Parents are protesting the requirement that their children wash their hands and rinse their mouths twice a day to protect a six-year-old student with an exceptionally severe peanut allergy. They feel this child should be home schooled since these measures infringe on the rights of their children. You can find the story at http://www.huliq.com/10473/parents-insist-girl-peanut-allergy-florida-be-home-schooled.
Frankly, if this had been April 1, I would have thought this was an April Fool’s joke.
First of all, some of the parents who are protesting because they feel that these protective measures take 30 minutes a day away from their children’s education have pulled their children out of school in protest. Really? At the very least, let the children get as much education as is available while mounting this protest. Maybe the parents are really concerned that their children will be exposed to too much kindness.
Second, none of these parents seem to take into account that the extra hand washing may be protecting their children from colds and other germs that could be keeping them out of school for illnesses. These absences could add up to more than this supposed 30 minutes a day. It sounds to me like this procedure has a protective effect for their children too.
Third, there is nothing stopping these protesting parents from taking their children out of the class and home schooling them. Although, to be honest, I don’t see these parents as healthy examples for their own children.
The federal Americans with Disabilities Act is civil rights legislation that is intended to provide services for persons with disabilities that are equal to the services provided to anyone else. Education in a public school is one of those services.
I am aware that persons with disabilities face a great deal of discrimination still. And, there has always been a concern on the part of persons without disabilities that any accommodation for a disability is a privilege that they lack. (If you doubt this, why is it so difficult to enforce accessible parking?) If this had been a single individual mounting this protest, I would not have been the least surprised. But, to have this great uproar over a single youngster’s need to be protected is outrageous.
This is a truly shameful, ignorant response to a human situation. This is the kind of bias that leads people to act as though any kindness toward another takes away from them. This is sad.
Annette Bourbonniere
401-846-1960
Fax: 401-846-1944
Twitter: @AccessInclude
No comments:
Post a Comment