Mother’s outrage after ‘power-tripping’ airport security pat down 13-year-old son

30 March 2017

This is the moment airport security patted down a 13-year-old boy for two full minutes, leaving him ‘traumatised’, according to his mother.  Aaron Williamson, who suffers from Sensory Processing Disorder, was stopped while heading through security at Dallas/Fort-Worth International Airport.

His outraged mother Jennifer hit out at the transport security agency (TSA) in a Facebook post, claiming she and her son were ‘treated like dogs’. She was allegedly detained for ‘well over an hour’, during which time an airport officer extensively patted down her son, who was wearing cut off shorts and a T-shirt.

As an SPD sufferer, it is not known whether or not Williamson took advantage of TSA Care which takes into consideration certain conditions for travellers. His mother said: ‘He set off NO alarms. He physically did not alarm at all during screening, he passed through the detector just fine.

He is still several hours later saying “I don’t know what I did. What did I do?”. I am livid. Please, share [and] make this viral.’ In her post, which has been seen 7.1 million times, she calls for the TSA to be ‘reined in’. The American security agency brought in new rules recently calling for ‘comprehensive pat-down procedures’ for passengers.

Making searches more intrusive the standardised system replaces the choice airport customers previously had between body scanners or other technology only if they set off alarms. The TSA is standing by the controversial Texas incident.

‘In total, the pat-down took approximately two minutes,’ they wrote in a statement, ‘and was observed by the mother and two police officers who were called to mitigate the concerns of the mother. ‘The passengers were at the checkpoint for approximately 45 minutes, which included the time it took to discuss screening procedures with the mother and to screen three carry-on items that required further inspection.’ People on Twitter deemed the incident inappropriate with some calling it ‘near-molestation’.

Source: Metro dot co dot uk

Pratyush Nalam, an IIT-B techie outrages against Air India after airline left his wheelchair in India

New Delhi | Published:February 15, 2017 

Enraged on learning that his sole support of movement had been kept away, he took to Facebook to express his discontentment with Air India's "unprofessional" service.

Despite having a condition that rendered him immobile since birth, Pratyush Nalam – a software whiz graduated from IIT Mumbai – has always lived his life to the fullest. The 23-year-old suffers from spinal muscular atrophy due to which he can’t walk, and uses a motorised wheelchair to commute. All set to join Microsoft in Seattle, Nalam flew from Chennai to New York via Delhi on two Air India flights.

Facebook Post by Pratyush Nalam

On February 12, when Nalam landed at the John F Kennedy international airport in New York, he was in for a shock as Air India had not transported his battery-operated wheelchair on-board. Moreover, the vehicle was held back by the security staff in New Delhi without any prior information or notification.

Hopeless and helpless, he had no other option than to be stranded at the airport and wait for his travel aid. Citing the reason that the wheelchair contained batteries that are apparently not allowed on the flight, Air India could not transport it to US. Enraged on learning that his sole support of movement had been kept away, he took to Facebook to express his discontentment with Air India’s “unprofessional” service.

“The least you could do was to contact the passenger before the flight took off and at least confirm. Fortunately, you know, the passenger didn’t die an untimely death yet,” he wrote, adding, “That motorized wheelchair is the only way I travel from Point A to Point B. It is more than a person’s legs for me. Do you leave behind your aircraft’s landing gear because it didn’t clear security? Try to use some empathy before you take such decisions next time.”

Several users were upset about the incident. While some posted angry comments, others went on to share similar ordeals that they had earlier faced

Nalam was later informed by the Air India staff that his wheelchair has been loaded on the next flight and would reach him the next morning (February 13), but without its batteries.

Nalam posted an update on Facebook and wrote: “Those are dry, non-spillable, gel batteries. Perfectly allowed under domestic and international civil aviation rules. You see, as a passenger, I am careful about what is allowed and not allowed under the rules as I travel pretty often.”

Wondering if his wheelchair would reach him in one piece, he added, “This is the same Air India that damaged this very wheelchair when I flew them in August 2015 on the same sector.”

“Disabled passengers are not second class citizens. Neither are we a liability. We live fulfilling lives and the least you could do is to treat us and our equipment with dignity and respect,” he also wrote in another post to express his dismay.

