Ich habe ja, ich gebe es zu, relativ positive Vorurteile über die USA, was die Behandlung behinderter Menschen angeht. Mir ist allerdings auch schon aufgefallen, dass an den Flughäfen es teilweise ziemlich „unamerikanisch“ zugeht und die Sicherheitsleute mich genauso merkwürdig behandeln wie ich es von „Good old Germany“ gewohnt bin.
Was aber Wheelchair Dancer erlebt hat, übersteigt meine Vorstellungen. Mehrere Sicherheitsleute am Flughafen in New York haben sich geweigert, sie wegen ihrer Behinderung zu kontrollieren. Sie hatten Angst vor ihren unkontrollierten Bewegungen:
I warned her about the involuntary movement, and she began the search. After a couple of large spazzes, she went to her supervisor (Luther) and asked him (in front of me) to get someone else to do it because it was too much for her. I didn’t feel particularly good about this, but I let it go.
Today, however, she saw me coming. Yes. Literally. And while she was escorting me back to the common search area, she cheerfully explained that I scared her too much to do to the search and that she just couldn’t do the search; she physically shuddered at the thought of it. The same old Luther supervisor condoned her opinion, and a third staff person was called. As you can imagine, I feel absolutely horrible about this. It was humiliating and shaming.
Via Katja