to take off wigs ? • How is the TSA dealing with pat downs of children ? • What about people with mental illness ? The TSA says it has taken all of these concerns into account -- that children are not to be separated from their parents if pat downs are deemed necessary and that travelers with medical conditions should be treated with `` the dignity , respect and courtesy they deserve . '' Watch : Cancer survivor accepts TSA apology `` Our program covers all categories of disabilities -- mobility , hearing , visual and hidden , '' the TSA says on its website . `` As part of that program , we established a coalition of over 70 disability-related groups and organizations to help us understand the concerns of persons with disabilities and medical conditions . '' Jonathan Bricker , a psychologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Washington state , says he advises anyone traveling right now to come mentally prepared for the unexpected . `` Go in with an expectation that this is going to happen , and go in with the expectation that you 're going to be the one singled out
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Thomas Sawyer , a cancer survivor , has worn a urostomy bag for the past three years . Yet , he says , little could have prepared him for his recent airport pat down , when an officer broke the bag 's seal and urine spilled out `` onto my shirt and down my pants . '' `` I 'm a good American . I know why we 're doing this , and I understand it , '' Sawyer told CNN . `` But this was extremely embarrassing , and it did n't have to happen . With educated TSA workers , it would n't have happened . '' With the height of Thanksgiving holiday travel the next two days , the Transportation Security Administration is trying to strike a delicate balance between ensuring the safety of the traveling public and not invading people 's privacy rights . But the screening raises an array of questions from health-care professionals : • Are TSA officers trained to deal with patients like Sawyer who may have medical conditions ? • What about the elderly and others with hip replacements and similar ailments ? • Will cancer patients have