When it finally arrived in New York, the wheelchair had to be taken to a service centre to be made operational. Not just the battery, but the wire that connects it for motorised travel was also missing. Adding a fresh post to elaborate on how he got it fixed, Nalam wrote: “As my wheelchair is not sold in the United States, Mr Jeff got a set of custom wiring to be made for my wheelchair so that I can be mobile again. He took special care and treated it as an emergency and this reaffirms my faith that good people are still left in this world.”

Source: Indian Express

‘I Am Not Asking for Charity’ – the Man Fighting for Disabled-Friendly Screening at Indian Airports [Story from Better India]

January 2017 | The Better India

by Guest Contributor 

Rajesh Bhatia writes about his experiences at airports as an above-knee amputee, and why he started a campaign asking the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security to make security procedures inclusive.

I am an above-knee amputee since 1992, when I lost my leg to a fatal road accident. After the initial trauma, I marched ahead in my life and rose to among the top most echelons of one of India’s largest multi-national companies.

I fly frequently for work, both domestically and internationally from several Indian airports.

Each time I pass through the security check points at the airports, I am treated like a criminal by CISF, the security staff, just because I use a prosthetic limb (artificial leg) for my mobility.

Having not received any training on the screening of persons with prosthetics, the security staff is generally clueless on how to handle my screening. I am asked and many times, even forced, to strip and to remove my prosthetic because they suspect that I might be hiding a gun or a knife in my prosthetic. The security staff then picks up my prosthetic and puts it on the x-ray machine as if it is a piece of luggage, while I am left immobile and in a state of agony praying that I receive my prosthetic undamaged. I have to then go through the process of putting on my prosthetic, which by then does not have enough suction to stay in place thereby putting my mobility and safety in jeopardy.

Let me tell you that the suction of a prosthetic does not allow even the air to pass through it. Then how can I hide a weapon in my prosthetic?

Imagine being harassed this way since October 2012, each time I have undertaken air travel! How would I feel? Even several women amputees, including Sudha Chandran, have been harassed in this manner.

On October 8, 2013, while I was leaving with my family for a vacation to Thailand from Delhi’s IGI airport, the metal detector beeped owing to my prosthetic. I showed them my disability certificate. Yet the security staff seemed confused. After turning down my request for pat-down or ETD frisking, they forced me to strip in front of their entire staff and a CISF officer asked me repeatedly if I got married before or after my amputation.

I want to make it clear that CISF is not to be blamed. It is a puppet in the hands of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security India (BCAS), the organization that has laid down such humiliating screening procedures for PwDs.

The dictate of BCAS to CISF to regard PwDs, including amputees who use prosthetics, a bigger security risk; to ask them to strip and remove their prosthetic and, to make wheelchair users stand up – as they all may be carriers of explosives and weapons – is a violation of their human rights.

I have been informed by several PwDs that they do not undertake air travel for the fear of being humiliated. It has been my goal since my first harrowing experience with frisking in 2012, to be the voice of millions of PwDs in India. I would never like them to go through similar trauma with airport security. For that reason I launched my petition against BCAS on change.org and even my campaign’s Rajesh Speaks’s Facebook in 2013. I have not received any response from BCAS from the signatures on my petition.

I have also written several letters to former PM Manmohan Singh, PM Narendra Modi, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), CISF, CCPD (Office of the Chief Commissioner of PwDs) and others. Yet I got no response from them and in exceptional cases when I did hear back from them, including to my RTI and my letter to PM Narendra Modi, their offices ignored my concerns and simply passed on the buck to another organization.

I have travelled worldwide including to Europe, Italy, France, Germany, Ireland, Romania, Belgium, United States and Russia. The airport security at each one of these places treats me respectfully and simply frisks me with a pat-down process.

The entire screening procedures for PwDs and the insensitivity of BCAS and CISF need a humane face. They need to be sensitised. Isn’t that more important than building fancier airports?

1) Lay down clear guidelines in its Standard Operating Procedure, SOP, for the security screening of PwDs;

2) Sensitize and train CISF in the respectful screening of PwDs;

3) Install full body scanners at Indian airports of the kind that are used at the airports in United States;

4) Enforce zero-tolerance policy for any discrimination of PwDs.

Raja Srivastava, Additional Director General BCAS, had given his word to me at a CISF training workshop on March 30, 2014, at which I was invited to present my thoughts on the frisking of people who use prosthetic, that he would be open to incorporating my suggestions in the SOP for screening of PwDs. However, even he has backed out of his word to me.

