The Art Of Traveling With Disabilities

By: Tanya Smith

How would you feel if you were on a plane, taxiing for takeoff, and the pilot announced to all the passengers that they were turning back to the terminal because the man in seat 22C - aka you - obviously had a sausage and bean casserole for dinner last night and just squeezed out a silent but deadly? Or, that the plane simply cannot go any further until the woman in seat 24B takes a shower and perhaps has a shave too. Of course, a plane would never turn around for these absurd reasons; but, if it had to, one would certainly hope that a pilot would not announce it to the world. Yet, this is exactly what happened to Janice Farrell, mother of two and a half year old Jarrett, on the 25th of June 2008. ABC Channel 11 News reported that her son, Jarrett, who according to American Airline's had been "pitching a raging fit”, was the reason the plane turned back to the terminal but not before the pilot announced it to the entire flight.

According to American Airlines, it was the parent's violation of FAA regulations that was the cause for the removal of mother and child. Allegedly she would not stow her bag away or keep her son's seat belt on. Yet, Randy Cannoy, a passenger sitting only inches away from the scene of the crime has come forward to ABC 11 Eyewitness News and said, "That was completely untrue. She was very compliant with whatever they wanted." He even felt that the flight attendant seemed to have already made her mind up about Jarrett claiming that, "She knew a problem child, that she had been a school teacher for ten years and this was one." This attitude was further evident, as she sternly tightened the already buckled seat belt and disallowed Janice to retrieve items from her stowed bag in the overhead bin to calm her son down. All of these incidents therefore culminated in a beautiful raging fit. Although, the conclusive reasons for the turnaround of the plane still remain a little sketchy and will no doubt be hashed out in court. One fact remains true and that is Jarrett Farrell is autistic.

The aftermath of the incident is what raised my eyebrows. The comments left on the Internet were really very curious to me. Many felt that the mother was to blame; that she should have known better. Some felt that children like Jarrett should not travel at all. Others like blogger Bean, enlightened cyberspace with his definition of autism by posting on www.bizjournals.com, claiming it to be "Some over diagnosed pop-psychology disorder". However, the rudest by far came from Gabbo 387. Commenting on the article at www.usatoday.com, Gabbo gave this advice, “I suggest they put these kids in one of those stand up Hannibal Lecter suits". This person obviously has no idea that those suits are already being used. My daughter, born with a brain injury, has that outfit in both hot pink and springtime yellow. Nevertheless, these comments really made me wonder if some people still need clarification as to what neurological disorders can be like. I certainly didn't know very much about the crazy possibilities of the brain, until my daughter arrived. So, I cannot judge other people for their somewhat uninformed perspectives. But, I know that I never would have been so cruel even in my ignorance.

So, just for fun let's play a game, imagine you are five years old. Ah, the memories bring a smile to your lips, but let's carry on. Now imagine that you are stuck in a tumble drier, not a rotating one, you are just contorted and confined to that amount of space. Are you beginning to sweat a little? Okay, let's put a couple of wasps in there to keep you company. Feeling a little jittery yet? Let's top it all off by covering the glass door with a towel so your senses run amok and all that's left is your mind trying to decipher what is going on. I'm not sure if I even came close to describing what autism and other brain dysfunctions can be like, but for some who suffer from these very complicated brain irregularities, in certain situations, especially on an airplane, this is how it may feel.

Air travel for families with children with special needs is a toss of the coin. Should that coin simply not be flicked into the air because your child has a condition that may or may not disrupt a flight? It's a crapshoot. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but unless you are absolutely convinced that air travel is a no-no for your child, it would be such a shame to miss out on so many experiences because of a maybe. My daughter, who probably in the eyes of others has some really rather odd behaviors, has been on a plane about a dozen times now and has had a bad turn in two of those travels. Should we have just skipped the lush rain forests in Costa Rica where she cradled a baby monkey? Or passed up on the vertigo induced elevator ride to the top landing of the Eiffel Tower? Should we have forgone Christmas in the UK with family, cousins, and grandpa near at hand, teasing her with magic tricks? I wonder what our photo album would look like without air travel? I imagine how begrudging and small our world would be.

Although my family and I throw the dice and brave it, for some air travel is a firm no. Santa Monica resident Kim Boston, mother to Shelby, a 17 year old girl with Cerebral Palsy divulged, "We don't air travel anymore because we anticipate problems and it is such a hassle to travel with a special needs child in a wheel chair." I inquired what types of problems they anticipated? “The expense, it costs more to travel with a wheel chair. There's also the extra time it took us. Airport security expected us to lift her out of the chair at security points, although we told them that she couldn't walk, they insisted that she needed to come out of the chair, but did not give any assistance. They were very rude and unhelpful. We were embarrassed because we held up the line and people were getting impatient". Kim replied a little hurt.

