We need to start a new campaign against AA.
 

I am so bloody mad that I could just...oh I don't know...whatever people do when they get this mad.

Have you all seen the article regarding AA throwing a mother and her autistic son off the flight.

Here is the link...I already emailed them a complaint and told them to expect more...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,371601,00.html

Just makes me spittin mad.

Missy

I saw this myself and was saddened by the whole situation. I can see both sides though. Maybe if they had been more trained in children with disabilities it would have kept the situation to a minimal. For example, allowing the mother to take a few things out of the bag she had to put in the overhead. However, at the point where the child was on the floor upset and uncontrollable, I don't think the airline had any choice but to turn the plane around.

I hope AA works with the mother to resolve this in the end. We had a serious issue with my husband's wheelchair (it was damaged beyond repair) and they were very accomodating to us.

There is no easy fix to this story.

Everyone will have their perspective on this. What should the mother have done? What should the flight attendant have done? and more important, what should the pilot have done?

I've seen autism and I've seen raging fits. An airplane is not place for anyone (I don't care how old), to have a raging fit. What if something happened, and someone got hurt?

I have seen children on planes. Some were crying, some were angels. It's hard enough for a regular 2 year old to get on a plane and stay calm for 2 hours, let alone an autistic child.

I don't think the mother thought this through. With more and more children being diagnosed with Autism every day, and I gather more people will be traveling, with their autistic children, I would imagine that the aviation industry is going to have to start teaching courses to their Flight Attendants.

How to deal with a handicapped child who is having a meltdown. Then, flight attendants can be trained to know how to deal with a child who is having a bad time of it.

This is just plain common sense. The flight attendant was clearly overwhelmed. She did not know what to do. The pilot did not know what to do either.

And the stuff with the bag, well I have no idea who is telling the truth.

It's a very hard call.

I don't blame them for getting angry, but what did he do that was so bad they had to kick him off? It sounds like the only reason was because he did wear his seat belt tight. Maybe there were other reasons?

Yes, it hurts when a problem changes our lives but after seeing the video and knowing how some autistic children react to things, yes it is not his fault, the disabled have rights, but not at the expense of others. When the plane landed in the Hudson and all got out, I wondered how me, in a wheel chair,could have gotten out. DH would try to carry me no doubt but would we both get caught in the waters? A touching love story of commitment and sacrifice but there'd be 2 kids without parents left behind or maybe they might be lost in their attempts to save Mom. My but do need to consider things. Like Melody says, 2 year olds are tough anyway on a plane. I take cruises, like anyone hopes there's no hurricane or earthquakes causing huge waves, but go knowing odds are with me. Tm not going (though I'd like to), on an Alaskan cruise, sure Alaskan ports and wilderness are not wheelchair friendly. I'll stick to the Caribbean with easy access shopping and bars.

If my child's teacher doesn't get it, that's a problem, as part of her job she should but those on an airline, it may be is not part of their job description, very outside of their experience or other factors must be considered. I don't work with planes, so I don;t know.

If I had been that child, I would have panicked, too.

Think about it.

Here you are, with probably a sensory system that really over-reacts to touch. There's a flight attendant coming up to you and randomly yanking on your seat belt. It's painful. It feels like a shock to you. You quickly loosen it. She comes by and yanks on your belt again. This time she yells at you. The loudness and hostility of her voice starts to make you desperate. You can't figure out what you did wrong. You start crying. She yells at you again. Your ability to figure out what she's saying starts to go down the tubes because you're so stressed out. Your mom's trying to make you sit down. Finally you just can't take it anymore so you rip the seat belt off and you just fall to the floor and start crying in earnest...

People should know not to go yanking on people's seat belts and yelling at them if they are autistic and already in a stressful new situation like an airplane flight. The arlines need to educate their flight attendants.

I think if I was in the situation, being in a crowded airplane, sitting so close to everyone else, the noise, being nervous because of flying, peoples perfumes and smells, I would have been in sensory overload to begin with. I would have been having a hard time handling it to start, then you add the lady pulling the seat belt and yelling and everything... they would have had to turn the plane around because I would have been beating my head off of the the nearest something hard :eek:

I have never went any place in a airplane, the thought of being locked in there and not being able to get away to calm myself, that is scary

I think the airline people need to be trained in dealing with these sort of situations, I mean, I am sure there are many non autisitcs that panic while in a airplane, what do they do then? it seems they need to come up with ways to handle these sort of situations

But what should they be trained to do? I've been dealing with my child's fight or flight for over a decade and I still don't know what to do about it, and having never flown with her, I would not even know what to anticipate. What I have noticed, too, is that frequently even people who are trained to recognize F or F behaviors still are very uncomfortable when they see it happening. So, even if the staff were trained to say, "let it run its course", you're still going to have their responsibility to the other passengers, who haven't the training, to consider.

