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TSA Suspects Disabled 4-Year-Old of Terrorism
Does a disabled four-year-old flying to Disney World sound like a terrorist to you? OK, than it IS just the TSA who thinks it was appropriate to force a disabled pre-schooler to remove his leg braces before they’d allow him on a plane.
In a week that’s included US Airways forcing a mother to sit nineteen rows from her two-year-old, and the announcement that a family got kicked off a plane for requesting water for a pregnant passenger, this story out of the Philadelphia Inquirer may just be the kicker.
According to the paper, Ryan Thomas was flying to fantasy central with his parents to celebrate his fourth birthday. It was an extremely special time for the family – after all, their son who had been born sixteen weeks premature and who suffered from developmental delays, including malformed ankles and and legs with low muscle tone was finally learning to walk.
Not surprisingly, that required leg braces. Leg braces which the family was told he would have to remove in order to go through the screener. What’s more, he would have to walk of his own accord through the metal detector – even though his mother explained he physically couldn’t.
You can get the whole story at the Inquirer, including how the family finally got their apology.
But what the story couldn’t address is whether anyone bothers to run a common sense test on these people. It’s true we’ve all had to give up some of our freedoms in exchange for peace of mind on airplanes in the wake of our nation’s terrible tragedy of 2001. But does that mean we had to give up common courtesy too?
Common courtesy that would have allowed a four-year-old in leg braces to be escorted with his parents into a private room for a check on his medical apparatus to ensure no crazy person added something explosive while he was sitting on a bench not lookign? Common sense that would have allowed a two-year-old to remain side-by-side with her mother . . . hence serving as common courtesy to the other passengers who didn’t need to hear a child sobbing for Mommy through a flight?
The airlines and the TSA have us all over a barrel, afraid to speak up against wrongs lest we – or our kids – be labeled “terrorist” and hauled off to a night in jail. But we’re still human beings. We have the right to demand our children be treated with common decency. And that means not forcing a disabled four-year-old to try walking through a metal scanner without his leg braces on, just because it’s “policy.”
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Teacher Suspended for Having Opinion on Facebook
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Breastfeeding in the Handicap Stall Creates a Ruckus
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6 Comments
[...] Philadelphia, the TSA forced a disabled 4-year-old to remove his leg braces and crawl through the security screen. While the family eventually got an apology, there’s no [...]
Airline Fail Edition of Best of Web — ChildWild commented on Feb 27 10 at 11:59 pmStephanie commented on Feb 17 10 at 2:05 pmWow– that’s just ridiculous.
ann05 commented on Feb 17 10 at 7:01 pmThe extra special part is that NONE of these security measures actually work.
BlackOrchid commented on Feb 17 10 at 8:32 pmBlaming the federal agency isn’t really fair. these are the same morons that always “worked” in airline security at the horrendous Philadelphia International Airport (worst in the nation! yay us!). They just got new credentials and a new employer after 9-11. And a brand new level of bad attitude on top of the bad attitudes they already had.
Rebecca commented on Feb 18 10 at 7:45 amHow odd. I have terrible carpal tunnel, so I wear wrist braces. I’ve never had to take them off for security checkpoints, and I’m certainly no disabled child.
To be completely honest though, if I wanted to sneak something in under a brace it wouldn’t be really difficult. Which makes it all the more ridiculous that I’ve never been asked to remove mine, but this kid was required to remove his.
kat commented on Mar 09 10 at 11:50 amYes, TSA is the worst. They are truly despicable and the rules are ridiculous. Why do they make parents wake up sleeping babies so that the stroller can be put through the scanner? Scan it by hand if you need to and let the kid sleep. My 7 yr old daughter was patted down recently by a TSA agent because she was wearing frilly bell bottomed pants. Guess what TSA – it’s not families with young children who are trying to sneak explosives onto planes! Ignore the stupid ACLU – you need to start profiling!
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