CISF launches maiden workshop to deal with autistic flyers

A first-ever workshop, which aims to provide special care training to the airport-guarding CISF personnel in handling passengers suffering from autism, was inaugurated here today.
The day-long session is being held for jawans and junior ranking officers who "screen" and frisk travellers before they board aircraft in Delhi. Staffers from the customs and the immigration departments who are deployed at the Indira Gandhi International (IGIA) airport also attended the workshop.
CISF Director General (DG) O P Singh, who inaugurated the workshop, said the aim was to make air travel for autistic passengers hassle-free and respectable.
"I firmly believe that each passenger who travels through an airport guarded by us is our responsibility. If they are not satisfied with our service, then it is our failure. Passengers...Need to be looked after well," Singh said.

The central paramilitary force has tied up with an NGO -- Action for Autism -- to train its personnel in handling such special commuters.
Talking about the need to have such a workshop, Singh said passengers who suffer from autism need to be given special treatment as perhaps not everyone understands them and their requirements.

"We want to touch their lives in a professional and sensitive way," he said.
A few years ago, the force had conducted a workshop for its personnel on handling specially-abled passengers.
The CISF chief said efforts would be made to have a special provision and lane at the airports, like those for VIPs, where such special passengers could be frisked.

He said the force, which has a strength of about 1.80 lakh personnel, will also conduct a survey to find out the staffers who have such special children so that they can be "gainfully employed" to render the frisking tasks for these children.
The DG said efforts would be made to extend it to all the 59 airports guarded by the force and to the personnel who guard the Delhi Metro.
The need to have such a training was also felt after a few incidents where the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel came across children who suffer from autism and some confrontation occurred between them.

Sometime back in Mumbai, a senior official said, a young boy suffering from autism had a tough time with the CISF security personnel at the airport when they began frisking him.
The training module prepared by the NGO will help CISF personnel to be more courteous and caring while dealing with such passengers, the official said.
Autism is a medical condition and disorder that impacts the nervous system and affects the overall communication, emotional, social and physical health of the person affected by it.