Seriously?

[conuly]

Here's this girl with CP who uses a walker. She's been using it in school for two years, but now the school wants her to stop because of nebulous "safety reasons". That is, once, while in her mother's care after school, she fell down. Never mind that kids fall down all the time!

Unsurprisingly, the mother is considering suing. Good for her.

Comments

[invsagoth.livejournal.com]

Taking away the girl's walker doesn't sound at all like it would make the girl safer. That doesn't even make sense! If she's having enough trouble walking that she needs a walker, it's going to be less safe without it. Especially around a bunch of little kids. She could get knocked down by kids who aren't even trying to be mean, just because kids run around and aren't great at watching where they are going.

I hope the mom does sue and the girl can keep her walker. :/

[conuly]

Maybe they intend to make her use a wheelchair, but if she prefers to use a walker and her mother wants her to use a walker, I don't know why they'd want to do something that keeps her from practicing walking.

[invsagoth.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I hadn't thought of it that way. At least I can see some sense in that. I'd hate to force a kid to use a wheelchair though if she has been using a walker without trouble for a long time, plus like you said, practicing walking is a good thing. Things break, that doesn't mean that you should never use one again.

[sayga.livejournal.com]

I read that article the other day (or a similar one on the same story) and it makes me mad! How many times has any kid fallen down at school? Should we ban recess and force all kids to sit on their butts all day to prevent them from accidental falls? If she has only fallen down at school ONE time, I think she is doing better than the majority of kids at the school. Obviously her method of locomotion makes her safer than other kids, in general. Pick on someone your own size. Jeez.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

Back in the early 1960s our mother used to complain about a Congressional subcommittee that was formed to study why children fall off tricycles. The subcommittee not only existed, but according to Donald Lambro it spent $19,000 on the project.

[conuly]

What, um, what did they find out?