TSA Pat-Downs and Disability Rights - A Civil Liberties Issue
Author: Thomas C. Weiss
Published: 2010/12/15 - Updated: 2026/02/14
Publication Type: Opinion Piece, Editorial
Category Topic: Editorials - Op-eds - Related Publications
Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main - Insights, Updates
Synopsis: This editorial examines the troubling intersection of TSA security screening procedures and the rights of people with disabilities, disabled veterans, children, and senior citizens. The piece draws on documented incidents, statements from the National Sexual Assault Hotline, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center to build its case that enhanced pat-downs constitute a violation of civil rights protections. The article is particularly relevant for travelers with disabilities, prosthetics, or medical devices who face invasive screening, as well as survivors of sexual violence who may experience retraumatization during airport security procedures. It remains a useful reference for anyone interested in how federal security policies can disproportionately impact vulnerable populations - Disabled World (DW).
- Definition: Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is a federal agency within the United States Department of Homeland Security that was created in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Established by the Aviation and Transportation Security Act signed into law on November 19, 2001, the agency is responsible for the security of the traveling public across all modes of transportation in the United States, though it is most widely known for its role in screening passengers and baggage at the nation's airports. The TSA employs tens of thousands of Transportation Security Officers who carry out security checkpoint operations at more than 400 airports nationwide. Since its creation, the agency has drawn both support for its role in preventing threats and criticism over its screening methods, particularly regarding how those procedures affect people with disabilities, elderly travelers, children, and survivors of trauma.
Introduction
Disability and The Transportation Security Administration
President Barack Obama has signed an expanded hate crimes bill that makes it a federal offense to commit a crime against a person based on their disability. It is already a felony to molest a person with a disability; particularly a child, or a senior with a disability. When such a molestation occurs, the Police, Child Protective Services, or Adult Protective Services are called.
The Transportation Security Administration has been committing acts of felony molestation against people with disabilities, children, senior citizens, and disabled veterans on a continuing basis for some time now - despite current laws in place to protect us. The gloves worn by TSA Agents are filthy; they touch everyone's crotch, buttocks, armpits, and any unknown object in the airport. The scanners, despite manufacture, are coughed on and sneezed on by countless people every single day. The TSA does not pursue even standard health precautions.
Main Content
President Obama, after signing the hate crimes legislation mentioned, stated:
"We must stand against crimes that are meant not only to break bones, but to break spirits - not only to inflict harm, but to instill fear. No one in America should be forced to look over their shoulder because of who they are or because they live with a disability."
The bill marks the largest expansion of civil rights protections in decades and includes protections that people with disabilities have desired for a very, very long time. These protections sat around for years and were opposed by the Bush administration; they experienced a great amount of difficulty getting passed by Congress. The majority of the Republicans in Congress voted against the bill this time around. Some of them even said it amounted to, 'thought crimes legislation.'
Meanwhile, Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security, and the TSA continue to violate not only the trust of every citizen in this nation; they continue to molest anyone who denies the full-body scanner that takes what amounts to pornographic images. While the TSA and Homeland Security have stated that these images will not be viewed by anyone other than the immediate TSA Agent who is viewing them and that they will not appear on the Internet - over one-hundred of these pornographic body-scans have appeared on the Internet.
What are people saying about the, 'enhanced pat-downs,' being performed by TSA Agents'
A woman has been beaten by several TSA Agents for the crime of possessing a bottle of contact eye solution. A man has had his urostomy bag broken open by another TSA Agent, who looked at him without compassion and sent him on his way, covered in his own urine. A woman with a prosthetic breast was required to remove it. A child with leg braces was forced to remove them and somehow attempt to walk through a body scanner, despite the fact that he could not.
In an article posted this very day, December 14th, 2010 - a traveler describes his wife's reaction to a TSA Agent:
"My wife in tears told the screener and the witness she would not let them abuse her," Willie Johnson of Raleigh said in a complaint filed on the Raleigh-Durham International Airport website. "No citizen should be subjected to humiliation, stress and fear just to fly."
TSA Agents are touching the breasts, genitals, and buttocks of everyone who denies the pornographic body scanners
These agents put their gloved fingers inside of people underwear and touch the bare skin of travelers at times, to include the genitals of people with disabilities, children, seniors, and disabled veterans. People who have lived through a sexual assault are among those who feel particularly vulnerable in regards to this ongoing molestation by TSA Agents. Rape crisis counselors are saying that these, 'pat-downs,' are triggering post-traumatic stress reactions in people and making people who have survived traumatic situations experience further trauma.