In May 2014, my sister Smiti Bhatia and I had conducted extensive research on the international security norms for PwDs and had written a manual under the guidance of disability advocates, on the “Screening Guidelines to be Followed by CISF for PwDs at Indian Airports.” The manual abides by the world class screening procedures, and by the language of Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It was also laid out by our teammate in a PPT with visuals. I had handed over the manual to Mr. Ajay Kumar and Mr. O.P. Singh, senior CISF officers, in June, 2014. They had approved the manual. However, BCAS has not included it in its SOP.

In May 2016, Supreme court had passed a judgement in Jeeja Ghosh’s case against her discrimination by Spice Jet that “there should be a full recognition of the fact that persons with disability were integral part of the community, equal in dignity and entitled to enjoy the same human rights and freedoms as others.” Jeeja Ghosh has Cerebral Palsy. She was de-boarded by the flight crew because of her disability.

By violating the human rights of PwDs, BCAS is in violation of the Supreme Court’s judgement. It is a shame that such repeated assaults on the most vulnerable citizens of India are allowed in a democracy.

Following the ruling, Supreme Court had directed Director General of Civil Aviation to consult with civil society to ensure that air travel was non- discriminatory for PwDs. On June 27, 2016, the disability advocates, including Smiti and I, had submitted our comments, including our manual to DGCA. We have not received any response from DGCA.

I am asking BCAS and MoCA that my rights and those of PwDs be restored. I am not asking for charity. I am a law-abiding, tax-paying citizen of India.

Source: The Better India

French Court fines EasyJet for refusing disabled passenger citing security reasons

Dear Colleagues,

A French court on 19 Jan 2016, fined British low-cost airline EasyJet 60,000 euros ($64,000) for having refused to allow a disabled passenger to board for "security" reasons.

The criminal court in Bayonne, Southern France, heard that staff at the budget carrier refused to allow Joseph Etcheveste, 55, to board an EasyJet flight in Biarritz in July 2010 because he was "unaccompanied".

"EasyJet refused to let my client board because it deemed there were security problems. They still have not been able to explain what they were," said his lawyer Anne-Marie Mendiboure.

It was not the first time Easyjet has fallen foul of French discrimination laws. In December 2015 the company was fined 70,000 euros for refusing access to three handicapped people for the same reasons. There were also similar rulings in the two previous years. The airline said it had merely imposed "internal rules".

EasyJet lawyer Maud Marian told AFP she was not surprised at the court judgement while stressing that the airline "never intended to discriminate against the plaintiff" and was unlikely to appeal the decision.

Source: Emirates247,com

Wheelchair-bound passenger 'humiliated' at Bangalore airport

Dec 10, 2016

A physically handicapped person has alleged that he was severely "humiliated" and "mocked" by a security officer at the Bangalore airport when he was to board a flight for the national capital. The incident comes even as the Disabilities Bill is being tabled in Parliament. The Bill proposes a jail term of up to two years and a fine of up to Rs 5 lakh for people who discriminate against the differently abled.

Twenty-nine -year-old Nipun Malhotra, a disabled rights activist, who suffers from a congenital disorder called arthrogryposis and is wheelchair-bound, was allegedly asked to bend and stand despite his physical condition.

Malhotra has complained to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and head of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), seeking an apology from the concerned officer and an assurance that disabled persons won't be subjected to such humiliation and discrimination.

The alleged incident took place around 2.45 pm on November 30 when Malhotra was flying to Delhi in an IndiGo flight. In the complaint dated December 7, Malhotra has termed the incident "horrible". CISF sources confirmed that they have received a complaint and that the matter is being looked into.

Malhotra's complaint states: "He asked me twice to stand despite my saying that it would be impossible for me. He then asked whether somebody can lift me out of my wheelchair so that I might be properly checked... I could have tripped and fallen on my face. He insisted on this despite seeing that I use a belt on my chair."

Malhotra told DNA that the "inhuman treatment" by the CISF officer went on for around seven minutes and he even refused to issue a boarding pass. The episode ended only after the intervention of a senior officer, Malhotra said.

Malhotra said he has travelled abroad but has never faced any difficulty. "What is terrible is the lack of action. The lack of insensitivity is shocking," he said.

