A deaf airline passenger has written on his Tumblr about harassment he received from TSA agents while heading through Louisville, Kentucky. Apparently he wrote the post as a warning to other disabled people about the staff in that particular airport, but the story has gained attention outside the community. The kind of bullying he describes is — to put it mildly — highly disturbing:
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.The word 'bullying' somehow doesn't quite do it. Much like using 'abuse' to describe child rape, it's a euphemistic, nicer way of putting things. And as with all euphemisms — "enhanced interrogation", "collateral damage" — the euphemistic term is a very poor substitute for the actual thing.
They went through my bag (for no reason), 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, “Fucking deafie”. The Louisville TSA called me a “fucking 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.
There's been a great deal of criticism of the TSA over the past couple of years, and I can understand why: the utter futility of airport security alone is enough to make me bitingly cynical. But it's important to remember when reading this account that it actually has very little to do with the TSA, or airport security. In a subsequent post, he briefly mentions how frequently those in the disabled community face harassment of this sort:
Does it make me angry? Sure, I made that post didn’t I? But it’s like…..a 3 or 4 out of the 10 of some of the other stuff. It’s just a day in the life of being deaf.Xeni Jardin wrote, "In other words, yes, this TSA agent was an asshole. But it's not just the TSA. Dealing with non-deaf assholes is a routine part of daily life for people who are deaf."