They can't deprive you of your mobility aid... except when they can

[staranise]

By the time I shuffled into the domestic terminal at Toronto's Pearson airport, I was pretty bushed and my knee was transitioning from "aching pain" to "stabbing pain", so when I tossed all my stuff on the security screening counter, the security person said, "Can you walk without your cane?" and I said, "Can I keep it, please?"

They assented, so I went through the metal detector with the cane. Of course, it went off. The woman with the handheld metal detector therefore pulled me aside for a personal screening and pat-down. "Arms out to the side, please," she said. I put my cane as far out to the side as I could, and held my free arm horizontal. She started to scan me, then gestured to my cane arm. "Arms out to the side."

I waggle the cane. "But I--"

"Arms out to the side, miss. This is a security procedure."

So I have to stand there with my arms straight out, both feet flat on the floor, without a lick of help from my cane, as she pats me down looking for nerfarious items.

For five minutes. Like, apparently the last two patdowns of my shins and biceps weren't good enough. Maybe THIS time she'll find something!

Quite honestly, it'd have hurt less if I'd just limped through the metal detector.

Comments

[staranise]

I feel like I'm aiding and abetting this kind of shoddy treatment. :/

Yes, me too.

Still, I still kind of snerk at the people who let me keep my shoes on when going through American security--there's an inch of lift in the sole of one of my shoes. I appreciate the kindness of the gesture, but if any shoe ever needed to be examined for security purposes, isn't it the one that's been specially modified to change its shape? I could hide a whole lot in my lift, and just peel back the sole tread to get at it!