In October too, a similar incident was reported from the Bangalore airport, where paralympian Aditya Mehta was allegedly forced to take off his prosthetic limb. Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), which operates the airport, however, refused to comment on the frequent occurrences of such incidents. A BIAL official, on condition of anonymity, said: "We have not received any complaint about this incident. If we get one, we will order an inquiry. We understand that persons with disabilities need to be treated sensitively."

Source: DNA India 

Star para-athlete forced to take off prosthesis at airport, left bleeding

Oct 13, 2016 12:20 IST

One of India’s top para-athletes has alleged that he was forced to remove his prosthetic leg and humiliated by the security staff at Bengaluru airport.

Two-time para-cycling Asian medallist Aditya Mehta wrote on Facebook post that Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officials at Bengaluru airport made him “undo and redo” his prosthesis during the security check for a 5.30am flight to Hyderabad.

“I have been suffering with an injury since the past 20 days with my stump and the security check officials only had to say “It is your problem!”. It took me 40 min for the entire process which left me bleeding at the end,” Mehta wrote.

The athlete said this wasn’t the first time he was forced to undergo the ordeal and had similar experiences at Delhi and Bengaluru earlier this year.

“I have mentioned how painful the procedure is to remove the prosthetics and wear it back. Worth mentioning is the psychological scar that it can leave on a physically challenged person’s mind.”  “Thankfully, I am not that weak mentally.”

He said that a foundation run by him had asked for full-body scanners at airports to deal with disabled persons but no action – not even sensitization of security staff – had been forthcoming.

“This isn’t just my personal battle but the emotions behind the cause is. I am not here to absorb the humiliation and break. I am here to stand for my people and make a change,” he wrote.

“This isn’t a plea because we have pleaded before with no luck. This is a challenge to your oppressive system.”

More than 21 million people in India are certified as disabled but often complain of neglect and discrimination, especially in accessing public spaces and services. A clutch of medals at the recently concluded Paralympics in Brazil brought back the focus on social bias against para-athletes and how many of them had surmounted obstacles to represent India at the world stage.

Source: Hindustan Times

BCAS says Passengers with Disabilities Pose "Higher" Security Risk

Dear Colleagues,

Below is the coverage on the RTI expose by our colleague Satendra Singh of what BCAS believes which runs contrary to the policy of the Aviation Ministry. Here is the story by Sh. Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar.

Passengers With Disabilities Pose ‘Higher’ Security Risk, Says Aviation Authority

The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has also blocked full body scanners that would decrease harassment faced by persons with disabilities at airport security checks.

06/09/2016

By Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

New Delhi: Millions of passengers at airports across India go through pat-down security checks, often leading to delays and harassment, especially for persons with disabilities. An RTI application filed by a disability rights activist has now revealed why this is the case, even though technology exists that makes it unnecessary. Not only does the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) regard passengers with disabilities as a higher security risk but the agency has also been responsible for blocking the introduction of disabled-friendly safe full body scanners since it is still “exploring its feasibility at Indian airports keeping in view the privacy (issues) and health hazards from radiation”.

BCAS, which is the regulatory authority for civil aviation security in India and comes under the ministry of civil aviation, appears to have not taken into account the fact that many nations, including the US, have shifted to the use of new technology at airports for reducing scanning time and inconvenience to the passengers.

The agency’s role has come to light in response to an RTI application filed by Satendra Singh, an associate professor of physiology at the University College of Medical Sciences and GTB Hospital, Delhi. In its response to a set of questions posed by him, BCAS stated that the “security scenario in India is not the same as that of America”. When asked about the perceived radiation hazard and whether they had received “any recommendations from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) on the use of non-ionising millimetre wave technology at airports in India”, BCAS initially cited security concerns for not answering this question.

But when Singh filed a first and second appeal with the Central Information Commission (CIC), stating that the matter needs to be decided in light of the constitutional mandate of the RTI Act, the bureau conceded that the AERB’s recommendations were not available to them.

In his plea before the CIC, Singh, who suffers from loco-motor disability and has faced humiliation at Hyderabad airport before, noted that that harassment of persons with disabilities on the pretext of security under BCAS guidelines was a violation of their fundamental rights under articles 15 and 21 of the constitution. He argued before the CIC that millimetre wave technology was widely used in international airports.

Incidentally, in March 2016, it was reported that the US Trade and Development Agency would be giving a millimetre wave scanner to Indira Gandhi International Airport, which was to be then tested by BCAS for Indian conditions.

