I was sad to read recently that Highland Council cancelled Crown Primary School's (from Inverness) annual trip, because they were afraid of being sued for excluding a disabled child from the trip.The Equality and Human Rights Commission wasn't much impressed either, and said that the action was short sighted.
Normally the school stays at an outdoor activity centre in Craggan in the Cairngorms. However, Donna Williamson said that her daughter was physically unable to take part in the activities planned. Therefore, fearing legal action, the council cancelled the trip for everyone.
Quite how cancelling the trip helps the children of the school I fail to see.
Nor do I think that they have made the daughter of Ms Williamson terribly popular (even though she is blameless) with her class mates for this.
The concept of integration etc works both ways. By all means do your utmost to help include people. However, inclusion is not helped by banning activities that not all can take part in.
The child will now feel thoroughly miserable for being the unwitting cause of this.
The council are gutless, as their actions indicate that they could not be bothered to try to withstand a speculative legal challenge on this matter.
Sometimes you do have to stand up for what you think is right, even if some lawyer says that you will lose.
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Great. That action just brings everyone down to the level of the disabled person.
ReplyDeleteDisabled people are different. They are not able to do everything that able bodied people are. That is not wrong, its just a fact. And its not something you can legislate against.
Was there even a suggestion that they might get sued?
So the disabled kid not only has a disability to deal with but now the wrath of all the other kids because of the cancellation of their holiday. Of course the other children will not know enough to blame the real culprits; the spineless council jobsworths.
This is a prime example of why Nanny's policy of "one size fits all" is flawed......I feel sad that this poor girl now has to cope with the extra burden of being the percieved cause of this injustice to her class mates.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy making disabled people unpopular.
PS; I learned something over the weekend.....The nation has an "official" website, it is called direct gov.....I think its message is basically do as you're told or we'll 'ave yer!!
The way I see see it is: the parents of the disabled child said the trip was unsuitable for her inferring that they had voluntarily withdrawn her. So who would actually be wanting to sue the Council?
ReplyDeleteIt may be my nasty, cynical little mind, but this affair couldn't possibly have afforded an excuse for the Council to save money which they would regard better spent on their own jollies? Could it?
When I were a tadpole if somebody was for any reason unfit to take part in a school field trip/sports day/outing a parent's note simply got them the day off. However that was back in the 1950s/60s when councils were staffed by boring but generally competent people, H&S was confined to where it belonged: behind the factory gates, and the ambulance-chasers had yet to crawl out from under their stones.
With a parent like this the poor mite should consider putting herself up for adoption. I am not (yet) disabled nor did I have any serious physical problems when I was a child. Nonetheless there were more adventurous kids than me and the world is filled with people more physically able than I am now. Should they all be stopped from doing whatever it is they like doing because I cannot join in.
ReplyDeleteWhen did "I don't like it" and "I can't do it" turn into "I will stop you at any cost"? Britain has turned into an open air loony bin.
Obviously the solution would be to force all the able bodied students to wear highly restrictive suits (aka straight jacket, or similar for the lower body, as required) to bring everyone down to the same level.
ReplyDeleteSorted!
@Disgusted, Tunbridge Wells,
ReplyDeleteActually, it was the mother that threatened legal action against the school.
The school takes the children to the activity place every year, but the mother was unhappy that her disabled child would be unable to take part in the activities.
The school and activity place tried to make plans on other activities the girl could do there, but the mother was not satisfied because her daughter would not be able to do exactly the same as the other children.
She threatened the school with legal action because of this, and so the council pulled the trip for all of the students.
Here are some articles from BBC News Online on this story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8427762.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8474102.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8470699.stm
The links didn't work, so I shortened them:
ReplyDeletehttp://urlcut.com/trip1
http://urlcut.com/trip2
http://urlcut.com/trip3
Spinless, you are guilty of a a cripplebohic hate crime. Report to Nu Labour redcuation camp at once.
ReplyDeleteRemember all comrades are equal, but some comrades are more equal than others eg Kinnock and Mandy
Now "Well Off" children are banned from school trips:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1246423/Children-middle-class-parents-banned-attending-school-trips.html
microdave: surely that is blatant discrimination?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
"Disgusted, Tunbridge Wells,
Actually, it was the mother that threatened legal action against the school.
The school takes the children to the activity place every year, but the mother was unhappy that her disabled child would be unable to take part in the activities.
The school and activity place tried to make plans on other activities the girl could do there, but the mother was not satisfied because her daughter would not be able to do exactly the same as other children."
Well, I'm sorry, but that is how life is. It's horrible being disabled, but that doesn't mean that everyone else must suffer because you cannot do the kind of activities that they do. It seems to me that every effort was made to accommodate the disabled child. However, at the end of the day, it is plain fact that not everyone is capable of doing what everyone else can, and the sooner we accept this fact the better.
The trip was unsuitable for the girl, because she wouldn't have been able to do the activities that were a part of the trip. She would have been and felt left out had she gone. I think the idea that she should photograph others having fun when she couldn't is insensitive, even if it was proposed with good intent.
ReplyDeleteThe obvious solution to this problem is that the trip should go ahead, but the girl should not go on the trip. The school shouldn't object to her not attending. While the school trip is going on, the girl's mum could take her somewhere where there are activities she can do.
It would only be acceptable to take legal action if the girl was forced to go on the trip. If that happened, it would be right for her mother to demand compensation from the school.
If the poor handling of this case has led to the girl being bullied, the council and school should be sued, because even if the mother was unreasonable, that is no excuse for failing to punish bullies.
And people wonder why there is an increasing amount of hate crimes against disabled people. I'm (mildly) disabled myself, and you just have to recognise there are some things you cannot do and others can. Otherwise why not have blind train drivers and airline pillots?
ReplyDeleteI run a small business from home. I was told I had to install a wheelchair ramp or provide one, when none of my clients are disabled. Just more socialist interfence in another level of our lives.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said....."why not have blind train drivers and airline pillots?"
ReplyDeleteMy local council placed an employment advertisement in our local paper a few years ago, for a post that involved driving. It included the phrase 'blind people are welcome to apply'!!!
Hullo Ken
ReplyDeleteAn update from a parent of a child at the school.
Highland Council have now created a trip to another outdoor centre but the mother of the disabled child has removed her child from the school in protest. The mother claims NO child should be allowed to enjoy ANY activity her severely disabled child cannot take part in. That is NOT the law and is unfair, in that it would restrict options for able bodied children.
The action of Highland Council in giving way is very odd. We have not had an explanation of why the council felt it had "no alternative" but to cancel the trip. I have requested details (under Freedom of Information rules) of which clause in the Disability Discrimination Act was not complied with or which section of the Council's "Trip Planning Guide" was not followed.
I suspect that the "guidance" was not fully followed so they felt nervous. I have suggested that such guidance "gold plates" the DDA and makes it easier to challenge a trip.
The problem is NOT that the school have to dumb down education to the level of a disabled child. The problem is that schools repeatedly fail to take their responsibilities to disabled children seriously. In my experience the most trivial amount of planning and consultation by the school can ensure that a disabled child enjoys, in the main, the same experience as every other child, without disadvantaging the other children. Yet school staff just cannot be bothered, and ignore the law. It is they who should carry the blame for this cancellation, not the parent in question, through their utter incompetence and knee jerk reaction.
ReplyDeleteWell done,you old hag,you just turned your child into a target for bullying!
ReplyDelete