TSA ejects mute, disabled woman from flight because she couldn't speak

Heidi Wright was humiliated by the TSA for lacking the ability to speak. 

(Source: KABC)

LOS ANGELES, CA –  Federal checkpoint agents refused to let a woman board her flight when they interpreted her disabilities and inability to speak as a sign of terrorism.

The TSA's eagle adorned arm patch. 

(Source: David McNew / Getty Images) 

Sherry Wright and her sister Heidi were scheduled to fly from Los Angeles International Airport to Phoenix.  Things started to go badly for the pair when TSA agents asked to see their papers.

Heidi, 58, had a driver’s license that was expired.   This was because she had not driven in years due to an injury a decade ago that left her wheelchair-bound and suffering from strokes.  The condition had left her unable to speak.

The blue-shirted agents became hostile.  Sherry helped her disabled sister show the TSA her “ID, her social and her DMV papers” — all the things the agency claimed the woman needed in an earlier phone call.  But these items were still not enough; the TSA wanted Heidi to speak.

“I was shocked. I was just standing there, tears were coming out and I was like, ‘Are you serious? We can’t get her to talk.’”

Sherry tried to explain her disability, but that did not satisfy them.  

The agents continued to insist that she speak until both women were in tears.

“He just wanted me to make my sister talk, and I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘Wow, we’re going to make a miracle right now,’” Sherry said to KABC.  “I was shocked. I was just standing there, tears were coming out and I was like, ‘Are you serious? We can’t get her to talk.’”

No resolution was met.  The Wright sisters were barred from entering their flight because the TSA evidently viewed them as a terrorist threat.  Their plane took off without them.  What should have been an easy flight turned into an arduous 375-mile bus ride.

The TSA is known for preying on the most vulnerable travelers — babies, the elderly, the disabled, and tube-fed children.   But most offensive of all is its callous disregard for the Bill of Rights — an endemic part of the republic’s descent into a police state.