The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Office of Civil Rights and Liberties, Ombudsman and Traveler Engagement invites you to provide information related to the screening of passengers with disabilities. Please respond to the questions below and send your responses by March 11 to lhamlin@hearingloss.org. Your responses will be forwarded to TSA anonymously.
- Can you share any disability-related experiences and/or observations with TSA’s standard and/or TSA Pre✓® screening activities (e.g., program access, effective communication, physical access, provision of reasonable accommodations)? Please clarify whether your travel is through larger or smaller airports, concentrated in a specific airport or region, and when these experiences occurred.
- What are some examples you can share for how to successfully interact with persons with disabilities (e.g., best practices) in the security screening process related to:
- proper screening, and any particular sensitivities related to the screening, of a passenger with a disability
- traveling with a medical device, including an indwelling medical device
- traveling with a wheelchair, walker, scooter, or other mobility device
- traveling with a service animal
- traveling with sensitivities to touch, pressure, sound, or hypersensitivity to stimuli in the environment.
- What can you share that may help Transportation Security Officers identify characteristics and behaviors that may be associated with disabilities in order to better engage with an individual with a disability?
- What are some “promising training methods” with which you may be familiar for how to successfully interact with persons with disabilities in the security screening process?
- Have you used TSA’s Disability Notification Card during security screening at an airport or observed another person using it? If so, please describe your experiences and/or observations.
- Do you know about TSA’s Passenger Support Specialist (PSS) Program? If so, how did you learn about the PSS Program? Have you or anyone you know utilized the services of a PSS? If so, please describe your experience(s).
- Is there anything else you would like to share?