Ignorant Airport Assistance

This picture is being shared by hundreds on Facebook. It’s a picture of airport employees prepared to assist a deaf track & field team that will be coming off the plane. This reminded me of my own experience with airport assistance.

Years ago, I stayed at my brother’s house in Virginia. Because it would be my first time flying alone, my brother and his wife wanted me to have assistance when I flew home. I would land in Atlanta and switch to another plane. I wouldn’t have been able to hear anyone and my eyes are so bad I have trouble reading the boards.

I protested, but my brother and his wife insisted. The agreement was, when I landed in Atlanta, I was to wait on the plane. Someone would come get me and guide me through the airport to my next plane.

When I landed in Atlanta. I remained in my seat while everyone else got off the plane. I waited, and I waited, and I waited. Finally, I decided no one was coming and got off the plane. When I came out through the gate, there were a couple of airport employees with a blue wheelchair just like the ones in the picture.

There was no one else on the plane when I got off, so I knew they were waiting for me. I walked by them without saying a word. The airport in Atlanta is huge, but somehow I found the gate for my next flight. However, after a while, I figured out that something wasn’t right.

I asked a lady at the desk if I was in the right place and showed her my ticket. Turned out my gate had changed because my flight was delayed. She was very kind and led me to the correct gate.

It wasn’t until I landed in Flint that the stewardesses were insisting I needed help, never mind how much I protested. They even had a security guard run after me and stop me on the gangway.

Jesus Christ, it was Flint. A little ass airport that I could find my way through easily. I convinced the security guard that my dad was waiting for me outside the gate and she let me go.

The moral of this story is, if the airline hears they have a deaf passenger, they assume that passenger is retarded and crippled.

In Chapter Two of The Bourne Identity, there’s a quote I often think of. Dr. Washburn and Jason Bourne are about to go their separate ways. Washburn says to Bourne, “I know what’s going through your mind. A sense of helplessness, of drifting without a rudder to put you on a course. I’ve been your rudder, and I won’t be with you; there’s nothing I can do about that. But believe me when I tell you, you are not helpless. You will find your way.”

I’ve found that to be true for me many times. It was certainly the case when I found my way through the Atlanta airport. I did not panic at anytime during that ordeal.

P.S.
Oh, and the stewardesses wouldn’t serve me beer. They were serving other people beer. When I asked for a beer, they brought me a chart with sodapop options and told me to pick one.

I wanted a fucking beer.