Posted on 06/21/2013 7:10:00 AM PDT by Morgana
“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.”
This inspirational statement has been taken to heart by many in disabled communities for its uplifting and liberating spirit. Unfortunately, Marion County’s Elgin High School is not taking it to heart.
It is to the school’s great shame that Allison Williams, a fourteen year-old student with Down Syndrome, was barred from its cheerleading squad. Rather than espousing a can-do, positive attitude, Elgin’s non-competitive squad, which doesn’t do tumbling or pyramids, told Alli’s parents that “even with accommodations she would not meet the minimum criteria to be a cheerleader.” Furthermore, even if spots remained open after try-outs were completed, Allison would still be denied a place on the squad.
Yet Allison loves cheerleading, and her mother says that it benefits Alli, allowing her to watch and learn from her peer cheerleaders.
Glee actress Lauren Potter portrays Becky, a cheerleader with Down Syndrome. (right)
In an age when a young woman with Down Syndrome portrays a high school cheerleader on the popular television show Glee (which also takes place in Ohio), it seems rather backwards and sadly ironic for an Ohio high school to deny Alli the opportunity to learn and grow while performing an activity that she loves. To the great credit of Ohio’s young people, Alli is finding plenty of support from other cheer teams.
CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!
If a bad attitude is disabling, a positive attitude is enabling. Love and passion are the things that motivate us to achieve the unthinkable. And if Alli has a passion for cheerleading, denying her the opportunity to live out that passion on a non-competitive cheerleading team would seem to be truly disabling.
But whether Alli is eventually offered a place on the squad or not, she should keep her spirits high, maintaining strength through a positive attitude. Elgin High School needs to readjust its attitude to a positive, enabling one. It only cripples itself in assuming a bad attitude towards Alli.
sorry but I still don’t get it.
You said she had tendinitis and focal dystonia which spread but it doesn’t spread but you state she has dystonia right?
So it’s either Hemidystonias or multi right, , anyway I have to get back to work but hope she does alright.
What is going to keep the visiting teams for laughing at this impaired cheer-leading group? Are they supposed to be able to tell from across the field that some or all of these girls are disabled or just klutzes?
Originally diagnosed with focal dystonia. In the past month she has started having symptoms in her foot, so she thinks it is spreading. She is seeing lots of doctors over the next few weeks to determine if it is spreading.
We know she now has tendonitis in both arms. The physical therapist says she has the tendonitis in both arms.
Focal dystonia doesn’t spread, but generalized does.
Not sure what all is going on. It’s a bit scary.
One of the things that kills me about my fellow conservatives is the attitude toward the disabled. Pro-life all over the place, but once the kids is born it’s “tough titties.”
They don’t want to help out the parents with outrageous medical bills, but don’t want to let the kid die.
They don’t want to help out with special education, but want the kid educated.
They don’t understand that much of the despair that parents face at the thought of giving birth to a disabled child is an understanding of the ridicule and cruelty that this child will face throughout their lives.
So, as far as I see it, conservatives insist that the kid is born, then the child and their family is to be abandoned.
Because so many disabled babies are now aborted, there isn’t the support system or the examples for parents of successful parenting of such children. Parents feel completely overwhelmed and alone. You don’t know how many people (including myself) who’ve said, “I can’t do it. I’m not strong enough.”
The life cycle has been changed. Not too long ago children with cancer, T1 diabetes or massive birth defects simply would’ve been loved, then died. Now medicine can prolong their lives (sometimes to a ‘normal’ lifespan) but the resources aren’t there to care for these people for a lifetime.
Some parents can manage financially; but for most, it’s too much.
We should all have compassion and love for the disabled. It betters *all* of *us* as much as it benefits the child.
“And no one stops to think about the anger of the girls cut from the squad will feel. All to push an agends.”
That is NOT what has the mother upset. It’s the fact that, if there were open slots after all the non-disabled girls had filled them - meaning not enough girls even tried out - they wouldn’t even allow this girl to sit on the bench, wear a uniform and clap her hands.
This is NOT SPARTA.
I’m sure that this girl is well aware that she can’t do what other girls can. (Downs kids are NOT stupid.) She just wants to participate.
And this cheer squad is more like a pep squad. There’s no tumbling or pyramids.
However there are valuable lessons learned by being part of a team. There are a lot of social skills learned.
My other daughter has a brain injury that has caused speech problems.
She loves dong theater, but is frustrated because she can’t show what she can do. She can actually memorize lines. She has a great memory. If she works at what she is saying, you can’t hear the speech deficits. She’s not great at auditions because she hasn’t had the time to practice. She gets upset that other kids will get parts, and then they don’t know their lines during the show.
She wishes there was a something she could do where everyone gets a part, but there isn’t. This year she has been so lonely. She can’t do sports or dance because she isn’t coordinated.
She just wants to have a group to join to make friends.
