Autism ACTUALLY Speaking: Flying While Autistic

Jess and me discussing tips for flying while Autistic
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[@jethro102782]

I want to thank you and your wife from the bottom of my heart for posting your experience with autism I am an autistic man with a neurotypical wife and watching your videos has helped us and shown us that we are not alone thank you

[@OakCroftFilms]

Of course. We are glad that you have been able to relate to us. Thank you for watching!

[@hollymolly1624]

I relate to the texture issues Jess. Happens a lot to me! Here are some tips from me and Doc: -my number 1 tip is book with a travel agent! They can be an advocate for any special accommodations you need -know what airlines are "service dog friendly". Legally, they all have to be, but that's rarely what actually happens. -bring any sensory items you need. I always get a special accommodation to bring my weighted blanket on the plane with me. -set up a routine. I travel to see my grandparents every summer, so I like to have certain things I always do: we always stop at Tim Hortons after security, I get the same muffin, I eat it at the same little seating area, etc. I find it helpful.

[@OakCroftFilms]

All good suggestions. Thank you!

[@SteinGauslaaStrindhaug]

Btw. A good tip if flying as a couple or more people, put about half your clothes in each others suitcases, that way if one disappear you still have a few changes of clothes until you get it back or have to buy more clothes. Never happened to us, but when I heard about someone else who had all their clothes in one suitcase that went missing and had to buy new stuff at a random supermarket just to have something to change into before it was located and delivered to him a few days later; I immediately added a note to myself in my packing list spreadsheet to remember to spread the clothes between suitcases.

[@DJ-ky4fk]

I hope that you will enjoy giving your presentation in Louisiana!

[@OakCroftFilms]

It was a lot of fun. We enjoyed it.

[@kimp2376]

Have fun at the conference! Are you bringing Blake with you? If you are flying Delta save yourself the trouble and call their disability services asap and make sure she is in their system as a service dog. I jumped through all of their online hoops and their system told me my dog was in as a service dog but I'm paranoid so I worked up the nerve to call and of course he was listed as an ESA and missing paperwork. Lady on the phone was excellent though, she got us sorted out and made sure we were in bullhead seating. Have a good flight!

[@karenannmcmillan2206]

The issue with Service Dogs is because in 2018 ( I think it was May) the Department of Transportation, which regulates airlines, issued new regulations concerning service dogs. This came about because of all the issues with people trying to claim “comfort” animals and not pay for them to fly inside the aircraft. There were too many problems with potty accidents and people getting bit. Now all the airlines have issued new regulations, with some even banning “bully” type breeds. So anyone flying with a Service Dog should read the service animal section of each airline before they purchase tickets. Some are requiring a health certificate signed by a veterinarian with rabies, etc that must be filed a minimum of 48 hours before flying. Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) have more documentation, usually a current, within 12 months, letter signed by a psychiatrist / psychologist saying the animal is necessary. There are some airlines that if the flight is over a certain length of time you have to sign a form that your dog is able to fly that long without going potty.

[@OakCroftFilms]

I think that they had pulls some of those restrictions on service dogs but not on ESAs. When they called me all they asked for was that I bring them her certification badge. Which most places can't do but I think airplanes are different.

[@RamonSelove]

Shellie says that you were delightful, Jess.

[@OakCroftFilms]

Quite.

[@GraceStuarts]

This and the bread machine were the two items I was most surprised to find on the tsa website www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/light-saber

[@OakCroftFilms]

This makes me so happy!

[@juliaa936]

Oh, good luck and lot's of fun on the conference! Hope to hear all about it in a future video! Wish you good travels.

[@OakCroftFilms]

Yeah, I'll probably discuss it. Thanks!

[@purpleyeseo9519]

Jess’s hair looks so soft and shiny 😲

[@OakCroftFilms]

I love her hair.

[@mariai.g.r.2786]

Sounds like you'll have a lot of fun! You guys are so funny in the way you relate to each other. I hope to hear more about how you manage in your relationship as autistics and the ins and outs of how to navigate life as a couple.

[@OakCroftFilms]

We will probably do more videos like that in the future.

[@Directionless.Sponge]

My only real problem was being hypersensitive to my ears popping while breaking the sound barrier or whatever. I have hypersensitive hearing, but all I could do was chew on gum to keep my muscles distracted.

