For Moms of Disabled Adults

Are you flying out of the country or staying within the US? Does your daughter have any form of ID issued by your state? You can contact whomever provides services for her (Medicaid, or her doctors) to inquire what kind of IDs are available and how to obtain them.

Have one of her doctors write a brief statement about your daughter. Include a description of her disability, and a statement about what she can and cannot do. I had my daughter's doctor write that she is unable to walk long distances, and had him list her diagnoses. If she requires medications or special food or liquids, list those too. Make several copies of the letter and have it handy at each point in your trip.

Get a list of medications from the pharmacy. Make sure it's on the pharmacy's letterhead, and includes the name and phone number. This will be handy in case you run out of or lose her medications while traveling. Again, make copies. Find out in advance if your pharmacy has a branch in the city where you'll be going.

If you're bringing meds, have them in a separate ziplock bag in their original containers with her name on them.

If she needs certain vitamins or over-the-counter meds, have those in a separate ziplock bag with the doctor's letter stating that although these are not prescription, they are required for her condition.

If she needs foods or drinks, have those in a separate ziplock bag with the doctor's statement saying that these are required. I brought Ensure and juices on board the plane because I handed TSA the bag with the bottles and the doctor's letter stating that my daughter required extra nutrition at all times. The TSA guy did carefully examine the bottles but there wasn't any problem.

www.tsa.gov has a separate section on traveling with people with disabilities.

Hope this helps some!

I am a mom of a disabled (he is a child still but I do know the ropes and ins and outs of it, I have researched it because I will have to get guardianship over him when he does reach adult age), in order to get a passport she is going to need a state issued ID. If you are going out of the country you will need the passport, if you are staying in the states a state issed ID will be fine. Also doing a passport is going to be a tad bit harder, you will have to produce all the proper documentation showing that you do in fact have legal/full guardianship over her. I hope this is making sense for you, my son is only going to be 12 but with not being with his biological father (and he doesn't want anything to do with my son) I learned about the ins and outs about it (a year before the mandatory passports for going out of the country), we went on vacation down to Arizona and we were going to go across the border and I had to make sure that I had all the proper documentation for my son (his biological father wasn't on his original birth certificate but after the child support went into effect his name is know on it) and with me having a different last name (my son has my maiden name) I had a copy of his birth certificate, a copy of my birth certificate that showed my maiden name on it and a copy of the marriage license (that was a just in case) with us.

If you have any further questions send me a message and I will help you out as much as I can.

M.

If you are leaving the country she has to have passport. If not, a state issued ID will work and will be much easier to get.

I saw info on traveling with individuals with disabilities on the TSA website

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/specialneeds/index...

I do know that she will need government issued photo ID to pass through security. If you go international that means passport. When you go through security ask if there is a family line or line for individuals needing assistance due to disabilities. Most airports have them. Even if they don;t have a special line THEY HAVE TO ACCOMODATE individuals with disabilities outside of normal procedures due to the ADA.

My guess is that she will need every bit of the same ID you will need.

Call the airline. Most have specific protocols for people with special needs. They can help you confirm what ID she needs.