[nfb-talk] TSA discrimination in Orlando

[qubit]

You know, I heard recently that there is some talk being monitored among the 
terrorist about actually surgically implanting a bomb inside a person's 
body.  I have surgical hardware in some of my bones, and it always sets off 
the metal detector, and I have even been patted down -- and that was before 
9/11.  I had to pass them my purse and cane and even thought they were going 
to get me out of my wheelchair, but they didn't.
Anyway, the point is that no one thought I was dangerous because of the 
surgical hardware, but now for many people, that may change.
However, I did not question their right to momentarily take my cane.  It's a 
safety precaution.  If anything it makes you more like the rest of the 
population than if they let you take it through.
Off soapbox.
--le

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: "'NFB Talk Mailing List'" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 10, 2011 2:31 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] TSA discrimination in Orlando


Joseph:

In my opinion, your outrage is misplaced. Courts all the way up to the
Supreme Court have ruled that civil rights are extensively modified in
airports and that, in effect, TSA can violate your personal space in ways
that would not be tolerated in other settings. I know some will disagree
with me here but if one can't walk three feet through a metal detector
without one's cane, one is pretty badly off! Abstract principles don't
matter in these cases: as I say, you won't win in court.

Mike


-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of T. Joseph Carter
Sent: Sunday, July 10, 2011 9:33 AM
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


_______________________________________________
nfb-talk mailing list
nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
nfb-talk:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfb-talk_nfbnet.org/k7uij%40panix.com


_______________________________________________
nfb-talk mailing list
nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
nfb-talk:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfb-talk_nfbnet.org/lauraeaves%40yahoo.com