[@SteinGauslaaStrindhaug]

We have a two spreadsheets with lists of what to pack for travel, one for summer holidays and one for cold climates, with formulas so that we can just set the number of days and will tell the number of each item we need to pack (rounded up to the nearest whole piece of clothing of course) with separate columns for clothing for me, my wife, our niece (who often comes on holidays with us), common items and medicines. Wonder if that's an autistic trait...

[@SteinGauslaaStrindhaug]

My mom (who's probably also on the spectrum) also always have had a big holiday packing list, except that is on paper so they have to calculate the number of items every time. And for at least 25 years it was missing one item: wine opener. So almost every year they forgot to bring a wine opener and had to buy one, so now they have quite a few. So that's the first thing I added to our spreadsheets, even though we rarely drink wine anyway...

[@millimoi4559]

I needed this so much! I am flying on my own for the first time in less than three weeks and it is stressful. Where I live (Uk) there is a system in some airports where people with invisible disabilities have a green lanyard with daisies on it- it’s totally inconspicuous except for other users and the staff. Which is very helpful especially as I have medication and medical syringes to take also (type one diabetics)

[@OakCroftFilms]

Hope your flight goes well.

[@CamelDance]

I find the TSA very stressfull (which is why I don't dare bring knitting needles) but the rest is oddly ok. I actually don't mind traveling, I like public transport because I can release control if I make myself expect that unexpected stuff will happen. If something goes wrong it then just becomes a problem to be solved. But also, I make sure I have a lot of time to change. (Once that meant nine hour in Paris between buses with an assumption that I could probably find a cafe somewhere to order one drink and use the loo.)

[@OakCroftFilms]

Traveling is fine once I get there.

[@CamelDance]

@@OakCroftFilms once you get on the transport or once you get at your destination?

[@OakCroftFilms]

@@CamelDance Destination.

[@neuroadequate]

Hi, I’m a Louisianan! Mardi Gras, or “Fat Tuesday”, is traditionally a “last day of celebration and indulgence” before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent in the Catholic religion (in which one abstains from various “vices” until Easter). But it’s become very secular (like most holidays). Parades can vary A LOT in terms of how the floats are decorated (many parades have a theme, but not all do), how much drinking / public nuancing is allowed or not allowed, how many people show up, and the like. New Orleans parades tend to be the most people-packed, loudest, and rowdiest; Baton Rouge also has some pretty large parades (like the Spanish Town parade, which is known for being political but not at all politically correct), but they tend to be a little less hectic. For the most part, the parades are NOT sensory friendly events (for either sound, visuals, or touch - lots of people bumping into each other), but, if you’re willing to risk the overload, they can be pretty entertaining (also, free stuff!). Outside of parades, there’s also king cake (which is really more like sweet bread with filling and icing; they come in a lot of flavors and textures). My personal favorite is cream cheese (sometimes paired with lemon or strawberry). I hope that y’all enjoy your stay! Also, our traffic is horrendous- the infrastructure never quite caught up to the population. Sorry about that.

[@OakCroftFilms]

I like parades even though they can be a bit much. That's what the service dog is for.

[@asdme3950]

I have a video in the making, I'm taking a flight and I have ASD and I am going to document it :)

[@OakCroftFilms]

Cool! I hope it goes well!

[@asdme3950]

@Benjamin Burkhardt same as me! :D but it does take careful planning

[@asdme3950]

@@OakCroftFilms thank you very much!

[@HopeHendershot-Moskal]

I'm a very stressful flyer and it's mainly because of everyone else around me. Security lines stress me out because I'm ALWAYS behind someone who's in a hurry and I feel pressured to move faster than I would like to. Boarding the plane freaks me out too because either someone crammed their stuff above my seat and now I have no place for mine, or (again) other passengers boarding behind you won't be patient when you're getting settled into your spot. This has become 10 times worse now that I have my son with me. If he senses I'm stressed he can start having a meltdown which just makes everyone around us even more impatient. I worry the whole flight now because if my son starts to act up and I can't get him under control I'm afraid people will start complaining. I also get stressed at baggage claim because I'm afraid my luggage or my son's luggage will get lost. And now you know why I hate leaving my house...

[@OakCroftFilms]

Yeah, those have always been a problem for me.

[@hugoyuugo1300]

By total random luck, I had a seat next to a friend from my university when I flew to Japan. On the way back home, my flight was heavily delayed, I had to buy another ticket with another company, and almost missed my flight. Traveling without my car is hard for me, it's a challenge every time. It's like the last level of a video game.

