 "Sudhaa Chandran being made to take off prosthetic leg during airport security checks is no new, isolated incident")
On 22 October, Instagram was abuzz with Sudhaa Chandran’s video talking about how she is always asked to take off her prosthetic leg during the security check at airports. While several people in the comments (justifiably) expressed shock, anger, and sadness, to me it did not come as much of a surprise at all.
I have had a prosthetic leg for the past 11 years of my 29 year-long life, and unfortunately, I’ve been on the receiving end of discriminatory security practices at airports for a long, long time.
If it was not enough to go through the trauma of having a life-changing surgery, living through months of immobility, and then getting used to walking with an artificial leg, the world seems to take an inordinate amount of pleasure in making one’s life more difficult than it needs to be. Getting a driver’s license takes over a year (if you are lucky), medical insurance does not cover a rupee of your prosthetic’s cost, the government slaps a 5 percent GST on essential disability aids, and to add the cherry on the cake, airport security all over the world seems hell-bent on humiliating you.
When someone says the word ‘striptease,’ few people would imagine taking off their pants — and then their leg — in a musty airport storeroom while security watches. To add to the sex appeal of the situation, the leg is then passed through the baggage scanner with other people’s purses and laptops while you awkwardly sit on a chair with your pants at your one remaining ankle. When you come out, on the brink of tears (if not full on crying), everyone knows you are “that girl,” and you get pointed at. Is this what celebrities feel like?
Though there have been cases when security personnel are rude or demanding about me stripping down at the airport, in most cases, they are sympathetic. Sometimes, a little too much.
“So how did this happen?” (Do you ask other passengers deep personal questions about their past trauma?)
“But don’t worry ha, it’s not obvious at all, you walk so normally!” (Thanks, then why are you not treating me like you treat other people?)
“You should write your complaint in the feedback book. See, it’s here.” (Along with people who talk about how airport coffee is overpriced. Same thing, really.)
“The thing is, we had a case where a man smuggled drugs in his leg.” (My leg has no hidden pockets or areas to store any item.)
In 2017, the security norms for disabled passengers in India were amended after multiple people with disabilities, myself included, ranted about this discrimination on social media. The amendment stated that prosthetics, wheelchairs or other disability aids are to be put through an X-ray check only on sufficient reason and justification. The initial security check is usually done with an Explosives Trace Detector (ETD) instead, which is significantly faster and less invasive. In my personal experience, travel has become easier since this amendment came into place. Not all personnel are aware of it, but when I inform them — or in the worst case, ask them to call a superior officer — they have been courteous, and proceeded with an ETD check instead. To have travel, which is often associated with joy, excitement, work or a break from regular life, be tainted by this experience is scarring, to say the least.
To be shown constantly that your body is not “normal,” to be made to go through consistent humiliation casually, to see that airports have budgets for in-house museums but not for a single full body scanner, and to ultimately be discriminated against in the name of security — none of these are easy.
Public infrastructure is built for young, heterosexual, nondisabled, middle/upper class men. Cross off any one of those adjectives, and you have a bit of a problem. In most of our cases, we have to cross out many.
My prosthetic leg is an inalienable part of my body. It lends me mobility and the opportunity for the life I want to lead. At the same time, it is not easy to live with. There are challenges on a daily basis that I — and other people with disabilities — have to navigate. An ableist society that does not deem us worthy of equal access to healthcare, security, and dignity, makes it even more difficult. Air travel is a luxury a tiny percentage of people with disabilities can afford, and the conversation around discriminatory security checks is not one that should be taken in isolation. We should not need a celebrity to point these things out, and I do not think security officials have a leg to stand on (yes yes, pun intended) when they justify these outdated protocols. Antara Telang is a communications professional based in Bangalore, India. She is devoted to good television, sleeping in on Sundays, and her cat.
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