So I posted an article on my page earlier about the American family who got kicked off a flight with their daughter who has ASD. I have since seen various comments and blogs which have written about this story. The way in which the facts have been distorted and incorrect meanings inferred from the mother's original Facebook post, has astounded me. I don't usually have my hackles raised as much as I have reading some of the comments that have been written in reply to the story. Basically the daughter has been called a spoiled brat and the mother all the names under the sun for threatening to unleash her daughter who would scratch the entire cabin full of passengers if she didn't get what she wanted. Bonkers!
I, however, know that the people who write these obnoxious, ignorant comments don't want to understand the reality of autism and don't want to be educated and we could all talk until we are blue in the face trying to make them see that what happened to this family, could easily happen to any of us who travel with ASD kids. If the original post and the article I have attached is read properly, you can read for yourselves what actually happened.
We have flown many times with the boys since they were both very young.
There is not, I suspect, one single parent who travels with a child
with ASD without a survival back-pack and without preparing
for every eventuality we can foresee. We have been very lucky on a recent trip to and from the UK with the
help and assistance we were given by the cabin crew on Etihad Airways.
We were flying in an emergency on our outbound flight and even if I had
wanted to (which I wouldn't have, because the hassle sometimes is not
worth it) alert them that we needed special assistance, we had no time.
There are some eventualities us parents cannot prepare for but you can be damn sure, we do our best.
This mother, from what I read, had tried to be prepared for her flight with her daughter. This mother knew her daughter reacted without food and only ate hot food so she tried to feed her at the airport. The daughter wouldn't eat what she was offered and this is not the result of her being a brat. There was something in the airport food that turned her off and when that happens there is no point trying to force it down. I get this. Long Legs without food would make the Incredible Hulk look like a Teletubbie. Long Legs has a great appetite, as everyone who knows him will attest. So when I give him something and he says 'nup, can't eat it', I know he genuinely cannot eat it for reasons best known to himself. I also know Daddy is getting leftovers for lunch the next day.
Again, this mother prepared for her daughter needing food and carried a back-pack of snacks and again, the daughter didn't want them. Something in her sensory system said she needed hot food and that was all there was to it. Again, I get that. The Short One has a thing for hot food, even going so far as to put an apple that had come out of the fridge into the microwave to warm it up! He will only eat raw vegetables so this can be interesting if I don't leave them out to 'warm up' to room temperature at least. I read a comment that the mother should carry a thermos with hot food in, if this is what her daughter requires and the mother knows it. Good in theory, I will grant you. But as anyone who flies knows, they are very strict about how much liquid you can carry on a plane, to the point that they tip out babies formula if they feel the need.
On our return flight back to Australia, we had decided to use some phenergan as Long Legs does not sleep and when he does not sleep he is very fidgety without his concerta. We have flown with him a few years ago on our way back from France when he was not medicated. Wasn't pretty. The poor man sitting next to him had Long Legs whack him gently with his knee pretty much all the way to Dubai. He was incredibly patient but inside was probably screaming at him to stop. He could have moved, I will point out, there was room. Long Legs had just come off of the medicine he took to help him sleep and had only just started on ritalin. I had no intention of drugging my son up for 26 hours on ritalin so we learned that in the absence of his meds, he has to be asleep!
Thus on our recent flight, once he had taken a phenergan, he was out cold. He slept for hours and hours through several meal services and even though my husband had grabbed out the snacks which he could eat later. We always fly with a back-pack full of snacks too but can they sustain and
feed a child in place of a proper meal? I don't think so. If Long Legs
does not eat, he becomes very agitated. This mother knew her daughter
needed to eat otherwise she would become agitated and would start
scratching herself and her parents. At no point in her post have I read
that she said her daughter would scratch other passengers.
She had
used up plan a, plan b and plan c and now she needed help because she
knew what would happen. Had Long Legs not eaten, the seat would have rocked back and forth in agitation and there would not have been a thing we could have done. My husband very kindly asked a passing attendant if there was anything for him to eat. Just as this mother had done when she knew her daughter needed food. Now granted, Long Legs would probably have eaten the cardboard container his child's meal came in at this point. This young girl couldn't eat what was offered to her, but again, she was not being a brat. The needs of all kids with ASD are different.
We watched in amazement as a First Class tray appeared; pastries, a fruit platter, cheese, biscuits, and proper cutlery! Then he was asked if he would like a drink and requested a cappuccino. The attendant said ok. I snorted my 'I don't think so' snort. I passed out cold (2 phenergan for me) and I woke up to find more First Class meal trays (he was starving) and was told he had had more than one cappuccino. Blonde hair and a winning smile will get you everywhere with a flight attendant it would seem. I'm surprised they didn't just upgrade him whilst we were sparko!
Again, we didn't specifically ask for First Class food , we just asked for some food, but if they had said, 'we don't have any he will have to wait until the next meal service', I can assure you, we would have been asking for the Captains lunch-box! This poor mother was simply doing the same thing, chasing down every option so her daughter could eat. She was not being a Prima Donna demanding First Class food because that is all her daughter would eat. Her daughter just needed food.
Meanwhile, if you see a mother making her sons run up and down the travelators at an airport, it will probably be me making my boys get some exercise before our connecting flight. Being prepared for them being contained in a small space for several hours. I work with what I can. Til tomorrow x
http://happyplace.someecards.com/autism/you-wont-believe-why-this-autistic-girl-and-her-parents-were-kicked-off-an-airplane/
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