A man who raises stuttering awareness on his TikTok channel claimed in a recent video that he was detained at the airport by Transportation Security Administration TSA due to his stuttering.
In the clip captioned with, "The things we deal with," Marc Winski recalled:
“I was walking through the airport as usual. I was going through TSA."
"The gate person said, ‘Where are you headed?’”
Things quickly went south after he responded by stuttering.
When Winski told the TSA agent he was going to Florida, presumably with a stutter, the agent replied with skepticism.
‘Are you sure about that? You seem kind of nervous,’” said the agent.
When Winkski explained, “‘No! I just stutter sometimes,’” it prompted the agent to pull him aside for an "extra pat-down."
At the end of the clip, he asked his followers:
“Is that discrimination? I’m not sure, but it didn’t make my day."
"Just another day in the life sometimes.”
People suggested what Winski experienced was discrimination.
@marcwinski/TikTok
@marcwinski/TikTok
@marcwinski/TikTok
@marcwinski/TikTok
@marcwinski/TikTok
@marcwinski/TikTok
In addition to being widely accused of prejudice towards people with disabilities, the TSA has been known to scrutinize anyone they deem suspicious–which could include behaviors like yawning, fidgeting, or whistling.
In 2017, the ACLU obtained 13,000 pages of documents through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit and found that the TSA's so-called “behavior detection” techniques used to identify passengers with "signs of deception" were "unscientific" and "unreliable."
A similar claim was made in 2013 in a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in 2013, according to the Washington Post.
The report indicated the TSA process called Behavior Detection and Analysis (BD)–which was called SPOT (Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques at the time–was also unsupported by science.
GAO's report stated:
“TSA has not demonstrated that [behavior-detection officers] can consistently interpret the SPOT behavioral indicators."
"The subjectivity of the SPOT behavioral indicators and variation in BDO [Behavior Detection Officer] referral rates raise questions about the continued use of behavior indicators for detecting passengers who might pose a risk to aviation security.”
Empathetic TikTokers attempted to lift Winski's spirits after his frustrating encounter with the TSA agent.
@marcwinski/TikTok
@marcwinski/TikTok
@marcwinski/TikTok
@marcwinski/TikTok
Another turned him on to a program designed to benefit travelers with a disability.
@marcwinski/TikTok
According to its website, TSA cares is “a helpline that provides travelers with disabilities, medical conditions and other special circumstances additional assistance during the security screening process.”
