Out of all of the alphabet soup agencies that exist in the world, the TSA does the best job in dealing with my son. I repeat: The TSA does the best job.
Now I admit my opinion is based solely our interaction with the TSA. I have not looked or observed how the TSA does with other impacted individuals. My son, wife and I fly about four times a year. Thus, at a minimum, we have to pass through security at an airport at least eight times. This sample size isn't great, but for this analysis it must suffice.
Now why do I say the TSA does a good job. Well, most every TSA agent sees us coming from a mile away and gives us a wide berth. It isn't hard to notice us as we are one of the few with a pre-teen son that:
1. Isn't running his mouth off
2. Has his eyes glued to a smartphone watching YouTube videos of elevators, movie credits or theme park rides
3. Isn't texting on said smartphone
4. Is carrying and sniffing his blankie
5. Lets out a little shriek of happiness at being at the airport
6. Doesn't mind being with his parents
7. Is flapping his arms or pointing up
and probably countless other observations that I may be oblivious to noticing.
In the past, the ID and boarding pass inspector used to try and get E to say his name and age. Today, they simply check off his boarding pass and send us onto the next hurdle of security: Metal detectors and x-ray machines.
Upon entering this line, one of two things occur. Either a TSA agent will pull us from the line and move us to the front of a line or other passengers immediately choose whatever line we are not in. I always laugh because given the amount of electronics and other items we carry, we are faster than most groups of three or more. The only difficult part of this process is making sure my son does not run his hands along the inside of the metal detector. However, most TSA agents see his challenges, smile and usher him to my wife who has already passed through the detector first.
After everyone has passed through the detectors and we have collected our electronics and other assorted items, we regroup and head off to the gate.
On our recent trip we had the opportunity to encounter a TSA agent at the Long Beach Airport. From my perspective this is a perfect airport for our traveling needs. Why? The ticketing area is small. Just two airlines fly into Long Beach. There are five gates which are all part of the same side of the airport. From ticketing to gates is all of about 100 feet, perfect for my son, whose hypotonia causes his muscles to fatigue quite quickly.
Back to the TSA agent in Long Beach. We had just passed through the metal detectors and were collecting our electronics and other items, when the TSA agent walked up to me and said, "I'll take your son's shoes over to him." Now, this isn't the typical statement you expect to hear from a TSA agent. I handed her his shoes and said, "Thank you". I collected the rest of our stuff and went and sat down next to my wife and son to regroup. She said her son was on the spectrum and understood what it takes to travel. We asked her more about her son; she asked about ours. She wished us well and we headed for the gates.
Long Beach Airport isn't for everyone. As we sat by the gates, most people were complaining, sleeping, grumbling or otherwise unhappy with the experience. It's a no frills airport and for us, it works.
As I said we travel quite a bit, as E likes to go, go, go (on United). Not once (knock, knock on wood) have we had a TSA Agent act in any type of manner which singled us out or singled E out because of his autism. All of been very respectful of E and have gone to great lengths to make sure he is comfortable throughout the whole screening process.
In fact, once when going through security an adult passenger traveling with his older mom slammed his tray into my hand pinching it between his tray and the one my hand was pushing. I pulled my hand out, shaking off the pinch. The passenger offered no apology for the pinch. A TSA agent asked me what was wrong and why I was shaking my hand; I explained the pinch. The agent pulled the mom out of line and informed her that she was picked for a more intensive screening. The passenger began to protest and was told that if he didn't sit down, wait and stop interfering that he would be subject to an even more invasive screening. I am not sure if it was solely to the passenger's poor manners or due to the challenges we are presented with when we travel that was the cause of the more intense screening. However, that agent put a smile on my face as I walked about from security. As I walked away, I turned a gave a quick wave to the agent, who gave me a quick nod, as she was instructing the passenger's mom, to hold her arm's out, palms up.
Thank you to the TSA for understanding E when we travel.
Thanks for reading; more to come.
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