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Autistic child kicked off flight
This is an unbelievable story. It would also make you think we live in old communist Russia, not a country priding itself for valuing diversity.Yes, a mother and her child were kicked off an American Eagle flight because she "wasn't able to control her toddler."
According to ABC Eyewitness News, the mother says she was "doing all she could to calm the autistic boy," but got "no sympathy from the flight crew."
The flight attendant kept coming over and tugging the kid's seatbelt to make it tighter. He, in turn, kept wiggling around and trying to get out of his seatbelt. And, according to the mother, the flight attendant kept coming over, reprimanding him, and yelling at him until he got really upset and started rolling around on the floor. At which point, everyone involved lost it.Then, the pilot apparently made an announcement that there was a woman and her child on the plane and the child is uncontrollable. He turned the plane around and headed back to the terminal.
American Airlines (American Eagle's parent), of course, had a different story. They said the mother was pitching a "raging fit" and refused to comply with FAA regulations.
My question is: what did the other passengers do? Did they try to help the mother? Did they offer to wait until the child settles down? Or, do we live in a world where independent judgment and flexibility have vanished?
Filed under: North America, United States, Airlines
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 22)
jolene Jun 25th 2008 9:18PM
i cant belive they would do that its just so hard to travel with a autistic child .the flight crew should be fired or selt to classes to learn how to deal with children with disabilitys i fill so sorry for the family i know how hard it is for me my daughter who is autstic is 5 as of yesterday and she some times has bad days but usually is good and only says like 5 word i fill for the family i dont think i will fly with them ever agian.......
Elizabeth Jun 25th 2008 9:22PM
I have a "mentally challenged" adult child. He is VERY controllable, but he DOES give vent to his emotions from time to time. The thing to do in such a situation is to let him get calmed down. My question is for the mother. Did you ASK the attendent not to touch your child, but let YOU handle things? I would have thought that they would be able to let you get your child seated and strapped in by yourself. THEN and only then could they have talked to the child and ASKED if they could check just to make sure that the belt was tight enough. With the child being in his own little world, things have to be done differently than they would with so called "normal" people. And I have to agree that it would not have hurt the pilot to find out what the problem was, specifically, before deciding to turn around and head back to the terminal.
sp. ed. teacher Jun 25th 2008 9:21PM
Children can get pretty wound up. Austic children are no exception. Depending on their age and size, they can be quite dangerous- physically. If this child's behavior was uncontrollable and the child was exhibiting unsafe behavior, what else was the crew supposed to do? Would you have an entire plane be at risk because you have sympathy for a mother? Where is the common sense? I for one, would NOT want to be on a flight with a screaming child, nor one that was terribly unruly.
lora Jun 26th 2008 2:36AM
And you are a special needs teacher? Um, hope my child never has special needs but most espcially hope that if so they are never under your care!!!!!!
chuck Jun 25th 2008 9:23PM
TravelBot said...
"There you go again: "communist Russia".
We all know how much you hate Russia, but here's a suggestion (a more accurate and less jingoistic): Soviet Union."
Got two pieces of bad news for ya, TravelBot. "Soviet Union" hasn't been accurate for a few decades. There is no more Soviet Union. And secondly, the author clearly stated "OLD communist Russia".
Rebecca Jun 25th 2008 9:23PM
I believe the pilot did the right thing. We may never know the entire story, but the safety of everyone, including the child, is foremost in the pilot's mind. It simply isn't safe to fly with a child rolling around on the floor and unable to be controlled. This could have happened even if the child wasn't autistic. I get tired of people playing the "pity me" card and the "you're picking on me because..." Chalk it up to safety of all passengers involved and the right thing was done.
Tammy Jun 25th 2008 9:26PM
I understand everyones concerns involving this child and the parent. Having experience in this field and having a son that has autism I come with many years experience. Dicipline and setting limits has nothing to do with it. I have had many people give me the evil eye and assume I was not doing "my parenting Job" Children that have autism are usually scared and sometimes hard to comfort. The only way my son learned to act appropriatly in public is with him experiencing public. Sometimes it was uncomfortable and crazy and not much fun for me but I am happy to report that he is a wonderful happy and very appropriate in public 25 year old young man. Please don't judge unless you have walked in their shoes. We are supposed to support each other and help someone in need. I would also suggest that if people are familiar with autism do some reading and maybe you will understand parent stuggles a little better. :)
megan Jun 25th 2008 9:28PM
The real issue is that there is such a HUGE gap in education for people who do not have or know someone with autisim. Autisin is not the tragity ignorance is!
