Slumped in her wheelchair, Amelia looked my way and shrugged. It was happening. Again.
In the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport recently, my 14-year-old was once more being patted down by uniformed strangers wearing rubber gloves.
Nearby, a line of adults streamed by, shoes and belts in hand, hustling to their flights.
She's an amazing young person, my kid. Amelia has survived brain and spinal cancer, debilitating nerve pain, and the challenging transition into life with a wheelchair.
She's my hero, and it makes my heart ache to see her humiliated by TSA workers who I am sure are only following orders.
Catcalls went out across the nation last week in reaction to the TSA's latest increase in airport security: far more invasive pat-downs by screeners and the phasing in of full-body scanning. They're feeling up cleavages and crotches from here to Miami -- supposedly at random.
The anxious public is peeved.
Airline pilots are outraged.
They have nothing on Amelia.
She is searched every time we fly. Every damn time.
We are told it is because she uses a wheelchair, despite the fact it is stowed with the luggage in the belly of the plane.
http://www.lvrj.com/news/somehow-pat...109629939.html
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