s viral video of American Airlines baggage handlers sending an ultralightweight wheelchair speeding down a steep ramp and watching impassively as the chair tumbles onto the tarmac.

But the DOT’s latest announcement also recognizes the significant harm done to wheelchair riders when their equipment is damaged.

The DOT noted that airlines that damage wheelchairs are “leaving travelers without the device they need for mobility.” American Airlines was also called out for providing “unsafe physical assistance that at times resulted in injuries and undignified treatment of wheelchair users, in addition to repeated failures to provide prompt wheelchair assistance.”

The DOT’s announcement went beyond the financial cost of repairing or replacing damaged wheelchairs. It also recognized the human costs of broken equipment, including, for instance, injuries incurred when clients with complex seating and positioning needs are forced to make do with basic loaner equipment not optimally fitted to them.

There is no way to completely compensate for, as an example, a pressure injury that comes from using a loaner wheelchair. But the DOT announcement does acknowledge the very human, very severe ripple effects of airlines’ negligence.

3. Poor treatment of wheelchair riders, equipment as a civil rights issue

Airlines’ indifferent attitudes toward wheelchair riders and their equipment isn’t new, American Airlines’ conduct isn’t unique … and the DOT announcement acknowledged that.

“These problems are not unique to American Airlines, and allegations of wheelchair mishandling and inadequate wheelchair assistance are far too common,” the announcement said. “DOT has active investigations into similar violations at other U.S. airlines.”

The DOT noted that American Airlines’ fine “is 25 times larger than DOT’s previous largest airline penalty for violations of disability protections and sets a new precedent for how DOT will enforce against such violations going forward.”

The announcement added that the Department of Justice’s civil rights division “provided valuable assistance and advice to DOT during the negotiation of this penalty.”

“We applaud the Department of Transportation’s landmark civil rights agreement to uphold the dignity of passengers with disabilities in air travel,” said Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights. “The Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities have the freedom to travel independently. Travelers with disabilities must be confident they will receive timely assistance and arrive safely, with their mobility aids and assistive devices intact.”

Accessibility has always been a civil rights issue. But historically, too many businesses have disregarded the rights of people with disabilities without fear of meaningful repercussions. Businesses have long preferred the occasional slap on the wrist to investing the time and money to do the right (and legal) thing.

Here’s hoping that the DOT’s message will resound in boardrooms and across accessibility conference calls nationwide.