Such scanners, commonly referred to as body scanners, are supposed to cut down average frisking time by avoiding pat-down checks. They are also seen as an ideal replacement for present scanners, given increasing passenger traffic.

Even in the US, according to a US Environmental Protection Agency document, the airport security screening machines use non-ionising radiation which does not have enough energy to break bonds in living cells, therefore being safe. Millimetre wave machines use low-energy non-ionising radiation.

Millimetre wave machines use radio frequency waves to detect threats. The machine bounces waves off the body. Millimetre wave scanners emit thousands of times less energy than a cellphone. Threats are shown on a generic body outline rather than the person’s actual outline. When there are no weapons or other threats, the screen turns green and shows an “OK”, the document stated.

Along with backscatter x-ray systems, which use very low levels of x-rays (almost equivalent to cosmic radiation received during two minutes of flight) millimetre wave machines are now emerging as key scanning equipment across the globe.

Despite these positive attributes, why India has been slow to introduce this technology has been explained by the BCAS response.

Since Singh had faced harassment in February 2014, he filed complaints with the BCAS, the ministry of civil aviation and the chief commissioner of persons with disability. He then filed an RTI application on October 21, 2014 and followed it up with first and second appeals on November 12 and December 22, 2014.

“I have been fighting a long battle… that of dignified screening of passengers with disabilities at Indian airports,” he said.

On the reason behind his filing the application, he said, “Human dignity is a constitutional value and a constitutional goal. BCAS is humiliating people with disabilities though we are willing to help them by providing suggestions. That is why I am advocating the millimetre wave technology. In the recent landmark judgement in Jeeja Ghosh vs Spice Jet, the Supreme Court had categorically said, “Non disabled people do not understand disabled ones…. What non-disabled people do not understand is that people with disabilities also have some rights, hopes and aspirations as everyone else”.

Singh said that if it had not been for the insistence of information commissioner Bimal Julka, a former director in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the BCAS would not have parted with any information. “BCAS kept denying information on the pretext of national security,” Singh said.

However, Julka said the “appellant raised pertinent issues regarding safeguarding the rights of disabled persons who are harassed by screeners. The appellant also raised very important and critical issues related to the new and innovative technologies being adopted by various advanced countries for disabled”. Given the gravity of these issues, he directed BCAS to provide the relevant information.

Apart from information on the bureau’s approach towards the new technology, the appeal also revealed a “restricted” document in the form of circular No. 23/2005 of BCAS pertaining to “procedure for passenger and carry on baggage screening”.

Section 4.7 of this document dealt with “Procedure for persons with special needs” and “screening of the disabled/ handicapped, sick passengers, etc”.

Singh said he was surprised to learn how the security agencies view persons with disabilities.

Calling such passengers a high security risk, the document said “screeners should be thoroughly briefed that the possibility of carrying weapons/ explosives and other dangerous materials through such passengers is higher than a normal passenger and therefore, these passengers need to be checked with care”. (emphasis added)

It also noted that “the checking of such passengers should be thorough and the supervisor should also satisfy himself that the passenger can be cleared for boarding”.

The rules also state that “there is no scope for leniency in respect of invalid/disabled/sick persons during the pre-embarkation screening / procedures. On the contrary, there is ample reason to be more alert and wary”.

Averring that this “‘restricted’ document clearly highlights malice towards disabled passengers”, Singh said the use of new technology is needed to end such discrimination.

BCAS also communicated through its RTI reply that in January this year it had a meeting with the Central Industrial Security Force, which is in-charge of security at all airports, in order to sensitise the security forces about the issue of security. The response claimed that it had “advised (forced) to be more careful while screening passengers with special needs and medical condition.”

In another reply, BCAS stated that “a training module is incorporated in screener certification handout as ‘Security Procedure for Screening of Passengers with special needs and mental conditions'”. This module, the bureau claimed, had “detailed info and is being taught by all BCAS approved Aviation Security Training Institutes”.

It added that this “module is being taught to the security personnel involved in screening”. During the 12-day course, the bureau said it was planning to include modules of screening procedures for persons with disabilities and would be consulting organisations that represent them.

After much prodding, BCAS also gave out details of the various complaints received from persons with disabilities regarding harassment at airports and their status.

Source: The Wire