Do you have to prove a disability to TSA

Old Jul 15, 2016, 11:08 am
  #16  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 962
Originally Posted by FliesWay2Much
When I went through the NOS at Dulles a year or so ago, I had put a crumpled paper towel near my "private area." Sure enough, an "anomaly" showed up on the Gumby screen. The clerk asked about the "anomaly" before he started his "pat-down" and I told him I had a medical condition. When that didn't satisfy him, I said (loud enough for other male & female clerks and fellow passengers to hear): "I have genital warts caused by years of unprotected sex. They are really oozing right now." Needless to say, I was released from the checkpoint without further screening.
I laughed.

However, suggestion for next time: don't make statements, just implications. Let them come to their own conclusions.

For instance: I've gone through TSA several times wearing a kilt, held up by a webbing and D-ring belt. They wanted me to take my belt off.

So I asked them to put in writing that they really, really wanted to insist that I remove my belt, and suggested that they probably really did not want to do that.

They backed down. My belt stayed on. Nobody got flashed.

However, one time (at MIA), the TSO patting me down grabbed my dick through my kilt. The police refused to take a report about it.
saizai is offline  
Old Jul 20, 2016, 8:41 pm
  #17  
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: SYD (perenially), GVA (not in a long time)
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Posts: 6,704
Originally Posted by TWA884
Unfortunately, some people have been abusing the rules so those who are truly disabled suffer as a result.

Rolling Past a Line, Often by Exploiting a Rule
This is a very poor article with superficial and contradictory analysis. On the one hand the author uses emotive terms ("the woman suddenly sprang from her wheelchair" "two huge carry-on bags" "plopped back in the wheelchair" "a nod to the person pushing her") to imply fraudulent behavior. (And again later: "customers in wheelchairs carried giant carry-on bags on their laps").

Now first, presumably these "huge" or "giant" carry-ons were nevertheless within airline limits. So why use such pejorative terms to imply that the passengers are taking advantage? Is it a requirement that someone with a disability is only allowed a tiny carry-on?

Secondly, the LHR wheelchair passengers carried their bags on their laps. Where would you expect them to carry them? On their heads? Or expect the wheelchair pusher to handle the carry-on as well? Is the inability to walk for long distances, stand in long lines or climb stairs equivalent to the inability to hold a bag in one's lap whilst seated?

So she "plopped" back in the chair. So what? And she nodded to the pusher. So what? This is simply hyperbole to make the passenger sound like she's up to something.

On the other hand, the author acknowledges that not all disabilities are visible; for example, some who can walk short distances cannot stand in long lines. Maybe she could reconsider her observations in light of that fact. Possibly someone who cannot walk long distances and stand for long periods has a problem with their feet, legs, knees or hips but has good upper body strength and can lift bags on and off the x-ray or carry a bag in their lap.
Originally Posted by Loren Pechtel
It also occurs to me--there are those who only need a chair to board. They can walk but their endurance is limited, on arrival there are no security lines to slow things down.
For someone who has difficulty standing in lines, on a domestic trip the need is greater before the flight (standing in lines for check-in, for security, for boarding) than it is afterwards (only the wait for baggage claim, and sometimes there are chairs there). I can easily understand why someone may need assistance before the flight but be able to walk off the flight and leave the airport on their own power. (For int'l there may be a line for immigration on arrival which may be difficult for some.)

Some years ago prior to hip replacement surgery I did two int'l trips (10 flights in total) with wheelchair assistance and it was a real eye opener. I could stand, I could walk and I could lift my own bag over my head (it was my hip, not my back or arms!) but I was in agony if I had to walk more than 100 feet or stand for more than 15 minutes at a time. I was a lot younger than the average hip replacement candidate and so I know people thought I was a fraud in the wheelchair. I didn't care; I knew I needed it.

In my 10 flights, I was always told to wait until everyone had left and there would be a chair waiting for me. I didn't mind the wait, I had plenty of time and so I was the last one off. Twice, I got to the jetway and there was no chair, no airline staff, and the FA just said "Oh, well, wait here" and walked off. In one case, the chair arrived a few minutes later; in the other I eventually walked into the terminal and there was a buggy "waiting" for me which no one had mentioned. At FRA () the 747 parked at a remote stand, I had to navigate a step down of about 16 inches (which put very painful stress on my hip) and then the rest of the stairs to the tarmac, a standing bus ride to the terminal, an escalator, and THEN there was a chair waiting. Yeah, it's a real scam!

