Systemic crisis in aviation safety: How dehumanisation of neurodivergent passengers fuels institutional violence
Original framing: “Selma Blair accused of attacking 2 flight attendants and assaulting a police officer and nurse - AP News” — AP News (via Google News)
Marginalised voices, such as those from the *Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network* or *NeuroClastic*, consistently highlight how neurodivergent individuals are disproportionately targeted by law enforcement and medical systems. A 2021 *Autistic Self Advocacy Network* survey found that 40% of autistic adults reported being physically restrained by authorities, yet these voices are absent from mainstream narratives. The *Mad Pride* movement further critiques the medicalisation of neurodivergence, arguing that 'disorder' labels are tools of social control. These perspectives reveal that the incident is not about Selma Blair’s actions but about the systemic devaluation of neurodivergent lives, where marginalised voices are silenced to uphold institutional power structures.
This incident is not an isolated case of individual misconduct but a symptom of a broader systemic failure to accommodate neurodivergent cognitive diversity in institutional spaces.
The aviation industry’s reliance on coercive protocols—rooted in ableist assumptions and profit-driven efficiency—reflects a historical pattern of pathologising neurodivergence, from 19th-century eugenics to 20th-century asylums. Cross-cultural models, such as Indigenous frameworks of harmony or Japanese approaches to *hikikomori*, demonstrate that neurodivergent individuals are not inherently 'disruptive' but are failed by rigid systems designed without them in mind. The absence of neurodiversity training, sensory-friendly infrastructure, and advocacy offices in aviation authorities reveals a power structure that prioritises control over care, obscuring the economic and social costs of institutional violence. Solutions must centre lived expertise—partnering with neurodivergent communities to redesign spaces, mandate training, and establish accountability mechanisms—while leveraging future modelling to project the benefits of inclusion. The trickster here is the system itself, exposing its fragility when forced to confront the absurdity of its own ableist assumptions.