MORE TSA TRAVEL TALES

TSA screeners at Philadelphia International Airport decided 4-year-old Ryan Thomas could be a terrorist.  So they told the parents of the disabled little boy that he would have to remove his metal leg braces in order to proceed through security. When the boy’s father, who is a police officer with the Camden, NJ emergency crime suppression team, explained that young Ryan could not walk at all without the aid of his required leg braces, the TSA official insisted that the boy must either remove the braces or be forced to stay behind. And so, a courageous Ryan painstakingly inched his way through security because he and his parents were left with no other alternative.

Flight attendant Cathy Bossi did not want to go through the full body scanner and risk exposing herself to any unnecessary radiation, because she is a cancer survivor. So she was taken to a private screening area for further examination. According to Ms. Bossi, the TSA agent groped her breasts and asked “What is this?” When Ms. Bossi explained “It’s my prosthesis because I’ve had breast cancer,” the agent said, “Well, you’ll need to show me that.” Bossi was humiliatingly forced to take the prosthesis out from her bra and show it to the agent. And she was only trying to go to work.

Thomas Sawyer is a bladder cancer survivor, who must use a urostomy bag to collect urine from an opening in his stomach. On a recent trip he was singled out for a pat-down and asked to step aside.

“One agent watched as the other used his flat hand to go slowly down my chest,” said Sawyer.  “I tried to warn him that he would hit the bag and break the seal on my bag, but he ignored me.  Sure enough, the seal was broken and urine started dribbling down my shirt and my leg and into my pants.”

The security officer finished the pat-down, then sent the dripping passenger on his way. According to Sawyer, “They never apologized. They never offered to help. They acted like they hadn’t seen what happened.” Sawyer was soaked in his own excrement and unable to clean himself until after boarding his flight.

These are all recent travel tales regarding the TSA and the disabled.  The new full body scans and pat down rules were implemented so quickly, security officials failed to consider special procedures for those with special needs.  But now, in somewhat of a delayed “knee-jerk” reaction, the TSA has come up with special rules and procedures for passengers with disabilities and special needs.  According to the website, travelers with disabilities and medical conditions have “the option of requesting a private screening” and that security officers “will not ask nor require you to remove your prosthetic device, cast, or support brace.”  For Cathy Bossi, Thomas Sawyer, and 4-year-old Ryan Thomas, this is how it should have always been before they lost their dignity at the hands of a government run TSA.

Said Sawyer: “I am a good American and I want safety for all passengers as much as the next person. But if this country is going to sacrifice treating people like human beings in the name of safety, then we have already lost the war.”