• Replies 3 replies
  • Subscribers 67 subscribers
  • Views 1392 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Travelling abroad with mute adult son

NAS77887

Hi

My son is 19. We haven’t travelled abroad with him for quite a few years now. We are thinking about flying abroad on a holiday, our first time with him as an adult.  As well as autism, our son has selective mutism and cannot speak to anyone that he does not know and definitely not in a public place. Just wondered if anyone has experience of going through airport security with an adult who cannot speak?  Does a letter from a GP explaining the situation suffice?  Are airport security sympathetic?  Particularly interested in any experience with US airport security. 
many thanks. 

  • in reply to NAS77887

    You're very welcome. I was selectively mute in various situations as a child, so I have some fellow feeling. In some airports the lanyard can give access to quiet rooms and sometimes to speeded up queueing at security etc.

  • In most, if not all UK airports, somewhere near check-in you can pick up a lanyard that airport staff recognise as indicating an invisible disability.  It might be useful to make enquiries about this system. Both security and passport control staff often ask direct questions of people, so having something officially medical explaining your son's mutism would definitely be useful. Having a card with his difficulties in a summarised form would also be good to have, I think that they can be sourced from various places and the shop part of this site has some.

    If you were to go to somewhere other than an English-speaking country having translations of the information available in the local language would help.