School bans blind girl from using her walking cane – for fear of tripping up teachers
Emma Lazenby, BT.com - November 17, 201
Emma Lazenby, BT.com - November 17, 201
Just short of a year ago, we read a similar story, about an American school district taking away a young blind boy's white cane
because they said he used it to threaten harm to someone. They gave him
a semi-flexible foam "pool noodle" instead, and shortly afterwards,
gave the cane back to him and apologized for confiscating it. Compared
to this British girl, that case seemed like more of a real dilemma. One
way or another, safety was at least a bit of a reasonable factor. The
disability rights consensus was 1. Don't confiscate a disabled person's
main tool for adaptation, and 2. Do make sure that young disabled
children are trained in how to use these tools safely and appropriately.
The
same formula probably should apply for Lily-Grace, or any kid just
starting to use a white cane, crutches, or a wheelchair. Nobody is
saying she's reckless with the cane, but she's seven years old, and
there's a method to using a while cane. You don't automatically know
what to do with a cane just because your blind and they had you one.
Both
situations underscore how small disability-related problems get out of
hand when one or two people with some sort of veto authority get antsy
about anything unfamiliar going on in their professional territories. It
gets worse when they happen to have a personal preoccupation with
certain aspects of disability life. It may sound strange, but there are
people who have very firm opinions about the use and abuse of white
canes, crutches, ramps and elevators, and wheelchairs ... not to mention
service animals. And they absolutely do not see it as ableism in its
purest, simplest form. I suspect the officials responsible for both of
these crises felt that they were the only ones with the good sense to
raise concerns and put the brakes on well-meaning but carelessly
permissive policies. Couple that with administrative procedures that
handle contentious issues too slowly and deliberately, and you get, I
think, maybe 75% of the news stories about ableism that make it into the
mainstream press.
It's
so galling when it is happening, that it's easy to froget that most of
these situations are resolved more or less properly in the end. Blind
kids get to use their white canes in school. Customers can, usually,
enter coffee shops with service animals without it making the local
news. Most people don't regard ramps and elevators as expensive
luxuries, at least once they are fully installed. But in the meantime,
massive time is wasted futzing around with pointless deliberations when
the eventual outcome is rarely ever in real doubt. This is where a bit
of autocracy can actually be a good thing. We need more school
principals and headmasters who are willing to say, "I appreciate your
concern, but unless there's an actual problem, blind students will be
able to use white canes ... or whatever they need ... in our school.
That's the way it's going to be."
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