Taking a break from our semi-annual fight over medical nitroglycerin, and moving us back towards the topic ...
Originally Posted by
Boggie Dog
Screening of disabled and special needs passengers has been an issue for TSA for years. Special panels and other efforts to better accommodate these passengers have been taken with little to show for those efforts. The same unacceptable things continue to happen. I can't explain why this is, perhaps TSA can.
I do not speak on behalf of TSA, but I can offer an opinion as to why this happens.
Speaking as an educator, a few obvious issues spring to mind.
- Just because a teacher says something doesn't mean that the student learned it. Education has to happen repeatedly, in a variety of contexts, in order for learning to occur. Whether TSA is engaged in those sorts of repeated educational activities is unknown to me.
- Every organization experiences staffing turnovers. (I think I've seen statistics here that suggest TSA has "higher than average" turnover, but I can't point to specific data.) This means that one never has "educated" everyone on the staff, as there are always new people coming along who need to learn.
- Probably most importantly ... the number of people with disabilities that TSA screens every day may be large numerically, but is probably small as a percentage of total traffic. Being educated on how to handle the special cases is important; however, even if properly conducted, if a given TSO doesn't put that knowledge to use right away, that knowledge can be forgotten. It's easier to remember how to screen for the things that you see every hour of every day; it's harder to remember how to screen for the things you might see at most once a week (if that often).