Life for a person with a physical disability is not easy. But in India, it’s downright humiliating!
Para-athlete Aditya Mehta, who has been a double silver medallist at the Asian Para-Cycling Championship in 2013, was humiliated at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport after he was asked to remove his prosthetic legs during a security check.
Not only is it a painful and long process to remove and re-wear the prosthetic, it is also one that leaves a scar on a person about their disability.
The re-wearing of the prosthetic also caused him to bleed as he had gone through a surgery on that leg 20 days prior to the incident.
What’s most appalling is not the incident in itself but the fact that it was the same security officer at the airport who had caused humiliation to Mehta earlier too. And this is not the only airport which has doubted his disability.
It shows the lack of sensitivity that Indian authorities have when it comes to handling those with a physical disability. There have been many who have reported of similar behaviour by airport authorities in the name of security.
The Amputee Coalition is an American organisation which has listed out that while traveling with a prosthetic, airport security does not require people to take off their limb for them to scan.
They have even said that a person should not offer to remove their prosthetic as only that can be frisked to check or a lesser invasive method like Explosive Trace Detector scanning can be done.
Such instances have been reported from world-class airports in Indian cities. Surely, Indian airports are equipped with security features like their western counterparts to check a person in a non-invasive matter.
And if they aren’t equipped, then the security checks and measures need to be upgraded rather than to belittle and humiliate a person with a disability.
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