November 9, 202112:57 PM ET
Heard on Morning Edition
By Joseph Shapiro, Allison Mollenkamp
A man using a wheelchair hands his ID to an officer at a security screening checkpoint at Orlando International Airport in 2020.
Paul Henness/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Anxiety, dread, humiliation — even potential injury. For many people with disabilities, these are part of the routine of airline travel, from getting to the airport gate to getting on and off the plane.
In 2018, Congress demanded that airlines and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) make flying better for people with disabilities — but three years later, NPR has found, passengers report that the same problems keep happening over and over.
On a trip last year, Heather Leiterman, who is blind, was told by a TSA agent to take the harness, collar and leash off her guide dog, a black Labrador named Coastie. She explained to the agent that to do so would mean she’d lose control of the animal.
“That’s how they know they’re working. When the harness is on, they’re working. When the harness is off, that’s when they’re just a dog.”
But the agent insisted — even though the TSA’s own procedures say those items “do not require removal” for screening. “He was very hostile,” Leiterman says, and threatened not to let her on the plane if she didn’t comply.
Continue reading “Despite calls to improve, air travel is still a nightmare for many with disabilities”