Ready, Set, Fly. A Lesson in Inclusivity.

On the very first day at Geneva Centre for Autism, I was waiting with my son Christos in the lobby with a bunch of kids and nervous parents. He had been assigned someone for the first part of the day and I was patiently waiting for his morning therapist to find me. From behind me, I heard someone say, “Hi Christos,” I turned and saw a man. He said “I’m Jason and I’ll be with Christos this afternoon.” I immediately felt at ease. He had such a warm demeanor.

When I picked him up at the end of the day, Jason had him in the lobby in his winter coat. I’ll never forget admiring that he connected every single button on his jacket, even the weird inside layer that no parents really use. To this day, he’s also the only person I’ve ever seen put on Christos’ mittens correctly so that they stay on. (With the winter coming, it’s a personal goal of mine to learn how to do this).

Needless to say, Jason is incredibly special to our family. When he left Geneva Centre, we were crushed but we stayed in touch. His new job with Autism Ontario has him running accessible events for families and finding venues and programs that are accommodating to our needs. He’s basically a superhero in a Raptors’ hat.

So, when he invited us to a new pilot program at Pearson Airport, called Ready, Set, Fly, we knew we had to take part. Ready, Set, Fly helps families with special needs prepare for airport procedures. Airports are busy places with a lot of noise which can be hard for families, so anything that airports and airlines can do to make it easier, not only helps families like ours, but other passengers as well. Practicing routines ahead of time is one of the keys to success. Autism Ontario knows this. But practicing an airport run through is much more involved than say, practicing going to the dentist. This took a lot of time, energy and coordination from Jason and his team. Air Transat and the Toronto Airport Authority are to be commended for doing their part to make this program a success.

Here's an overview of what happened:

We were greeted by the Welcome Team in the Terminal. Christos was given a special gift bag which included an Air Transat plush plane (he held onto it all morning). We were also given Ready, Set, Fly stickers and a sunflower lanyard which is available for passengers with invisible disabilities to signify they may need extra help. This is an international airport program, but only 12 airports in Canada take part (Hello, Canadian airports – GET ON THIS, it’s great PR and also the right thing to do)! You can learn which airports take part here.

We then went to the Air Transat counter to check in and receive our boarding passes

We went through the family line at security and headed to our gate.We went through the family line at security and headed to our gate.

We waited to board the plane and had some pre-boarding snacks.

We boarded the plane and took our seats.

We listened to the announcements, visited the flight deck (Jim was REALLY into this part) and “took off and landed” (not physically but we listened to all of the announcements).

We deplaned and were caught on camera (!), went through customs and exited the terminal.

I was able to speak to Khalil Lamrabet, Chief Commercial Officer, Greater Toronto Airports Authority and asked him why it was important for them to be a part of such a program. Here’s what he said:

The most important thing is that we heard from a number of families that they wanted to make the experience of travelling very easy and we want families to understand how we can support them in achieving that.

With the cooperation of Autism Ontario as well as Air Transat, we are able to make this a reality. First of all, accessibility for all types of passengers is important for us and this is an important aspect of our strategy when it comes to our vision. We are looking to bring joy back to travelling, inclusively to all, and this is one way of doing it. We want to improve the way we are making our airport accessible and also learn from this experience. From a planning perspective we are looking at doing this on an annual basis.

Talking to people in power with this kind of outlook gives me real hope. Then again, from Day 1 at Geneva Centre, Jason gave that to me.

If you know someone who could use a Sunflower Lanyard while travelling, you can find more information here.