Originally Posted by
janetdoe
I do think this is an incredible important perspective that we often overlook. Forget the x-rays and any potential health concerns. If you could choose to use a MMW scanner instead of a WTMD, which would you pick? Or what recommendations would you have for scanning amputees, people with artificial joints, etc?
There is anecdotal evidence (Claire McCaskill, for one) that some people who have been getting patdowns for years are very happy at the alternative to walk through a NoS. Is that because they feel they are not being 'singled out' anymore for extra screening, or it the thought of a gape really less offensive than a grope for some subset of the population?
Honestly, I'm not sure what I would pick. Aside from any health concerns, I would probably pick the MMW, and try not to think about the fact that someone is looking at me naked. My concern, though, is that my prosthesis would still register as an "anomaly", and then I would be "patted down" regardless.
What I think should happen for anyone with an anomaly on a MMW is that only the area with the anomaly is patted down. No one needs to touch my breasts in order to determine that my left leg is actually a prosthesis.
Unfortunately, for those of us with prostheses or casts, we must also submit to the CastScope, wherein the specific portion of our body that is artificial or casted must be directly xrayed. When I flew out of MSP in December, I had 8 separate images taken of my leg, one of which had me, despite my vigorous protestations, straddling the machine with xrays being shot straight up into my resistance. Interestingly, the woman let me look at the images. While I do not have a "C-leg" (containing electronic components), on the basis of those images alone and the woman's (lack of) training (she wanted to know if the prosthesis included my foot, or if it was just the middle part of my leg...), I firmly maintain that she would not have been able to distinguish between a C-Leg and a concealed bomb. This serves no purpose, and it needs to go away.
Furthermore, the TSA openly admits in their documents that CastScopes are only used at very large airports, particularly those that are close to military bases or veterans services, since they have a high population of amputees. Meaning...they deliberately run these programs in locations where there are higher-than-average odds that the people forced through them are not actually risks. But whatevs, this is why I don't fly anymore...