Jennifer Marsh, Director of the National Sexual Assault Hotline, has heard from people who have been affected by TSA Agents and these, 'pat-downs.' Jennifer says:
"When somebody is a victim of sexual violence, their personal autonomy over their own body has been violated. A lot of times during the screening, they have the same feelings they experienced during their assault, because they don't feel like they're in control of the situation, and because of how they are physically being touched." Jay Stanley of the American Civil Liberties Union stated, "They're coming into very intimate contact with people like rape victims whose trauma may still be very fresh for them."
One Veteran, Tim Ely - who is a retired Army Officer and was a Military Policeman at Guantanamo Bay at one time, has filed a complaint after a confrontation with a TSA Agent at an airport. The agent groped his genitals from both the front and behind. When Tim asked him to explain his actions, the TSA Agent stated that there was something suspicious hanging between his legs.
Tim responded, "I told him that something suspicious was my genitals, you dummy."
The TSA Agent ran his hands all over Tim's body. He went all the way up into Tim's crotch and pushed on the underside of his testicles, stuck his hands down Tim's pants, and inside the waistband of his underwear. Tim says he could feel the TSA Agent's latex gloves on his skin as the agent went all the way around his body.
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center has called on the TSA to cease these intimate, 'pat-downs.' The Center has cited concerns from rape victims. The TSA's response was a mere promise to improve their agent's level of training. In other words - Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security, and the TSA didn't even blink. The administration in office has signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It has signed hate crimes legislation that has been long-awaited in relation to people with disabilities - yet it continues to condone the outright molestation of people with disabilities and disabled veterans in airports across this nation.
If any other person in America were to do the same things these TSA Agents are doing they would find themselves in prison for ten to twenty years for molesting a person with a disability. If anyone else were to do these things TSA Agents are doing they might very well find themselves being charged with a hate crime as well. Someone had better tell Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security, and every single TSA Agent in America they are guilty of not only felony molestation, but hate crimes too.
People with disabilities, children, senior citizens, and disabled veterans many times are unable to defend themselves against a zealous TSA Agent. From what I understand, anyone at all can be a TSA Agent. I hear that advertisements for TSA Agents have appeared on pizza boxes, meaning that anyone and a pedophile can be a TSA Agent and stick their hands down your pants. One TSA Agent recently kidnapped a woman, raped her, and then attempted to kill himself.
"A TSA employee remained hospitalized today after being accused of kidnapping a young female in Atlanta, then taking her to his Hogansville residence and sexually assaulting her. Randall Scott King, whose age and street address were not given, abducted the woman Wednesday evening from a MARTA parking lot in southwest Atlanta, police said. The alleged victim said after the assault, she was released by her captor, who gave her a suicide note and instructions on where to deliver it. King was identified as an employee of the federal Transportation Security Administration, which is assisting in the investigation."
Please understand that Janet Napolitano and Homeland Security have absolutely no intention of stopping whatsoever. In fact - Janet Napolitano and Homeland Security have just joined forces with Wal-Mart. Soon, you will enter a Wal-Mart store and find a message from Homeland Security at every single cash register, telling you to snitch on anything you think is suspicious. The snitch on your brother campaign makes me wonder just how long it will be before we find the equivalent of TSA Agents standing at the doors to these Wal-Mart stores, and other stores like it, telling us we must be molested in order to go shopping. Janet Napolitano wants to put TSA Agents at train stations, subway stations, and bus stations as well.
Insights, Analysis, and Developments
Editorial Note: The concerns raised in this 2010 editorial have not faded with time. While TSA screening procedures have undergone revisions since this piece was originally published, the fundamental tension between security protocols and the dignity of travelers with disabilities persists. People who use prosthetics, ostomy bags, wheelchairs, or other medical devices still report encounters at airport checkpoints that range from uncomfortable to degrading. The fact that hate crimes legislation and disability rights conventions exist alongside screening practices that would be criminal in any other setting remains a contradiction that demands ongoing public scrutiny. Until airport security can be conducted in a way that fully respects bodily autonomy - especially for those least able to advocate for themselves in the moment - this conversation is far from over - Disabled World (DW).
Author Credentials: Thomas C. Weiss is a researcher and editor for Disabled World. Thomas attended college and university courses earning a Masters, Bachelors and two Associate degrees, as well as pursing Disability Studies. As a CNA Thomas has providing care for people with all forms of disabilities. Explore Thomas' complete biography for comprehensive insights into his background, expertise, and accomplishments.