So how can we make this easier on everyone involved? How can we make the parents of a child with special needs feel confident that the airline and even its' passengers are in fact on their side? How in essence can we work together? I believe the answer is the sharing of knowledge and experience. The contribution of information about what works and what doesn't.

When I spoke to Margaret Stewart, from The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, I asked her if they received any training in what to expect from people with disabilities, especially those with brain disorders. She informed me that flight attendants received "No real training in specific disorders. We can deal with minor medical emergencies and we can use a defibrillator.” Somehow, minor medical emergencies and a defibrillator seemed to contradict one another; but, I wasn't here to nitpick.  "Are you trained for emergencies like terrorists on board?" I quizzed. "That is mandatory" Ms. Stewart replied confidently.

So, airline personnel are trained in dealing with terrorists and they can restart a heart, yet they have no formal knowledge of how to approach and deal with customers with neurological disabilities. Autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, occurs in 1 in 150 births. This number does not include other neurological or genetic disorders, like Cerebral Palsy, mental retardation, or Down syndrome, to name a few. A 757 American Airline Boeing has 188 seats: Therefore, the probability of one or two neurologically impaired flyers on board is as likely as a heart attack and even more likely than a passenger-terrorist. Training might therefore be a good idea. One of the reasons little Jarret Farell got so riled up was because of the flight attendant and pilot's input. Interviewed for FOX news, Farell's mom said, "If they had just been a little more understanding, I think that none of this would have been a problem."

Kids with neurological disorders are very sensitive to touch, sight and sound. If the flight attendant was aware of this, the situation with the Farell's might have resulted in a positive experience. When I interviewed Mrs. Jade Vonderlieth, child psychologist, specializing in children with special needs for the Santa Monica Unified School District, she suggests that when an autistic child has a full-blown melt down on a plane, "The four most important words are care, welfare, safety and security. The flight Attendant should assess the situation; work with the family because they are the best reporters in assessing their child and use personal safety techniques and non physical interventions unless called for." Hopefully with this type of approach, the tantrum should subside within minutes and everyone can get back to nibbling on peanuts and trying to figure out how to work the remote control for the in-flight TV. Airlines could also consider giving refunds to those, with neurological disorders, they want to remove. A family might step off a plane more willingly, knowing that the last of their savings, used for the flight, didn't just get vacuumed out of the aircraft toilet, food for thought.

As a parent, I have learned so much through repetition and experience. I try to schedule flights that either leave very late or early so my daughter will be sleepy. I bring anything that will comfort and distract her. Another great idea when you travel is to arm yourself with copies of the "Air Carrier Access Act" which "Prohibits the discrimination on basis of disability in air travel and requires air carriers to accommodate the needs of passengers with disabilities." This form can be printed at http://www.dotcr.ost.dot.gov/asp/airacc.asp.

If your child is anything like my daughter, she cannot queue. To stand in one of those lines through check in, passport control, and the frisk-me-line, is not only awful for her, but painful for everyone involved. We have learned to go straight to the front of the line, explain our situation and have usually found the staff more than willing to help us out. Child Psychologist, Jady Vonderlieth, says " Airline travel can be very stressful, families should prepare the child on what to expect from both the airport and airplane: The queues they might need to stand in and the rules and regulations. Parents could even provide information about their situation prior to their trip, so that the airline is aware that they have a special needs child on board".

If you are a passenger and a child is having a very hard time, try to be a good neighbor and be patient. Tutting, comments, and stares help no one in this situation. Many of the children with neurological disorders appear to look just fine. They could blend in well, were it not for their somewhat unusual behavior from time to time. So, do not be too quick to judge a child freaking out, biting his mom and yelling out profanities in the seat in front of you. Patience really does help. Lending a hand would of course be golden. This approach relaxes the parents and allows them to cope with the situation and more often than not, everything will subside and fall back into place pretty quickly.

When I am on a plane I do not judge the sweet but rather old looking man who may or may not die on my flight from a heart attack and mess up my schedule. I do not ask the band of twenty, who are armed with two ukuleles, to stop singing such ridiculously happy songs, when I'm on my way to bury my step dad. I do not tell the person in the row in front of me to stop drinking, because I am in AA, and watching him drink is difficult for me. I deal with it because this is public transportation after all and as far as I'm concerned, the public I know and love are not all cardboard cutouts of perfection. My daughter might start the flight a little jittery and then settle down to a psychedelic journey just as the man drinking vodka and tonic in front of me starts hurling into a paper bag and that newborn in seat 666 wakes up and cries from colic for three hours straight. "Would an airline boot off a family with an inconsolable crying baby?" I prodded Margaret the Flight Attendant. "No, it happens all the time, it's really just the other passengers that get annoyed". We are all that "other passenger" so let's just get naked, eat tofu and work together. No? Okay, let's just buckle up, put our seats into an upright position and work together then.

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