A prominent disability rights activist was left humiliated after she was strip-searched at Sydney airport.
American citizen Keely Cat-Wells, 28, who has met multiple US Presidents in her role as disability rights campaigner, was travelling through security at Sydney airport last Thursday with her mum when she told security staff she had an ileostomy.
An ileostomy is a surgical procedure whereby a hole is created in your abdomen to allow waste to be collected externally in a bag.
Ms Cat-Wells, who had an ileostomy in 2016 after doctors were forced to remove her entire colon, said the external bag has never been a problem at airports before.
‘(But) as soon as I went under the scanner and I mentioned that I had an ileostomy, they said I needed to show it to them, that they needed to physically see it,’ Ms Cat-Wells told Yahoo News.
‘They were incredibly insistent that the only way for me to get through security and go into the airport was for them to physically see it.’
Although the award-winning disability rights advocate told staff members it was not standard procedure, they asked her to expose her ileostomy bag in front of other travellers at the busy security gates.
Ms Cat-Wells was eventually escorted to a private room where she was asked to remove her trousers.
American citizen Keely Cat-Wells (pictured), 28, who has met multiple US Presidents in her role as disability rights campaigner, was travelling through security at Sydney airport last Thursday with her mum when she told security staff she had an ileostomy
Ms Cat-Wells, who had an ileostomy in 2016 after doctors were forced to remove her entire colon, said the external bag has never been a problem at airports before
‘I don’t know what she (a female member of staff) was trying to do, but at one point I thought she was going to touch it… it felt dehumanising,’ Cat-Wells said.
Ms Cat-Wells complained to Sydney Airport about her ‘traumatising experience’ and said they were ‘very apologetic’.
A Sydney Airport spokesperson who told Yahoo they ‘are sorry for any distress that was caused as a result of this incident’.
‘From our initial assessment it appears that, although the correct procedures were followed, there were shortcomings in terms of communication and customer service,’ the spokesperson said.
Ms Cat-Wells said her experience echoed with others in the disabled community who said they feared travelling for that very reason.
‘There’s so much irony in my work… one week I’m advocating to President Biden about accessible transport in the US, and then here I am having an awful experience,’ she said.
‘I can’t wait until we can just live and not have to continuously advocate.’
Ms Cat-Wells, who was born in England but now lives in the US, met US President Joe Biden at a commemoration of the 33rd Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act at the White House last year.
Ms Cat-Wells, who was born in England but now lives in the US, met US President Joe Biden at a commemoration of the 33rd Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act at the White House last year (pictured)
Ms Cat-Wells complained to Sydney Airport about her ‘traumatising experience’ and said they were ‘very apologetic’
