On Tuesday 16 May 2023 at security screening at Adelaide airport at approximately 5.30pm I was subjected to the most horrific humiliation. I am a big brave (small) disabled woman and yet I was holding myself together, so I didn’t cry and have a total melt down.

Why?

An over-officious airport security person decided that just patting me down and doing the explosive test on my shoes and scooter were not enough. She felt my callipers on both legs and decided that she needed to take me to a private room to be further examined.

In said room I pulled up my trouser legs to show my long orthotics (from foot to thigh); it is pretty obvious what they are when you see them like this. Still unconvinced that I was not a threat to national security she was on the point of going to make me take them off when a supervisor stepped in.

I have travelled a lot over the years and never have I been subjected to this level of ‘security’ before.

Is it that people with disabilities are now deemed as security threats and we are all harbouring dangerous goods in our equipment? How many of us have been caught?

From the level of scrutiny I was subjected to it must be a widespread problem and people with disabilities must be getting caught at an extreme rate to warrant this kind of focus.

Or is it that we are easy targets? Is it the unconscious bias of the able-bodied community that sees us somehow wrong? Is it discrimination against the vulnerable?

I then went back to my peer group of people with disabilities and talked about my experience. The sharing began and the stories I heard from people made me want to cry with sorry-for-us all over again. The stories included guide dogs having their harnesses removed for checking, people with disabilities stripped naked and made to bend over (international security).

I was traumatised again by these stories.

I want some answers. Why did this happen? If PWD are being targeted, we need to know why? What is the evidence regarding the likelihood that we are criminals or terrorists?

Featured image above: On the plane to Adelaide before the horrible experience, Tammy Milne and support worker Michelle Bauld.

Tammy Milne is a deaf interpreter, a community activist in various fields and a person living with Arthrogrophosis Multipex Congenita.