A woman from Oregon has claimed that her family was kicked off a United Airlines flight to Portland because of a misunderstanding that involved her teenage daughter who has autism.
Donna Beegle related that her family was bound home from a Disney World vacation on Tuesday when Juliette, her 15-year old autistic daughter, got hungry during a layover in Houston.
Juliette, who was diagnosed with autism before she turned three years old, has a high IQ, her mother said, but she has difficulty communicating.
The family had dinner earlier but Beegle said that her daughter refused to eat. When they boarded, she asked the flight attendant if they serve any hot meal because Juliette can be very particular when it comes to her food.
The attendant, however, said that warm meals are only served to first class passengers so Beegle informed her that this may cause some problems.
"The flight attendant said, 'There's not anything we can get you,' so I said, 'Well, how about we wait for her to have a meltdown, and start crying and she tries to scratch, and then you'll want to help her,'" Beegle said.
The attendant then brought meal as requested after Juliette started to fuss calming her down. Unfortunately, this did not end matters. The plane had an emergency landing in Salt Lake City, where Beegle said that police told them that they should leave the place because the captain was not comfortable having their daughter onboard the Portland-bound flight.
The entire family was escorted by the police off the place; an incident that Beegle said ripped her heart. She described what happened as a sheer case of ignorance.
"Prejudice, ignorance and mistreatment are all too common toward people facing poverty," she said. "The parallels between special needs and poverty are striking in that both are causes for judgement, misunderstanding and mistreatment."
Beegle has already filed complaints with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). She said that it is her goal to encourage autism training among workers in the airline industry citing that had there been autism training when she explained to the flight attendant that she needed something hot for her daughter, they could have come up with a workable solution.
In a statement, the airlines justified its workers' decision saying that they have made the best decision to ensure the safety and comfort of the passengers after the situation has become "disruptive."
Photo: Ian Abbott | Flickr
