"Eight years ago, Sara Fernandez flew into Newark, New Jersey, on her way back from the Dominican Republic, where her boyfriend lived. As she was going through airport security, she heard a T.S.A. agent say to one of his colleagues, "Do I need to pick her up and put her through the scanner?" Fernandez has dwarfism; she identifies as a little person. She also happened to be a new hire in the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which oversees anti-discrimination enforcement for the Department of Homeland Security, including T.S.A."
""The guy obviously didn't know I worked for D.H.S.," Fernandez recalled. He had made her feel "really awkward and uncomfortable," but she didn't want to get him in trouble, so she contacted T.S.A. and scheduled a phone call with him. "I wanted to be, like, 'You upset me. Look at me. I'm a professional,'" she said. After their call, "he got some training. Moments like that can actually stick with a person more, because he got to hear it from me.""
Federal offices and programs that ensure equal treatment are being shuttered and scaled back, reducing enforcement capacity and resources for marginalized groups. Sara Fernandez, who has dwarfism and works in the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at DHS, experienced discriminatory treatment at airport security and used her position to arrange training for the T.S.A. agent involved. Fernandez entered federal service through the Schedule A program, which expedites hiring for qualified candidates with disabilities. She was raised by adoptive parents who emphasized equal rights and discouraged feeling limited by stature.
Read at The New Yorker
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