Originally Posted by
IslandBased
Ron, how does your comment even begin to address Chollie's comment?
It doesn’t. Nor was it meant to. Caring for a special needs child is beyond the comprehension of anyone who has not done it. 24x7 care for the special needs children of our world must be experienced to be understood, and without that experience I might as well try to describe colors to a blind man. I could never have anticipated the things I have had to do to care for a special needs child, even the foster care training I received was not adequate to that task. No training can be, there are far too many variables.
Originally Posted by
IslandBased
Perhaps you can enlighten us about how TSA prepares its employees to delicately handle special needs or disabled children? They should be able to travel, visit loved ones, and experience life just like the rest of us without being traumatized at a check point. You (as a TSO) are far more likely to have to face children with severe disabilities or special needs than terrorists.
I could “enlighten” you but that would be a violation of our instructions about procedures. SSI IOW. I am more prepared than most TSO’s in this area because of my extensive experience with special needs kids, but there is no way that any single person can be prepared for the massive variety of children with special needs. And yes, they are quite common on the checkpoint.
Here is what I can tell you. Getting special needs adults or children through the checkpoint is a collaborative effort of both the care givers and the TSO’s. Both must work together to accomplish the goal. Care givers provide a known calming influence for the PWD and needed information for the screening force, and TSO’s train extensively to screen them. Care givers can do many things to prepare the PWD for the checkpoint, such as talking them through the experience and telling them what to expect, doing mock screenings at home (as far as they are able), making a game of it, etc. They can also tell us about anything that might upset the PWD and anything that would make screening more difficult/impossible. We make special allowances for PWD’s and their care givers on the checkpoint, but we must also provide them the same level of screening that every other passenger receives.
Originally Posted by
chollie
Yes, I have and do. A special needs adult with the mind of a child. In many scenarios. we can 'practice' at home. But all h*** breaks loose when there are unexpected deviations from what he considers the 'norm' and it can take forever to resolve the situation.
You have my admiration. I have not had to deal with special needs adults, but I understand the issues involved and can only stand in awe of anyone who makes the decision to care for these special people.
Originally Posted by
chollie
His physicians certainly have no problem with him travelling. There's no physical reason not to, and we have racked up many airline miles travelling without a problem.
We both know that there are many things one can do to prepare a challenged individual for the checkpoint experience. If you ever run out of ideas there is an entire community of professionals ready and willing to assist. But nothing in this world is 100%, we can only do our best.
Originally Posted by
chollie
We can practice 'take your shoes off'. We can practice 'I will carry your MP3 until we get through the archway, and then I will give it right back, I promise' (when walking was still an option).
We can't practice for someone suddenly throwing an unanticipated curve like 'take off your belt' or 'take off your vest' or a big drawn out discussion about "can he really not get out of the wheelchair" (um, trust me, if you want to go that route, it will take forever and you will finally realize he is not capable of making it through the WTMD without touching the sides). Heck, he can't walk through a doorway anywhere without grasping the sides. And yelling or talking in an unnecessarily LOUD voice doesn't help. He gets upset and defensive. He's not deaf and the nature of his mental impairment is not such that talking louder facilitates better understanding.
Believe it or not, it can work quite well. But sadly there are the TSOs who don't get what 'special needs' can encompass. It can cover blindness, deafness, mental impairment coupled with apparent physical health. A TSO who rebuffs a pax who approaches ahead of time and explains "we've done this many times. We can satisfy all necessary screening requirements without undue hassle for anyone". Instead we immediately get pushback: "maybe you should drive, maybe he shouldn't fly, we have to follow our procedures, bla bla". It isn't always that simple. Maybe at your checkpoint, but please be honest and admit that you don't know what goes on at other checkpoints and other airports. Not everyone who posts a bad experience is a liar, it isn't always the pax who is wrong, and sometimes video clips do tell enough of the story to make it clear a TSO created a situation or escalated one when it was completely unnecessary.
There are not many TSO’s with my experience I’m sorry to say. But that is where folks like yourself come in, you are the main caregiver for the PWD and can either make or break the checkpoint experience for them. I have seen parents ask for a supervisor the second they arrive at the checkpoint and either ask for specific screeners they have worked with before or trust the supervisor to find the best person to screen their child. One of the things we are taught as screeners is that YOU are the best tool for us to use to get your child / loved one through screening. A good TSO will use that resource. A great one will wear that resource out to make the experience the best it can be.
But no matter how good the TSO or the care giver, there are going to be PWD’s that just are not going to be able to get through the checkpoint without significant problems. Its just a fact, and a sad one for all that. Our job is to minimize those as much as possible, and sometimes we fail. Sorry, we are human. Just like you.