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Flying can be frustrating even under the best of circumstances. Now, imagine being in a wheelchair and being patted down because you can’t walk through the metal detector. Or trying not to look suspicious as you carry insulin syringes through security.
In the aftermath of September 11, the protocol of air travel has changed drastically. We are routinely asked to remove shoes, jackets and jewelry at checkpoints. Random searches and metal-detector scans are accepted as part of a new reality where bomb-sniffing dogs roam airports and pilots are armed. We’ve also heard horror stories of screeners forcing passengers to remove prosthetic limbs, lifting them out of wheelchairs or separating blind travelers from their guide dogs.
Fortunately, people with disabilities are beginning to find travel smoother due to the advanced training of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners. Congress created the agency shortly after the terrorist attacks and ordered it to replace private screeners with government workers under the philosophy that a federal work force could help solve the chronic problems of poor training, rapid turnover and low pay. In consultation with more than 20 disability advocacy groups, such as the National Council on Disability, TSA has initiated a program to provide a more secure and dignified screening procedure for people with disabilities.
Before TSA, there were no specific or consistent procedures to screen people with disabilities. Sandra Cammaroto developed the screening program as its first manager. “TSA’s goal Safe Once Again is to ensure that every passenger with a disability knows what to expect at every airport, every time, everywhere,” says Cammaroto. “We will be taking this program, as a model program, into other modes of transportation.”
Faced with the task of checking 700 million passengers and 1 billion bags every year, the TSA has placed more than 50,000 federal screeners at all of the nation’s 429 commercial airports. With the guidance of organizations such as the Amputee Coalition of America (ACA), screeners are being educated about the different kinds of prosthetic equipment, as well as alterations that could indicate a hidden weapon. Recognizing that no single system is foolproof, TSA has also deployed federal air marshals in record numbers, initiated an armed-pilot training program, introduced passenger bag matching and begun the process of reinforcing cockpit doors.
Higher Technology = Shorter Lines
Since the TSA’s inception, screeners have found more than 1,000 guns, over 2 million knives and 50,000 box cutters. In the early, tense months following September 11, screeners erred on the side of caution, confiscating anything remotely menacing, including tweezers and toy robots.
The TSA is gradually relaxing its rules on prohibited items as it refines its security system. Nail clippers, blunt scissors and cigar cutters are OK again. More changes to the list of prohibited items are expected as screening procedures become more sophisticated.
One of the more controversial devices is an X-ray that beams through clothes to reveal the outline of objects next to the skin. Another X-ray device examines bags from two directions simultaneously to provide a more detailed image than traditional scanners. Devices that detect traces of explosives are also under evaluation. Experts agree that using all of these gadgets together would be too expensive and time-consuming unless they were combined with a system that would identify prescreened passengers.
Under a proposed biometric identification system, travelers would be issued a card after an initial background check using FBI and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) databases. The background check would be much like a routine credit report and would probably include their residential and travel history. At checkpoints, they would place a finger on a scanner or look into an eyepiece for a retinal scan, reminiscent of scenes from Star Trek. These individuals would still go through the standard security checks, but they would be exempt from any additional screening. This proposed “triage” would allow low-risk travelers to pass through screening quickly, so that more effort could be focused on travelers perceived as higher risk.
ALERT! At press time, we were informed that effective immediately new “socket check” procedures will be required for amputees before they board an aircraft. For all details, check the TSA Web site at www.tsa.gov/public/ or www.tsa.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/Permitted_ and_Prohibited_Items.pdf or the ACA Web site at www.amputee-coalition.org
