The airline claims that federal law requires passengers ages 2 and up to wear a mask while traveling in response to the incident that happened on Sunday, May 2, 2021.
The Petek family were traveling with their two children, one who is a 5-year-old nonverbal autistic child who deals with Sensory Processing Disorder as well. They were in St. Louis on their way back home to Iowa via a Southwest Airlines flight before being denied entry onto the plane. Several of the passengers were encouraging the flight crew to let the boy and his family on board. The family did not have a face mask exemption for their son to present to the crew.
The majority of airlines require anyone 2-years of age or older must wear a mask. The only airlines I’ve heard of that allow medical exemptions at this time are Delta and Sun Country Airlines but require medical assessments beforehand.
Growing up with autism, one of my greatest challenges was sensory related. I discussed this in one of my recent workshops. In the post below I also discuss some of my challenges members of our autism community have in wearing a mask right now.
Today I’m a professional speaker who hopes we can flatten the curve so I can get back on the road speaking about topics like sensory challenges in person versus virtual talks.
You can read more about the story via KCCI here.
What’s your take on this story? Tell me in the comments!
*Feature image credit: Cody and Paige Petek on Facebook*
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My name is Kerry Magro, a professional speaker and best-selling author who is also on the autism spectrum that started the nonprofit KFM Making a Difference in 2011 to help students with autism receive scholarship aid to pursue a post-secondary education. Help support me so I can continue to help students with autism go to college by making a tax-deductible donation to our nonprofit here.