My 8 year old might do well on the flight, but may throw himself on the floor before we got on the plane in fear, and could not express himself in any other way....we would not know until we were in the situation.
The best thing to do is inform the flight crew before you got on the flight and make sure that there will be accomidations made for the child. If not find another airline.
People need to wake up 1 in 155 children.....
RRK Jun 25th 2008 10:05PM
ABSOLUTELY correct and wise on informing the crew. Advise the booking agent when you make the reservations, confirm with the GATE agent when you get to the gate that they are aware (because they are responsible for advising the flight crew) and then, pre board for special needs and advise the crew what the situation is (to ensure they know) and give them a heads up on what the possible reactions may be. All special needs children are different, and education is key. But safety is also key.
Maureen Jun 25th 2008 9:28PM
My heart goes out to the mother and child. But there is a safety issue here, both for the child and the other passengers. A child rolling in the aisles could be at great risk if the plane were to suddenly hit turbulence. So, yes, the alternative might be to not fly, as much of a hardship as that would be on the family.
And, as unpopular as this will sound, there are also other passengers to consider, some of whom with huge flying phobias, who might not have their problems exacerbated by the situation. A child rolling in the aisle also gets in the way of the flight attendants taking care of other passengers' needs.
I'm sorry, but I'm with the airlines on this one.
Sparkles Jun 25th 2008 9:28PM
The behavior is the issue, not the diagnosis. If a passenger is rolling the the aisle the plane cannot take off. The disruptive passenger needs to be removed from the plane for the safety, and yes convenience, of all the other passengers.
stacey Jun 25th 2008 9:30PM
Benadryl
megan Jun 25th 2008 9:34PM
Hi Benedryl.....Great kill my kid he takes meds that might interact with it.....think before you blog....
sp. ed. teacher Jun 25th 2008 9:30PM
Unless you all were on the plane, you have no idea what the real circumstances were nor what the airline crew did or did not do. To make such value judgements about the crew or the parent is not fair. For those who have autistic children or family members with autistic children, it is also not fair nor reasonable for you to say all autistic children are the same; they are definetly each unique. For those who believe they are experts on special ed. law: IDEA says least restrictive environment is that, the environment that most benefits the sp. needs child. Sometimes the sp. ed. child's behavior or academic needs and the needs of the other children mean the sp. ed. child is placed somewhere else. It doesn't mean the sp. ed. child is always w/ their reg. ed. peers all the time.
ladyadelon Jun 25th 2008 9:31PM
Ugh. I hate flying American. Unfortunately that is who my parents buy my tickets through when they fly me home for the holidays. I've never been thrilled with American; the staff are generally rude, and this story takes the cake. I hope the airline issues an apology and offers some sort of package to the family; what atrocious behaviour on the airline's part.
BRUCE Jun 25th 2008 10:03PM
WHY DON'T YOU GET A JOB AND BUY YOUR OWN TICKETS?
ladyadelon Jun 26th 2008 12:50AM
Why don't you lay off and realize that MAYBE just maybe I'm a student who can't afford the price of airfare?
ladyadelon Jun 26th 2008 5:55PM
Why don't you get off your high horse and realize that I just might be a student who pays for her own housing, food, living expenses and CAN'T afford airfare, regardless of her job unless her parents buy the tickets or she's flying via her boyfriend's buddy pass for the airline? In which case, using a buddy pass around the holidays is a recipe for getting stuck somewhere.
Pdiddy Jun 25th 2008 9:40PM
Autismpinsinc.com
Manny Z Jun 25th 2008 9:42PM
I'm shocked at the ignorant idiots who replied to this one article. I have Asperger's syndrome, which is a FORM of autism. The very least that anyone, passenger or crew, could've done is to at least try to help the mother with her child. If anyone on there wasn't ignorant enough, that is. Why do we live in a world today that runs on nothing but pure ignorance and hatred? What happened to the land of the free? It turned into the land of the free selfish idiots, that's what. This is one reason that I hate damn people like this...