Dr. Donna Beegle, the Oregon mother of an autistic 15-year-old named Juliette Beegle, is taking action against United Airlines after it removed her family from their flight. While departing from a Walt Disney World vacation, they were evicted from the plane due to her autistic daughter being "disruptive."
Beegle of Tigard, Oregon is a strong supporter of anti-poverty programs and often consults with federal and state government agencies, using her power and knowledge to combat her unfortunate flying experience. During their layover in Houston, Juliette became irritated due to hunger. After managing to persuade an attendant to offer hot food to her daughter, she calmly retreated to watching a movie when "the next thing we hear is we're doing an emergency landing in Salt Lake City," Beegle told NBC. "We have a passenger on board with a behavior issue."
Police officers soon boarded the flight and ushered the entire family off. "As a mom it ripped my heart out," she said. "I was shaking." The episode was recorded by a fellow passenger, which includes statements from surrounding travelers such as "it's ridiculous" and "that's going to be a lawsuit." The clip was uploaded to YouTube and titled "Fear of Autism."
In response, Beegle noted "Juliette has flown since she was six months," in a Facebook post. "She has been to five countries, 24 states and we have never experienced anything like this." Beegle continued to label the event as "a sheer case of ignorance," adding "Prejudice, ignorance and mistreatment are all too common toward people facing poverty," she continued. "The parallels between special needs and poverty are striking in that both are causes for judgement, misunderstanding and mistreatment."
United Airlines divulged that its "crew made the best decision for the safety and comfort of all of our customers and elected to divert to Salt Lake City after the situation became disruptive," in a statement. On Saturday, the defending mother filed a complaint with United and the Federal Aviation Administration plans to sue the company--not for monetary compensation--"but rather to ask that airline staff receive training."
