Autistic Girl Removed From Flight After Emergency Landing

5newsonline.com ^ | May 11, 2015

[ilovesarah2012]

(CBSNews) — An Oregon family traveling with a 15-year old autistic girl was kicked off a flight this week for what the airline calls a “disruptive” situation.

The family calls it an outrage.

Video shot by a fellow passenger and posted to YouTube showed Salt Lake City airport police removing the family from a United Airlines flight last Tuesday, after the pilot made an emergency landing.

The girl’s mother, Donna Beegle, was shocked when officers explained why.

“He said, ‘Well, the captain doesn’t feel comfortable flying to Portland with your daughter on his flight,” Beegle told CBS News.

The trouble began halfway through the flight from Houston to Portland. Beegle says her daughter, Juliette, was hungry and started to act up.

“I know her. When she gets over hungry or over thirsty, she really struggles,” Beegle described.

Her mother says Juliette is a picky eater, so she asked a flight attendant if she could purchase a hot meal from first class — and says she was told no.

“Well, I said, ‘How about we wait for her to have a meltdown and then she is crying and tries to scratch — and then you’ll want to help her,'” Beegle said she told the flight attendant.

Beegle eventually got the meal and said Juliette calmed down. Then came an announcement from the captain.

“We were shocked to hear them say, ‘We’re going to make an emergency landing in Salt Lake City, we have a passenger in the back of the plane who has behavior issues,'” Beegle said.

[ilovesarah2012]

Feeding the child (15) was not the airline’s responsibility. If the mother had made prior arrangements, I think the airline would have complied.

[Moonman62]

I kept thinking ‘smack that kid’

...

That’s natural, but I’ve matured to thoughts of ‘smack the parent’.

[Mr. Lucky]

Well, knock me over with a feather.

[agrarianlady]

You can “smack an autistic kid” all you want, but it doesn’t help the child. Ever. It never, ever will. Usually, these types of children end up dying instead.

I am so sad when autistic kids are born into abusive, science-denying households. Thankfully, it doesn’t happen that often, because parents look for answers and adapt. Those with a shred of human decency and humility, that is.

[maine-iac7]

You are really limited as to what you can bring aboard for snacks and liquids - can’t even bring a bottle of water, for cripes sake.

[Psalm 73]

"Makes no sense to me."

Autism can be maddening - one of the reasons we don't fly anymore. All of our family vacations are within 600 miles - one-day drive (if I have to pull over so she can run like a caged greyhound, I can do that).

[happyhomemaker]

“Trendy autistic kids”???? Do you really think parents are thrilled that their child is autistic? My kids are not autistic but I have friends with autistic children and it is exhausting to even think about what they have to go through each day. This mom WAS trying to avoid a problem that she saw coming and gave the airline a request for a simple accommodation. Apparently some Freepers think the kid should either be drugged,institutionalized or spanked.

[Irish Eyes]

Thanks for the link

[humblegunner]

You can “smack an autistic kid” all you want, but it doesn’t help the child.

Don't the parents object to that after a while?

[Half Vast Conspiracy]

Cuz this is America.

Land of demands and home of the helpless.

[happyhomemaker]

Please just read the article. They were traveling back from Disney and had a layover in TX. The daughter would not eat at the time so the mother did have snacks but tried to inform the flight crew as soon as they boarded.

[zerosix]

Uh, I don't think Dr. Mommy would travel by car with a girl who "needs" (more like permitted) to have this much attention. Mommy would have to work too hard, like she expected the flight attendants to do instead!

Notice in this story, it is mom who is demanding flight attendants "give her daughter a hot meal, like those being served in first class!"

What if first class passengers aren't getting "hot meals," and since when don't moms travel with food for their kids?

Nope, it's not the autism that is the problem here, it's the mom!

[Vigilanteman]

My daughter was a social worker who specialized in autistic kids and gave me these observations:

1. 90% or more of autistic kids are borderline who could be controlled and live fairly normal lives if parents took a real interest.
   
2. Two thirds of the parents care about little more than getting their disability checks from the government.
   
3. Every one of this group has multiple big screen TVs (all blaring near full volume) and the latest X-Box, Play Station or equivalent in their home. This is equivalent to an open bar at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
   
4. They are all too busy to actually spend time with the kids, read them a book, play a board game, toss a Frisbee or play with them at a local park, which is really what they need.
   
5. The one third who actually care and are willing to put the time in with their kids to give them what they need are the only thing which makes her job worthwhile.

[justlurking]

After having read the ABC article, I’m more with the Mom. She told them when getting on the plane about an unexpected issue, the flight attendant agreed to heat up a sandwich, then didn’t.

Maybe so, but escalating the situation by claiming her daughter may get violent was not an appropriate way to respond.

[DoodleDawg]

The mom was trying to prepare,there had been a layover and a nasty “1st Class male attendant” refused to get a simple hot meal to help alleviate the situation when he was asked.

If the mom felt that there was little chance of making it through the flight with the melt-down that she described then wouldn't the prudent step be to rebook on a later flight instead of expecting the airline to provide her a service she didn't pay for?

[NorthMountain]

Usually, these types of children end up dying instead.

It will be interesting to see what happens when today's large number of autistic kids become tomorrow's autistic adults. How many of them will engage in behavior that is indistinguishable from an imminent threat of death or grave bodily harm to others? What will happen to them when they engage in such behavior?

[happyhomemaker]

So now we can not make any "demands" from an airline that we are paying $1000s for a ticket? The mom asked for a simple hot meal for her disabled child and the male attendant ran screaming to the pilot. "I asked if I can purchase something hot for my daughter and [the first class flight attendant] said no" she said. "I called him back over and I said to him, 'Please, help us out here,'" but he again refused. "He came back again and I said, 'I have a child with special needs, I need to get her something.' And he said, 'I can't do that,'" she explained. "I said, 'How about we wait for her to have a meltdown, she'll be crying and trying to scratch in frustration. I don't want her to get to that point.'"

[ilovesarah2012]

Flying with autism: Airport program helps affected children

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2013/04/17/flying-with-autism-airport-program-helps-affected-children/2088367/

[alphadoggie]

The number of people who won’t read the article on ABC is astounding...

[Salvation]

Have you ever worked with an autistic child? Then please, don’t judge.