Getting through airport security these days is enough to make anyone reconsider flying.

But when you’re a person with a disability, your trip might be made even more complicated by airport workers who don’t know when, how or whether to lend assistance.

Now, thanks to a partnership between Temple’s Institute on Disabilities and the Philadelphia International Airport, airport employees ranging from maintenance and facility workers to passenger escorts and information desk staff are getting training that can help improve airport experiences for every person with a disability.

The new initiative is an extension of the customer service training airport officials provide to their employees throughout the year, said Keesha Lane, assistant director of training for the Philadelphia International Airport.

“Thousands of people come through the airport every year,” Lane said. “Many of them have disabilities. We want to provide outstanding customer service, and trainings like this are one of the ways we help our employees do that.”

Funded by a $15,000 grant, the institute has been training airport workers to recognize when to help someone who has a disability and how to provide assistance if needed. The program emphasizes that maintaining one’s dignity is just as important to a person with a disability as it is to anyone else, said Ann Dolloff, assistant director for Accessible & Assistive Technologies in the Institute on Disabilities, based in the College of Education.

While most airports are accessible for people with disabilities, airport workers sometimes have problems knowing where being helpful ends and being condescending begins when interacting with people with disabilities, Dolloff said.

“Airports are good models of accessibility,” she said. “They have wide aisles, automatic doors and are universally designed by nature. But how are the people accommodated? We’re providing guidelines on how to help people who use a wheelchair or other adaptive equipment, people with hearing or vision disabilities and people who have intellectual disabilities.”

For example, when encountering a person with a guide dog, airport personnel need to know that service animals have the same legal right to travel as the person they guide, Dolloff said.

“Security screeners who haven’t been trained in how to work with people with disabilities aren’t sure what to do with guide dogs,” said Suzanne Erb, who is blind. “And sometimes, they refer their questions to a person who may be guiding you instead of [the person with a disability].

The most important skill that someone at an airport needs when working with a person with a disability is an ability to listen, Dolloff said.

“People tend to over help or under help,” she said. “You have to be comfortable enough to ask “Can I help you?”

Erb, who is among the people with disabilities helping to conduct the classes, agreed. Sometimes asking someone if they need assistance can make their trip just that much better, she said.

“There was one time when I got to the airport really early and wanted something to eat,” she said. “An airport worker helped me find something and stayed with me until I was ready to get on my flight. [The worker] was such a nice, nice person.”