It’s tough. Don’t know what the solution is.
“this girl has done nothing and yet gets rewards and why on earth should she always be in line first , get all A’s.”
NOBODY said anything about this girl getting anything ‘first’. (And the ‘all A’s’ thing is a complete red herring.)
As a matter of fact, it’s the opposite. The mother asked, if all the girls who want to try out do so, and if they’re all selected, and if there is still an open slot due to lack of interest, can the girl with downs syndrome participate?
The answer was, no.
But since you brought up the ‘first in line’ thing:
There used to be a time when gentlemen put women and children - those weaker than themselves - first. All of us put kids first for meals. A gentleman gave up his seat. A time when the strong defended the weak and took care of them.
I see that we have very few true gentlemen left on FR.
We can’t do all the things we would like for one reason or another. Don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying your daughter or the kid in this story should ball up in a corner and hide from public view. And it upsetting to prents and their children alike...
But humans have failings. Sometimes mental, sometimes physical, sometimes through no fault of their own. But your daughter and this child CAN do many other things. And do them well. Perhaps not their first choice, granted. But at what point do you start doing more harm than good? (not directing this at you personally)
What about the kid with peanut alergies whose parents sue until every piece of school property is off limits to PBJ sandwiches? Should everyone around the child be forced into ‘compliance’ with that childs wants or needs?
They are, but should they be?
I grew up with a kid in my neighborhood who had a physical disability. Many of us have. He was smart, he was funny. And he was not physically capable of playing baseball. So should none of us played so as to spare his feelings? Or should we have put on a farce to have him ‘play’?
No. we shouldn’t and didn’t. But we did a hundred other things with him where he was included because he could be. And we WANTED him to be as he was our friend.
And he understood why he couldn’t be a baseball player because people took the time to be honest with him about why. Not lie to him, fake life and turn the neighborhood upside down.
wish you and her all the best from st augustine
you misread what I had written.
I was not talking about this girl being first
Looks like the school, and several on this thread, wish she would shut up & go away.
I think what got to me was the unfilled spots.
There is a huge difference between high school and college extra curricular activites.
I think high school is where you give chances. This counts for all kids. For example, our high school theater director never gave this one kid good roles in shows because he thought he couldn’t sing. Well, a summer theater director gave him the role of Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. The kid was great, and has a beautiful low voice. He can’t sing high songs, but he can sing low songs.
Kids need chanes to do things in order to find out what they can do.
I had a friend who was severely disabled in my Girl Scout troop. We figured out ways to nclude her. I was really lucky to have her in my life because it gave me a lot of insight with my kids. She lived life to the fullest. She went to college. She showed so much love to people. She passed away a few years ago.
My wife is "handicapped" and teaches Down's Syndrome children. I've heard a great deal about them - how wonderful they can be, their many good qualities and where they can fit and be contributors to society.
They are not suited to be brain surgeons, or nuclear physicists - or apparently, cheerleaders. That's not "prejudice", it's reality.
I'm never going to be a famous ballerina, or NBA star, or lead guitarist in ZZ Top, or...
That's life, folks.
But then maybe your comment was sarcasm and I missed it...
As I mentioned, my WIFE is handicapped. There are some things she simply cannot do - like bend her knees. Does she piss and moan about how unfair people are, how mean life is, etc. ?
No, she makes lemonade from those lemons life has dealt her. She does what she CAN do, and does it damn well. She's a genius at teaching, and has had hundreds of parents and students tell her she's the best they ever had.
She's a wonderful woman and after 20 years, I wouldn't trade her for anybody. And I was divorced twice before, from women I obviously would trade for.
Your comments against other Freepers are unbecoming and not worthy of you. You're better than that.
‘If she can do the routines and other aspects well enough to make the team’
That’s my question, was she given the opportunity to try out for the team. If she was afforded the chance to try out for the team, then this young lady has been afforded all of the chances and opportunities that our form of government should ensure.
If she failed to make the team, this failure had the potential to be a huge learning experience.
My Mama wanted to fly jets, but that never happened either.
What have I said against freepers. I don’t think I’ve done that.
I agree with a lot of what you are saying in regards to hadicap. We are working to try to figure out what kind of careers both of my girls can do. The one who is having trouble writng is thinking about speech therapy. She was in speech for many years and she knows she could do that without hands. She just has to find a college willing to be accomodating wiith written work. (She can use dictation software)
However, a cheerleaders purpose is to jazz up the crowd for the football team. If it is a non-competive team then a child with down syndrome should be able to do that.
My daughter’s school had a group of special needs girls that cheered at the football games along with the cheerleaders. Everyone loved them.
Like I said she should stand there and hold the megaphone like the male cheerleaders did in the 1950’s. They could “accommodate” the situation for her if they really wanted to. It is just a matter of being creative on the coaches's part. If they will allow for trans-what ever kids then they should allow for her.
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