‘Forcing Him to Do Something He Cannot Do’: Furious North Carolina Mother Says Southwest Airlines Employee Discriminated Against Her Disabled Son, Prepares Legal Fight
A North Carolina woman says she is looking for an attorney after a Southwest Airlines employee said her autistic son could not board a plane.
La’Quisha Logan spoke with the Atlanta Black Star about what happened last Tuesday at Midway Airport in Chicago, Illinois.
She posted a video on her Instagram of herself screaming at a Southwest gate attendant, a white man named Charles. Logan said he told her that she and her four children need to scan their own boarding passes.
“I tried to have my son scan his boarding pass, and I tried to hold his hand for it,” Logan said, referring to how she tried to help her autistic son board the plane. “Charles said, ‘No, you cannot help him do it.’”
Logan said two of her four children are autistic. One of them is nonverbal.
“It’s like, sir, you’re forcing him to do something he cannot do,” she said. Her son’s hands were too shaky to scan the boarding pass.
According to Logan, the gate agent said, “I have two autistic children. If I tell them to scan their boarding pass, they will scan their own boarding passes.”
Logan said that’s when the Instagram video began recording, when she went off on Charles.
“All I said was these were the kids, and [to] scan the f—king boarding passes,” she screamed in the video. “And you won’t scan the f—king boarding passes ’cause you want to be a f—king idiot. They’re autistic!”
Logan said the gate agent called security, who put her in a “back room.”
“The employees had to chase my son down and help calm him, and they had to also help calm me, get up off the ground,” Logan said.
She added that the pilot waited for them to board their flight bound for Arizona.
Logan told Atlanta Black Star that a white couple was ahead of them in line. She noted that Charles allowed the man to scan both his and the woman’s boarding passes.
“I would hate to say that race plays an issue in it, but when you look at it in black and white, that’s what makes sense,” Logan said. “Why is it OK for the white couple to go? Why did you not give an issue when the white couple scans their boarding passes?”
Atlanta Black Star asked Logan how the airport or airline can fix the situation.
“I really hope that Charles does not have a job there,” she said. “I really hope that they come up with some type of extra sensitivity training or education.”
Many people online were shocked by how the gate agent allegedly treated Logan’s son.
“If you don’t have human decency and empathy, get out of a customer service role, genuinely so many people just don’t know how to treat people,” @c.hristopherj commented on Instagram.
“Listening to that video made my heart hurt. I cannot imagine a world where we treat people like this and push people to the breaking point. Yet, here we are,” @brooklyngalme added.
“Imagine having to explain your kid’s diagnosis all the time, do your job of course but be human as well. I know those breakdowns all too well; that woman is tired, man,” @_maintoppick2k wrote.
Damn this was hard to watch, no lie…. @southwestair do better….,” another person added.
Atlanta Black Star reached out to Chicago Midway Airport and Southwest Airlines for comment, but has not heard back.