Johnstone

I recently went through an airport scanner with no problem. In addition to the disposable diaper (for all the obvious reasons, I would ONLY recommend wearing a disposable diaper (no pins) while flying). I was wearing, I was also wearing a TENS unit, and a back brace. Before I entered the scanning machine, I told the security person standing in front of me that I was going to set off the alarm upon entry. I know different airports use different types of machines, so I don't know if the machine being used that I entered was the X-Ray type of machine or not. I just know when I entered the machine it set if off the alarm. For anyone that does not know what A TENS unit is, it is a small electronic box that send electric pluses using 4 electrode wires. Each of the four wires known as electrodes extend from the small box that fits into your pocket with the wires extending to four different places on your back. Anyone that has severe back pain probably uses a TENS unit as it does provides some relief to the user. If the machine that entered was the X-Ray type, (maybe all airports use these type of machines now and I just don't know it) I'm sure my image must have looked very different compared to others as I was wearing a TENS unit which is made with metal, plastic, and wire; the back brace which also contains some metal for added suport; and the disposable diaper probably shows plastic and bulk (diaper stuffing) in an image. I don't recall if I was wet at the time, or not, but even if I was a little wet, I don't know, nor do I care if someone sitting behind a computer monitor some place could see that I was wearing a diaper and it was wet. The security person asked me to step to the aside where I was escorted to an area that was semi private. There were two security people present, and one asked me to either lift up, or remove my shirt so they could see the back brace and TENS unit I had told them I was wearing. I proceeded to lift up my shirt thus exposing my back brace and the four wires extending from my right front pants pocket where the TENS unit was located so I removed the TENS unit from my pocket while holding up my shirt with the other hand. They used their wand and looked closely at the TENS unit (small box), and felt around the back brace. They also did a pat down but never said anything about the diaper if they even knew I was wearing one. Other than lifting up my shirt, and removing my shoes, I was never asked to remove an other items such as my pants that would have exposed the diaper I was wearing. Even if I would have been asked to remove my pants, I might have been some what embarrassed because like I said, it would have exposesd the diaper I was weraing but I've been incontinent for over 20 years, I don't get embarrased about this sort of thing much any more. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying,... I DON'T advertise that I wear diapers, and I am very discrete about wearing them, but I was on my way to a regional spinal cord medical center where I would be in the hospital for 10 days and the nursing staff would be changing my diapers while I remained in the hospital. One thing I've learned over the years is wearing a diaper is no big deal to any of the medical professionals I've had contact with over the years. Medical peole see incontinent people all the time, some medical people like those that work with urology patients all the time probably see people wearing diapers quite frequently so this is nothing new and probably pretty common in their line of work. My point is,....."professional people" are professional at their job, (at least most of them are), and that includes airport security people. They don't under go the years of study required to become a medical doctor, or nurse, but none the less, their job as a security professional requires a certain degree of professionlism. So,....even if these people see that I'm wearing a diaper when I enter one of these machines at the airport,.... so what...it doesn't bother me that they know I'm wearing a diaper. The ONLY thing that would bother me would be to see pictures of myself on the Internet that came from an airport secruity imaging scanner the day following my travel. This of course would not be a good situation, but looking forward this sort of thing becomes a lawsuit and who knows, maybe I would be well compensated for the wrong doing of others that are less than professional in thier job. There are many that feel airport security has become more intrusive than it needs to be. So,..... the question is,..... "How safe do we as a society want to be? Even if "we" as a society don't mine the risk of death, or permanent injury to yourself, friends, family members, or others, then we should remove all the airport security procedures that are currently in place. But if the consensus of the "experts" are to have the level of security that we now have, or maybe even increase the level of security if required for the safety of all,..... then we need to understand as travelers we are are going to be inconvenienced and asked to endure certain types of security scanning that will most likely be intrusive to many if we are to proceed with all reasonable flight security procedures. If for whatever reason, your not in agreement with these security procedures, you may want to consider taking some other form of transportation. Just my thoughts on the topic

ICrankle2, What you've described is exactly the warning I get with my bowel, and bladder. I'm bowel, and bladder incon due to a spinal cord injury. I have some control,... but not much and I'm mobile. To look at it me, no one can tell that I'm an inccomplete paraplegia wearing diapers, back brace, and a TENs unit. Call it anything you want, but I give up caring about being incon a long time ago. I find it easier just to use the diaper since I seldomly made it to the bathroom in time anyway. So now,..... even if I do get some warning that I need to go, I just wet and/or soil myself on purpose. John

Thank you for all the replies. My hospital stay was actually very pleasant. I was their for 10 days for a pretty routine spinal cord procedure preforemd. Their was one item that I found good use of thet no one mentioned and that was sweat pants, and shirt. I did take my own diapers as the diapers the hospital had were pretty bad. This come as no surprise, so I was well preared. Thanks again for all the suggestions.