Part 4: TSA

Upon my resignation from American School for the Deaf (read Part three here), I was still reeling from the loss of the new plans I had made to be a teacher. I decided to go back to searching for a job in the criminal justice field as I originally planned.

This is when I signed up for a 4 year long commitment with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). It should be listed on my resume because you totally can see the dedication right there. All joking aside, it was my biggest fight in trying to get the job.

I applied for the TSO (transportation security officer) job to screen the travelers and check luggage at the airports. I had to pass a pre-exam consisting of questions and images of x-ray images to identify items. The exam was good for up to 3 years. During that window, whenever a job opportunity was posted, I could apply and be called in for an airport assessment. I drove an hour north to East Smithfield which is outside of Providence, Rhode Island to take the test. The test didn’t require extra accommodations since it was all on the computer. The folks who administered the test told me I passed with “flying colors”. I also received an email the next day to confirm that I had passed. I applied to several listings at airports in Providence, RI; Hartford, CT; New Haven, CT; and Boston, MA. The 3 year window went by with no callbacks. When the window expired, I took the test again. I drove back to East Smithfield, RI. For the second time, I passed.

During the original 3 year window, I received a call back while I was employed at American School for the Deaf (2012). I called them back through the relay service and wasn't able to get a live person on the phone so I left 3 voicemails in a week’s time. A month later (note that I never gave up!), they claimed that they never received any of those voicemails I had left and that the position had been filled.

In 2014, shortly after taking the test for the second time, T.F. Green airport (Providence, RI) invited me in for an assessment. The airport assessment was an interview, color vision test and complete paperwork. I was thrilled to finally get this far. My hopes got really high. I knew what I was capable of. I was proud of my heightened vision skills (deaf people are known to be very alert and very observant).

The woman who called me to schedule the assessment recognized that I was deaf on the phone because of the relay. I use a relay service which is when I call the agency, give them the caller’s phone number that I want to call, then have that interpreter as the ‘middleman’ of the conversation. The TSA woman told me I had to request the accommodations (interpreter for the interview) by putting in a formal request with TSA headquarters. I went ahead and confirmed that I will be at the assessment so I had a week to submit the request and have it approved in order to participate in the assessment. The week was stressful, consisting of calling headquarters DAILY to get the paperwork through.

The day before the assessment, headquarters sent me a letter that was sent to me via FedEx overnight stating that the accommodations request was REJECTED. The director of accessibility services at headquarters said I couldn’t have an interpreter at the assessment. It shattered all my confidence!

The letter stated that one requirement of the TSO job was that I had to pass a hearing test. I knew it was a possibility down the road after the interview. How did they know the level of my hearing loss at this point? I didn’t even get a chance to try the test.

I contacted lawyers from the State’s Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities. I asked for help to see if TSA actually had the grounds to deny me my right to the interpreter. The lawyers got right onto it, investigated this. After a few days, they told me TSA did have the authority because they were a federal based agency. The letter from TSA stated that I could still participate in the assessment without an interpreter.

So therefore I decided to try. I thought it’d be ok to try to communicate verbally as much as possible and resort to writing if I needed to. I scheduled the day for the assessment with T.F. Green airport. I got another email from the director of accessibility services at TSA to confirm (more like reminding me) what the letter said about no interpreter then it went on to say that i could NOT bring any other form of alternative method of communication. Far enough to say that I would NOT be able to bring paper and pen! The assessment would be a group style interview with 3 supervisors/employees with 3 other candidates for the position. I knew it would be too difficult; I don’t always have clear pronunciation and I can’t lipread in a group setting. When I read that email from the director, my heart broke.

I broke!

I felt it was IMPOSSIBLE!

TSA was doing everything in their power to eliminate any opportunity to present my abilities!

I was SO disappointed in how little Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) could help me in this situation. I didn’t realize federal agencies were exempt from the law and can discriminate against me. I truly believed that I could get this job. I saw Deaf agents at other airports (Pittsburgh, Rochester, etc). If they were able to do that, I CAN TOO! As I mentioned earlier in the post, deaf people have stronger vision than an average person. With the hearing loss, our other senses are heightened. That heightened vision skill would’ve been very beneficial as a TSO since the primary job task is inspecting. Why do we need hearing for that task? I hope to see TSA open opportunities to the deaf community… someday!