Tamisha Colon of Wethersfield has never gone on a plane trip with her 10-year-old twin daughters, both of whom have autism. “We go on car trips. They can handle that,” she said.
But next month, she wants to take the girls to Puerto Rico. So she brought them to Bradley International Airport on Tuesday to participate in Autism Flies. The program helps kids with autism become accustomed to airplanes and airports.
“I know this will take a lot of patience. There’s a lot of waiting involved,” Colon said. “I want them to learn to follow the directions, remember where to go, to remember their numbers, to not be scared.”
Dozens of other families joined the Colons at Autism Flies. A Breeze Airways plane was used as a classroom. The plane did not take off. Families got tickets, waited, boarded, learned pre-flight procedures, had some lessons and got off the plane.
Autism Flies is a program of Autism Double Checked, a Stamford-based initiative to encourage people with autism to travel. Autism Double Checked also teaches travel-industry employees strategies to better serve their clients with autism.
“We want the travel industry to be ready for autistic clientele, but we also want the autistic clientele to be ready for the travel industry,” said Alan D. Day, who co-founded Autism Double Checked seven years ago, and is its CEO.
“People have not thought to make different choices needed for that audience. It’s an under-provided-for audience. We are gap-filling,” Day said. “With each airport, each airline, we outline all the sensory hazards that might be encountered.”
Day said programs offered by Autism Double Checked — which also offers tutorials for hotels, resorts and restaurants — were developed with assistance from Southern Connecticut State University’s Center of Excellence on Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Breeze is the first airline at Bradley to train its flight attendants with Autism Flies’ online courses. Breeze spokesman Gareth Edmondson-Jones said the Utah-based airline eventually will train all of its customer-facing employees.
David M. Tait, co-founder of Autism Double Checked, said traveling became more difficult for everyone after 9/11. But families with autistic members find it even more difficult.
“TSA was invented as a result of 9/11. TSA makes the airport daunting even for a healthy adult. For a child with autism it can be terrifying,” he said. “TSA will ask a child to hand over his best friend, which could be an iPad or a phone. That can be the beginning of the end for families.
“Everybody’s heard reports about cases when things go wrong at airports, like the woman who told the gate agent ‘I hope he can keep his seat belt fastened,’ and they were denied boarding.”
For that reason, Tait said, 80% of families whose children have autism travel only by car.
Regina Civetta — who came from her home in Brewster, New York, to attend the Autism Flies exercise — says the family drives when they want to go to their second home in Florida.
“He’s nervous to go on a plane. He doesn’t do too well with all the waiting,” she said of her 11-year-old with autism.
Waiting — waiting in lines to check bags, waiting in line at TSA, waiting to get on the plane, waiting for the plane to take off — was an issue cited by many parents at the exercise.
“He doesn’t wait well. He doesn’t like lines,” said David Hall of West Haven, who brought his 17-year-old son to the exercise. “He doesn’t have huge sensory issues, but he has anxiety.”
As any air traveler knows, no program, not even Autism Flies, can make all the waiting go away. Waiting is a given. Still, parents said they hope the kids’ new familiarity with airports and airplanes will keep them calm when they fly for real.
“He is nervous. This is an overwhelming sensory experience. But it’s a perfect opportunity to expose him, to throw him into it,” said Tori-Anne Dauria, who brought her 13-year-old son.
“He is into geography. He always tells me what the hot spots are, the best beaches,” she said. “I hope he becomes familiar with being on a plane, so we can go to some of those places. This starts us small. It’s a baby step. But it’s a good step.”
Susan Dunne can be reached at [email protected].
Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our Twitter, & Facebook
We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.
For all the latest Travel News Click Here