[@OakCroftFilms]

Ha yeah, I've had some bad luck with airplanes as well.

[@solarkracken9741]

If you haven’t already, you could do a video on how you got through school and different situations in school that had happened.

[@OakCroftFilms]

I've done a few videos about that. Some of the early Autism ACTUALLY Speaking videos address aspects of schooling. I also have some Service dog tales videos about interactions that I've had.

[@marktapia8327]

I’m on the spectrum. The only thing two things I hate about flying is 9/11 PTSD and motion sickness. I have a story on the latter one but I won’t share. Also with the seats next to each other, it all depends on the airline. If there is open seated, this may not be much of an issue. Assigned seated airlines need to make sure you get the needed seats

[@OakCroftFilms]

I have issues with motion sickness as well.

[@michaeldavis9190]

"Well let's not get coat hangers banned" XD I find it interesting that y'all find flying stressful. I am actually going to college to become a pilot! XD

[@OakCroftFilms]

It's not the flying part itself, it's the being crammed into a space with a lot of people.

[@WhutADrag]

Ohh man, I can Big Relate to the food thing. Currently there's very few foods I can stand eating due to their texture or the sound they make when you chew them (i cannot Stand onions), and even with the foods I /do/ like, I'm picky about where I get it from because of bad past experiences. (The amount of times i was given bloody chicken has made me Distrustful to say the least) So whenever we try to find something to eat in a new place, I wind up spending 20 minutes at Least just staring over the menu weighing out the pros and cons of Item X, Item Y, and Not Eating lol. Flight delays are the absolute WORST too. The only times we ever fly is when we're flying across the entire country, so we need two airplanes to get there. If the second one has a delay, that's not as bad. Still makes me extremely restless and drains the heck out of me waiting in an airport for that long, but at least then my family's able to keep me distracted and it's usually getting to be nighttime so I can, literally, stare off into space until our plane is ready. But if it's the first plane, all hell breaks loose. I wind up having a full-on meltdown freaking out that we're not gonna make it to the next plane, we're gonna get stuck in the middle of nowhere, we're gonna miss our flight and won't have money to buy a new plane ticket back, we're gonna be stranded and homeless, etc etc etc. Note that we've always made it in time when this happened because we make sure that there's at least an hour or two in between flights because we have Terrible luck with having a delay every single time we fly, but I don't think about that at the time lol (its me, yukiwolf5, btw :P not a new viewer, i just changed my profile to match my other sites haha)

[@OakCroftFilms]

Yeah I've had some pretty bad luck with flights before as well. On time a plane was about to take off and there was a trouble with the ventilation system so we had to go all the way back to the terminal. Glad it didn't take off.

[@WhutADrag]

@@OakCroftFilms Oh geez, that sounds scary. With the amount of problems planes tend to have, I'm really glad I decided I'm gonna take a train instead when I move out-of-state lol. I know trains aren't the safest either, and that planes Usually are able to catch any technical difficulties before taking off, but I'd much rather have something go wrong on the ground than have something go wrong thousands of feet in the air lol

[@aspiewithattitude3213]

Who's looking after your doggies? I did hear in the USA that you're allowed to fly with your dogs on some airlines. You wouldn't otherwise be allowed to that in Australia. Have fun traveling dude and take care.

[@OakCroftFilms]

Blake is coming with me but because Sylvia is retired she will be watched by a friend of mine.

[@aspiewithattitude3213]

After regularly watching your videos, this shows that you certainly love your doggies.

[@wristdisabledwriter2893]

Congratulations I wish I was going

[@OakCroftFilms]

Aww thanks!

[@TheGamingEevee8]

I am flying to Israel the first week of March and have to be in Turkey on a layover, not sure how that will go as I usually fly direct.

[@OakCroftFilms]

Wow, I've never been to any of those places. I hope you still enjoy it.

[@TheGamingEevee8]

@@nikolateslaize What is the airport like and do they have English signs everywhere? When I went to the French airport it was only French, but luckily knew a bit of French.

[@nakyer]

First? I never thought I'd do this.

[@OakCroftFilms]

Haha nice!

[@DJ-ky4fk]

As if the play was about another woman and not Jesse.

[@OakCroftFilms]

Yeah she is silly.