I use a manual wheelchair, and frequently wear ordinary bicycle gloves to protect my palms from road grit and dirt.

When I'm screened, the TSO pats me down, pats down the chair, and does two to three swabs - shoes, palms of the hands, chair handrims, chair cushion, or some variation thereof.

A couple weeks ago I was being screened at ABQ, she finishes the pat-down, she comes back with the swab, I hold out my hands palms up, and she says, "Oh, you're not wearing braces, I don't have to swab those."

Now, I happened to have taken off my gloves this time (although I have certainly had my bare palms swabbed lots of times), and I said, "Oh, is that the criteria?"

She hesitated, then said, "I can't say."

So maybe all this time, TSOs have thought bicycle gloves were hand/arm braces.