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TSA agents verbally abuse deaf passenger, illegally confiscate bagged candy
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posted at 10:47 am on July 10, 2012 by Howard Portnoy
Like taking candy from a deafie. That sums up the policy exhibited this week by TSA airport screeners in Louisville toward an airline passenger. “Deafie,” should the term be unfamiliar, is evidently screenerspeak for deaf people.
The man had been in town for the biennial conference of the National Association of the Deaf and chronicled the agents’ antics on his blog, Tea & Theatre (h/t Reason). The entry, titled “(Deaf relevant) Why I will never be flying United or flying into/out of Louisville ever again,” begins:
As we were leaving the NAD convention in Louisville, Kentucky, I had on the following shirt [see photo] I got at the convention.
It was a very public week-long event downtown, make no bones about it. As such, the shirt very clearly identified me as deaf.
While I was going through the TSA, some of them started laughing in my direction. I thought it might’ve been someone behind me, but I found out otherwise.
They went through my bag … and found a couple bags of candy I brought. I was told I wasn’t allowed to fly with that (wtf? I’ve flown with food before—these were even sealed still because I brought them right in the airport). I was then asked if I would like to donate the candy “to the USO.” Since I know the airport there has an Air National Guard base, and I figured it would go to the soldiers, I (annoyed) said sure, why not?
The guards, as I was getting scanned, started eating the candy they just told me was for the soldiers. In front of me, still laughing at me (very clearly now). One of them asked why they were laughing, and one of them came up to me, pointed at my shirt, laughed at me and said, “F***ing deafie.” The Louisville TSA called me a “f***ing deafie” and laughed at me because I was deaf, and they expected wouldn’t say anything back (or wouldn’t hear them). Make no bones about it—she was facing me and I read her lips. There was no mistake. I would later find out that they had called at least 4 other individuals the same thing. [Emphases in the original]
The TSA’s website is reasonably clear in its statement of policy on transporting food and beverages through security. Namely, it notes that “all food must go through the X-ray machine” and “must be wrapped or in a container.” It would appear that the blog writer’s candy met the requirements for being waved through. (I scoured the TSA website and couldn’t find its official policy toward “deafies,” so I will assume that the screeners in this particular case were improvising.)
The TSA has not responded to the allegations, but allow me to quote another sentence from the agency’s website that is regurgitated tediously often: “TSA takes all input very seriously and will respond promptly and appropriately to all complaints or comments.” The statement is generally followed by another by an agency spokesperson that reads, “TSA has reviewed the incident and determined that our officers followed proper screening procedures in [insert your complaint here].”
TSA agents verbally abuse deaf passenger, illegally confiscate bagged candy
Share
posted at 10:47 am on July 10, 2012 by Howard Portnoy
Like taking candy from a deafie. That sums up the policy exhibited this week by TSA airport screeners in Louisville toward an airline passenger. “Deafie,” should the term be unfamiliar, is evidently screenerspeak for deaf people.
The man had been in town for the biennial conference of the National Association of the Deaf and chronicled the agents’ antics on his blog, Tea & Theatre (h/t Reason). The entry, titled “(Deaf relevant) Why I will never be flying United or flying into/out of Louisville ever again,” begins:
As we were leaving the NAD convention in Louisville, Kentucky, I had on the following shirt [see photo] I got at the convention.
It was a very public week-long event downtown, make no bones about it. As such, the shirt very clearly identified me as deaf.
While I was going through the TSA, some of them started laughing in my direction. I thought it might’ve been someone behind me, but I found out otherwise.
They went through my bag … and found a couple bags of candy I brought. I was told I wasn’t allowed to fly with that (wtf? I’ve flown with food before—these were even sealed still because I brought them right in the airport). I was then asked if I would like to donate the candy “to the USO.” Since I know the airport there has an Air National Guard base, and I figured it would go to the soldiers, I (annoyed) said sure, why not?
The guards, as I was getting scanned, started eating the candy they just told me was for the soldiers. In front of me, still laughing at me (very clearly now). One of them asked why they were laughing, and one of them came up to me, pointed at my shirt, laughed at me and said, “F***ing deafie.” The Louisville TSA called me a “f***ing deafie” and laughed at me because I was deaf, and they expected wouldn’t say anything back (or wouldn’t hear them). Make no bones about it—she was facing me and I read her lips. There was no mistake. I would later find out that they had called at least 4 other individuals the same thing. [Emphases in the original]
The TSA’s website is reasonably clear in its statement of policy on transporting food and beverages through security. Namely, it notes that “all food must go through the X-ray machine” and “must be wrapped or in a container.” It would appear that the blog writer’s candy met the requirements for being waved through. (I scoured the TSA website and couldn’t find its official policy toward “deafies,” so I will assume that the screeners in this particular case were improvising.)
The TSA has not responded to the allegations, but allow me to quote another sentence from the agency’s website that is regurgitated tediously often: “TSA takes all input very seriously and will respond promptly and appropriately to all complaints or comments.” The statement is generally followed by another by an agency spokesperson that reads, “TSA has reviewed the incident and determined that our officers followed proper screening procedures in [insert your complaint here].”
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