[nfb-talk] TSA discrimination in Orlando

Sun Jul 10 19:46:19 UTC 2011

Dear Joeseph,
What are the regulations? I know security is tighter after 911. I haven't 
flown alone yet, but with family.
Can you give us the link to any TSA regulations? Are you permitted to travel 
with your cane through the metal detector?
Sounds like you think you are.

You used to be only allowed four ounces of liquid, but I think now you can 
have
a bottle as long as its labeled.
The pat downs are humiliating to anyone. Who gets them? Are they only 
supposed to do the
pat down if an individual sets off the metal detector?
Blindness should have nothing to do with whether a passenger receives a 
pat-down!
I agree you were treated unfairly. As long as you did not set off their 
metal detector, you should not have been subjected to the pat-down!

Sorry to hear about this. I wonder if others were treated this way.

As for my experience, I've only flown once or twice after 911. My long trip 
to Europe with family
was prior to 911.
Sometimes they let me travel with my cane. Sometimes they say to give
it up and a sighted guide helps me through the security scan.
So I'm really not sure how they are supposed to treat you. But either way, I 
think they have to scan your cane.
They always scanned my cane. I guess to ensure nothing is in it.

I know you can file a complaint with TSA. So I think you should do that;
check their website for the form.

Ashley
-----Original Message----- 
From: T. Joseph Carter
Sent: Sunday, July 10, 2011 12:32 PM
To: NFB Talk Mailing List
Subject: [nfb-talk] TSA discrimination in Orlando

I am copying Scott LaBarre on this message for his opinion, but have
not done so openly to keep him from receiving every single reply to
this message as well.

I had absolutely no trouble in my home state of Oregon getting
through Transportation Security Administration security screening.
The TSA officials at Portland International Airport know the blind
quite well, and they know the laws.  They follow them.

In Florida, however, returning from convention, I was told that I was
required by law to relinquish my cane and step through the scanner
with a sighted guide.  I said that once scanned, I could step through
with my cane.  It contains metal only on its tip.

The TSA official told me that was against the law.

I insisted that it was not, and offered to share the specific
regulations in question.

The TSA officer did not want to see the regulations.  She told me
that hundreds of blind people were coming through the airport, and
not one single person before me had protested being required to
travel without their cane.

I once again offered the copy of the regulations, which were not
accepted.  Another officer offered to send a supervisor at this
point, which the officer declined as well.

I was told at that point that I would be allowed to have my cane, but
that the consequence of my unwillingness to comply with being
stripped of my dignity would be a full security pat-down.  I was told
this before I ever stepped through the metal detector.

I did not set off the metal detector upon stepping through, as you
might predict using a rigid fiberglass NFB cane.  I was, however,
still subjected to the humiliating additional screening as a punitive
matter.

During this full security pat-down, I was forced, in full view of
other passengers, to remove articles of clothing, had my groin and
other personal areas felt by security personnel, and tested for
explosive chemical residues among other things.  I was told that this
was all being done because I had in fact set off the metal detector,
though it had made no sound when I passed through it as it had when
the officer before me had done so.

After another five minutes, most (but not all) of my belongings were
returned to me.  The TSA officers refused to account for my things,
and threatened arrest when I would not leave the testing area,
without the return of all of my possessions.  To defuse this
situation, an officer who had not been part of the preceding was came
over and located my missing items and returned them to me.

I want to know why it is that the government is permitted to treat
the blind in this shameful way?  And to whom do we register our
formal, written complaint?  At the very least, the TSA of this
particular airport need training in the law concerning passengers
with disabilities.  More properly, a full investigation of the
repeated lies and attempts by officers to cover up this incident
through threats and intimidation is also warranted.

TSA records video of their checkpoints, and I think that video will
show, for example, that I did not actually set off the metal detector
upon passing through it, among other things.  They do not record
audio, however, so we may not be able to prove the lies, the threats,
and the intimidation unless others were denied their canes (which I
already know they were) and any others stood up for their rights
(which the TSA say none ever did.)

What I can prove is that we of the National Federation of the Blind
do not request the same dignity that is afforded to the sighted
public.  To do so would be to presume the possibility that we ought
to be treated any differently.  No, we insist upon it!  If my own
treatment is any indication, the Transportation Security
Administration seems to believe that we are merely asking for equal
treatment.  They seem to feel as if they are free to answer in the
negative.  I think it is time that we ensure they learn that they are
mistaken.  What do you think?

T. Joseph Carter
Just a blind guy trying to get home

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