Summary
Understanding Self-Advocacy in Travel
As I write while sitting on a six-hour flight, my 16-year-old son sits across the aisle from me, pointing out specific L.A. references in the anime show he’s watching on his laptop. The journey has been pretty chill and easy, despite a 4 a.m. wake-up. Above all, I feel intensely grateful. This relaxed tone is largely set thanks to the self-advocacy he consistently draws upon as a teen on the autism spectrum. After hitting various speed bumps at different developmental stages, we’ve gradually figured out how to make travel go more smoothly, with him taking the lead and knowing he has our support.
Transportation Enthusiasm and Travel Experience
A lifelong transportation enthusiast, seeing aviation in action has always been a big event for my son. From an early age, he became (and still is) a walking encyclopedia of transportation engineering facts. Sometimes we’d go to nearby spots at LAX to watch planes take off and land. Without any restrictions or expectations, the excursions that didn’t involve actually going anywhere were easy and fun; less so when it was time to get on the plane and reach our destination, which sometimes left me feeling wrung out. During better moments, I wished I could bottle his joy. (That said, a product labeled “Airport Security Excitement!” would likely be a tough sell.)
Navigating Disclosure Approaches
Every parent and caregiver has their own approach to publicly disclosing this type of diagnosis. It’s an intensely personal, idiosyncratic experience. Circumstances involving invisible disabilities can be particularly nuanced for some people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who can often “pass” as neurotypical. Some families are private, opting not to have their child diagnosed in the first place, and caregivers might be wary about sharing information that sounds stigmatizing or pathologizing. We’ve been there, but our son has since forged his path to being “out and proud autistic” while generally maturing and building self-assertion skills.
Challenges in Sensory-Rich Environments
Nowhere is this confidence more important and helpful than in an airport or other sensory-loaded environments. He asks TSA staffers for an alternative to the full-body scanner, which to him feels claustrophobic, and he explains to gate agents why he needs to pre-board. (He might not tell train conductors his life story in detail, but chances are many are familiar with this guy’s brand of deep-cut transit knowledge.) Adaptations and adjustments might look different for folks who are inclined to be more discreet—and they need and deserve the space to make those choices.
Industry Initiatives for Inclusivity
And although my son has become a willing self-advocate, the burden shouldn’t fall on kids and parents to be de facto autism ambassadors and educators. Evolving certification programs, welcoming destinations, and travel companies such as JSX, a semi-private airline, are showing there’s another way. Flying semi-private may not be financially sustainable for most travelers, but nonetheless, I was impressed by the company’s participation in the Autism Double-Checked certification program and its commitment to servicing its customers with ASD when we visited a JSX terminal just to take a look around. The customer service pro we met innately understood what kids and parents might be experiencing and had the proper tools to respond with grace and kindness.
These companies (and others, like Legoland Resorts, which recently made all three of their U.S. parks Certified Autism Centers) are moving in the right direction, but there’s still work to be done across the industry to make travel more accessible for all. Providing more intentional resources and improved training will help to include people of all abilities in travel and support those who are moving through the phases of their own journey.