I havent thought of that yet :Scratch-Head::p, but maybe they should start with training so they dont make the situation worse, that might help, I am also thinking that maybe they should have like a small private 'emergency' area were a couple people could sit that are having problems like this, I dont know, I just think there has to be better ways to deal with it then turning the darn plane around and going back, just seems like overkill to me, it is a airplane, seems to me it does not make u-turns so well ;)

Well, seems like somehow they managed to get it to do a u-turn. lol

I agree though, there should be something better to do than yanking on the seat belt and yelling, let alone turning around.

I would not risk taking my daughter on an airplane (or lots of places actually) unless I was reasonably certain she and I could handle it, even then something can come up at anytime...I just don't see a way to do it that would work and being that every single autistic person has different and often mysterious (to the rest of us) triggers, I don't even see how you could train somebody to not make it worse. I can see how just air pressure changes could make it worse for my child, and nobody could do anything about that. Or maybe the sound of another passenger's voice or the sound of the pilot speaking on the intercom....there are just too many variables. The only thing I can think that might possibly help would be to have flight simulation sessions with the individual beforehand until they become habituated enough to handle the experience....but you know the cost of that would have to come from somewhere....

you are right, just wondering what is a autistic supposed to do if they NEED to fly, what are parents supposed to do when they NEED to take there children on a plane (okay, well maybe it is not that necesary to fly:p). The only thing I can think of that would maybe help is the way the airline people react and handle the situation, cant say the women reacted to good to the situation (well flight simulation would probably help also :D)

so maybe the best thing is to not take your autistic child on a plane if you think they wont be able to handle the trip?

(If I ever need to fly I will be sure to get some medication first, it takes alot to hold it together when I ride the bus across town, I couldnt imagine a airplane ride :icon_confused:)

I know. See how the autistic does on a boat, on, say, Lake Michigan which gets pretty rough sometimes, when it is rough. I haven't flown before, but I imagine it might be fairly similar to being on a boat when it's rough. If the ASD child or adult can handle that, they might stand a chance of handling a plane.

I can handle a boat, not a crowded boat, but for the reasons I said I dont think I would do so good at handling airplane, (for me anyway) there is way more to it then just the flying part

I was thinking the same thing..., a quiet private room/area for anyone having issues of any sort.

I don't know but if I was the mother I would have tried to do all the seat belt tightening myself and not allowed anyone else to do it...
but I'm sure at some point the kid was on overload already...

so then the private quiet room would have been handy....

or-
Maybe even a tranquillizer or something might have been appropriate to have on hand for just this type of reason.

But a train is probably better option for the child anyway.

When Allie was @ 8yo, went took a ferry to Catalina Island and back. She loved that, and although I loved the ride, I was very scared she would end up overboard. On a boat though, you can go topside to the open air and walk around quite freely. On a plane your movement is fairly restricted so a completely different environment.

I guess if you absolutely had to fly with an autistic person, you might look into chartering a plane...If there was no way I could drive it, I'd make sure I had plenty of valium, even on a private charter.

Okay Peg, I've been boating for a very long time, quite regularly since I was like 10 or 11. So please forgive the stupid question that I'm about to ask. But what do you mean by topside?

Up on the deck, as opposed to down inside the cabin. I haven't boated much at all, so excuse me if my sailor's vocabulary is off the mark.

Ah, okay, wondered if that's what you meant. It actually makes sense, as being in the cabin is often referred to as being "down below".

Getting off topic, but just a quick lesson if anyone ever finds themselves on a boat. If you're on a boat, and you're getting motion sick (or know you're prone to motion sickness), do not go down below. Do not go down below. Do not go down below. Do I need to say it again? Do not go down below.

My dad mates on a charter fishing boat, and there have been stories. Your instinct when you're not feeling well is to go lie down in the cabin. That's actually the worst place to be when you're motion sick. I know the captain of the boat my dad mates on will warn people, if you feel sick stay in the cockpit. You WILL feel worse down in the cabin. But people almost invariably head down below when they get seasick.

The general recommendation is to position yourself in the middle of the boat, on deck, and try to stare at the horizon. And if you have to puke, do so over the leeward side (this means the side of the boat that the wind is blowing towards, so you're puking with the wind and not against it and having it blown back at you).

Not ASD related, I know, and not plane related, but while we're on the subject of boating, I figured I'd give that little tip.

I think you know plenty of that sailor vocabulary, your not fooling no one (isnt it the same as the trucker vocabulary?, my dad is a expert in the talk, lol) :D (just joking)

Okay, you got me!!! Yes, I can cuss like a sailor, or I guess like my dad did whenever he worked on cars (which was frequent) or plumbing (less frequent).