I have hopes that, like the patently ridiculous "You can't open a bank account with a state-issued non-driver's photo ID card, it has to be a driver's license; sorry, it's the Patriot Act" line the bank tried to give my fiancee, this kind of BS will be seen to be patently ridiculous and not even actually helpful in enhancing security, and go away. (When I responded to the bank officer's pronouncement with, "Really? So blind people, deaf people, and people with epilepsy can't have bank accounts?" she got a funny look on her face and said, "Hunh. You know, let me go check on this..." and less than an hour later we left the bank with a shiny new account for my fiancee set up.)
Since this is the TSA we're talking about, and they never relaxed that idiotic "no more than 3 droplets of liquid!" rule that, at the time it was introduced, was based purely on a theory about a method some terrorist organisation might start using in the future, I can't bring myself to be very optimistic about this.
On the other hand, the last time I flew, in 2005, I was kind of shocked by how lax airport security was in handling me, a person using an electric wheelchair and cane but who had no medical documentation whatsoever stating I need it, stated to every security person I dealt with that I was capable of standing briefly with the cane, and who -- as strangers are always telling me -- doesn't "look disabled!"
I offered to get out of the chair at each stage of security but was always told they could screen me fine in the chair. (Of course I was going to have to get out of the chair anyway at the door to the plane to either transfer into the aisle-chair or, as I was luckily able to do, hobble slowly on board and into my seat before the crush of main coach boarding using my cane.) I in fact had a cigarette lighter in the back pocket of my jeans that made it onto and all the way through the flight with me (and oh, it was sooo nice being able to get that calming first post-flight cigarette without having to hunt through carry-on or, worse, checked baggage for it). And really, I could've had a pretty big knife or some other weapon either under my butt on the seat, or between the seat's cushion and sling, and nothing they did screening me would've picked it up. They checked the chair for battery residue, and both wanded me and patted down my front, but that was it. I didn't even have to take my shoes off, even though everyone able-bodied around me was still being made to, and even though I offered to and had worn slip-on Birks so I could do so easily.
It might be a function of where I was flying to and from (Newark to Vegas & back in 2004, Newark to Houston & back in 2005) but the TSA people I dealt with back then seemed to believe both that someone who used a wheelchair couldn't possibly be a terrorist, and that a terrorist couldn't possibly acquire a wheelchair for the purpose of sneaking something past airport security. I was frankly unnerved by this attitude, even though it made my trip less inconvenient. Because those are kind of extremely gaping security holes.
Honestly, it often seems like the Patriot Act / Homeland Security Act / other post-9/11 stuff is at least 40% stuff they know does nothing whatsoever to make us safer, but by being so visible has the effect of making it seem like the government is doing something. Way too much of that "something" they're doing is as effective as "duck and covering" under a school desk is for surviving a nuclear warhesd detonation, though.
I have been keeping up on TSA outrages, like the sterile backup feeding tube, for a boy who had a feeding tube in, which TSAsses forced his parents to open even though its packaging was transparent and they explained that opening it would render it unusable and endanger their young son's life. I don't by any means intend to belittle anyone's fears about, or negative experiences with, airport or border security.
Until the people who make the rules learn to check on what people who fly actually need (e.g. headphones may be a mere convenience for some, but are absolutely a necessity for others) when they're writing the rules, and TSA and other security personnel are trained effectively and appropriately to distinguish between things they shouldn't allow on board and things they must allow on board in order to avoid violating the passenger's civil rights and/or endangering their health, the nightmare stories are going to continue. Sigh.
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Date: 2010-03-31 01:41 am (UTC)Since this is the TSA we're talking about, and they never relaxed that idiotic "no more than 3 droplets of liquid!" rule that, at the time it was introduced, was based purely on a theory about a method some terrorist organisation might start using in the future, I can't bring myself to be very optimistic about this.
On the other hand, the last time I flew, in 2005, I was kind of shocked by how lax airport security was in handling me, a person using an electric wheelchair and cane but who had no medical documentation whatsoever stating I need it, stated to every security person I dealt with that I was capable of standing briefly with the cane, and who -- as strangers are always telling me -- doesn't "look disabled!"
I offered to get out of the chair at each stage of security but was always told they could screen me fine in the chair. (Of course I was going to have to get out of the chair anyway at the door to the plane to either transfer into the aisle-chair or, as I was luckily able to do, hobble slowly on board and into my seat before the crush of main coach boarding using my cane.) I in fact had a cigarette lighter in the back pocket of my jeans that made it onto and all the way through the flight with me (and oh, it was sooo nice being able to get that calming first post-flight cigarette without having to hunt through carry-on or, worse, checked baggage for it). And really, I could've had a pretty big knife or some other weapon either under my butt on the seat, or between the seat's cushion and sling, and nothing they did screening me would've picked it up. They checked the chair for battery residue, and both wanded me and patted down my front, but that was it. I didn't even have to take my shoes off, even though everyone able-bodied around me was still being made to, and even though I offered to and had worn slip-on Birks so I could do so easily.
It might be a function of where I was flying to and from (Newark to Vegas & back in 2004, Newark to Houston & back in 2005) but the TSA people I dealt with back then seemed to believe both that someone who used a wheelchair couldn't possibly be a terrorist, and that a terrorist couldn't possibly acquire a wheelchair for the purpose of sneaking something past airport security. I was frankly unnerved by this attitude, even though it made my trip less inconvenient. Because those are kind of extremely gaping security holes.
Honestly, it often seems like the Patriot Act / Homeland Security Act / other post-9/11 stuff is at least 40% stuff they know does nothing whatsoever to make us safer, but by being so visible has the effect of making it seem like the government is doing something. Way too much of that "something" they're doing is as effective as "duck and covering" under a school desk is for surviving a nuclear warhesd detonation, though.
I have been keeping up on TSA outrages, like the sterile backup feeding tube, for a boy who had a feeding tube in, which TSAsses forced his parents to open even though its packaging was transparent and they explained that opening it would render it unusable and endanger their young son's life. I don't by any means intend to belittle anyone's fears about, or negative experiences with, airport or border security.
Until the people who make the rules learn to check on what people who fly actually need (e.g. headphones may be a mere convenience for some, but are absolutely a necessity for others) when they're writing the rules, and TSA and other security personnel are trained effectively and appropriately to distinguish between things they shouldn't allow on board and things they must allow on board in order to avoid violating the passenger's civil rights and/or endangering their health, the nightmare stories are going to continue. Sigh.