Here's a point someone made on the Disability Forum at the time which helped me, and should be made repeatedly when this claim of fraud comes up:

People who absolutely need a wheelchair, who are completely unable to walk or stand, HAVE THEIR OWN WHEELCHAIRS (and usually propel it themselves.) They gate check their chairs and use a special narrow chair to get to their seat on the plane. People who are using the airport chairs are therefore those who simply need some assistance in the airport environment. It should not be surprising, therefore, to see them pick up a bag, walk to the restroom on their own, or walk onto the plane.
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Old Jul 20, 2016, 11:15 pm
  #18  
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 38,320
Originally Posted by RadioGirl
This is a very poor article with superficial and contradictory analysis. On the one hand the author uses emotive terms ("the woman suddenly sprang from her wheelchair" "two huge carry-on bags" "plopped back in the wheelchair" "a nod to the person pushing her") to imply fraudulent behavior. (And again later: "customers in wheelchairs carried giant carry-on bags on their laps").

Now first, presumably these "huge" or "giant" carry-ons were nevertheless within airline limits. So why use such pejorative terms to imply that the passengers are taking advantage? Is it a requirement that someone with a disability is only allowed a tiny carry-on?
I think what's going on is that most people who simply need a chair because they're wearing out aren't going to be able to handle much of any weight with their arms, either. My MIL certainly wouldn't have been plopping a huge carry-on in her lap. Most people we see being pushed in chairs are in this category. The author is making the mistake of equating most with all and concluding the others are frauds--when they might very well have been like you, able-bodied except for some damage to the legs or feet.

I was a lot younger than the average hip replacement candidate and so I know people thought I was a fraud in the wheelchair. I didn't care; I knew I needed it.
I'm pretty sure some people thought my wife was a fraud the one time she needed a chair. By appearance she's in her early 50's (she's actually older but has never looked her age) and everything worked properly--an observer would have no way of seeing her injury that meant standing was very painful unless they could see her face when she had to stand.

In my 10 flights, I was always told to wait until everyone had left and there would be a chair waiting for me. I didn't mind the wait, I had plenty of time and so I was the last one off. Twice, I got to the jetway and there was no chair, no airline staff, and the FA just said "Oh, well, wait here" and walked off.
For us it was only two flights but the chair handling left a lot to be desired. The FAs, also--she needed to go to the bathroom but the FAs kept cancelling the call button without responding because they were busy preparing breakfast. I had to go track them down to get the aisle chair.

And LAX apparently never considered the fact that a connecting passenger would need a chair while they were in the airport. We had a 5-hour connect, they wanted to leave her at the gate those whole 5 hours with no chair! The bathroom (no family bathrooms but she's not the type to freak out about my wheeling her into the men's room) was near the gate but getting there would have been agony for her. I think they would have left her anyway had we not simply refused to vacate the chair until another was produced. (The pusher needed their chair back to help the next passenger. Apparently it was one chair per pusher rather than a pool of chairs.)

Here's a point someone made on the Disability Forum at the time which helped me, and should be made repeatedly when this claim of fraud comes up:

People who absolutely need a wheelchair, who are completely unable to walk or stand, HAVE THEIR OWN WHEELCHAIRS (and usually propel it themselves.) They gate check their chairs and use a special narrow chair to get to their seat on the plane. People who are using the airport chairs are therefore those who simply need some assistance in the airport environment. It should not be surprising, therefore, to see them pick up a bag, walk to the restroom on their own, or walk onto the plane.
Definitely.
Loren Pechtel is offline  
Old Jul 24, 2016, 12:54 pm
  #19  
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: NY State
Posts: 212
When I was being treated with chemo, I traveled from NY to AZ. I was exhausted and had difficulty walking long distances, but didn't have the nerve to ask for a wheelchair. Had I, though, I would have been able to stand up and grab my luggage, etc. Especially if it was my hand luggage - those cannot be too large in order to be able to carry it on the plane.

Last edited by Jane42; Jul 24, 2016 at 8:13 pm
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