[blindkid] Community track

Fri Apr 9 17:01:14 UTC 2010

Richard, 
 I would never disagree with you on anything as I find you to be extremely
well informed and an effective advocate for the blind. however, I would like
to draw your attention to the ADA and its public accommodation guidelines
and regulations. It specifically  protects us from being denied access to
any public facility or building or club or store or recreation center for
that matter. if you would like I could provide this to you for your easy
reference as I have had to keep a copy of the same ready and in hand when I
went to join a gym and was denied access initially. The public accommodation
laws preclude any one with a disability from being denied access because of
their disability. In fact, the guidelines spell out what places need to do
to ensure equal and safe access in most instances. A simple placed, "well
lets take a look around at all the violations presently in place which are
in direct violation of the ada and I am sure with significant cost and time
your organization will eventually be found to be compliant with said laws."
That usually shuts them up and opens the minds and doors to people of all
abilities. The laws do not allow this type of discrimination. As far as
liability insurance, the places of public access and accommodation are
required to carry insurances and I do not believe that the insurance
products they purchase have riders denying coverage for people with
disabilities. Ignorance is just that ignorance.only thru dialogues with
narrow minded people like the one we speak of here is there ever going to be
a hope of shifting the social paradigms about blindness.
Albert J. Rizzi, M.Ed.
CEO/Founder
My Blind Spot, Inc.
90 Broad Street - 18th Fl.
New York, New York  10004
www.myblindspot.org
PH: 917-553-0347
Fax: 212-858-5759
"The person who says it cannot be done, shouldn't interrupt the one who is
doing it."

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-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Richard Holloway
Sent: Friday, April 09, 2010 11:22 AM
To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Community track

There is a fair chance that they may not be under any legal mandate to  
comply and even if they are, you may achieve superior or certainly  
faster results through working with these people directly to educate  
them.

I understand a lot of their concerns coming from a complete lack of  
experience but the one thing that I think is completely inexcusable  
from the start is the notion that what other parents may "think" is a  
valid concern. THAT has nothing to do with protecting your child or  
ANYONE. It sounds way too much like rational to keep people out of,  
say, a country club because of their race or religion. Very simply,  
that is discrimination and legal or otherwise, it will probably make  
them backtrack once they (and others involved) realize their blunder.

I'd be inclined to point out to them how that "looks", and that you're  
"certain" that is not their intent. I'd follow that with telling them  
your child is as able as any typical child in all other respects and  
you may want to mention that you're not going to hold them liable for  
anything that occurs as a result of his blindness. They will likely  
come back and ask for that in writing.

Our blind daughter is in first grade as well. We've been through  
similar discussions with the local recreation center before when she  
was in gym classes and even had discussions with people at our own  
neighborhood pool after being told initially that our child could ONLY  
be in the pool if one of her parents was in the water right next to her.

I would point out that as mad as we were that we were told this, I did  
try to keep in mind that the lifeguard who started all this nonsense  
was clearly trying to do his job and keep every child safe. No doubt,  
he wanted to be certain that our child was safe in the water and did  
not want to be overly concerned watching her to the point that he  
wasn't safely protecting the other kids. Never mind that there were a  
dozen or more kids in her age range at her birthday party and that  
parents for all the kids were standing around the pool watching ALL  
the kids. And of course he could not have known that our child was  
among the best swimmers in the pool as she not only liked to swim but  
also was taking private swim lessons at the time. (Actually she still  
is taking them.)

The pool is a private membership association (of which we are members)  
and we never did find any legal way to force compliance but what we  
did when the incident came up greatly reduced the problem very  
quickly-- we told the lifeguard (true or not) that legally they had no  
right to deny our child the same access to the pool as the rest of the  
kids had, and that she was an able swimmer (which was absolutely true)  
and that she'd be swimming just like the other kids (which she did  
continue to do).

The gym classes were at a county recreation center but I think we'd  
have been hard pressed to "force" them to comply with what we wanted--  
far better that we worked it out and came to a friendly agreement-- at  
least in our case.

Oh, and on the liability issue, from a practical standpoint, I believe  
kids engaged in sports are generally assumed to be at risk for injury  
in the first place, so these people likely have no liability for  
anything that happens, unless they are being outright negligent. That  
may in fact be their specific concern-- that letting a kid who cannot  
see (or see well) participate could be negligent on their part. I  
would not mention that to them, but I'd expect to hear that from them  
if the continue to resist...

Richard

On Apr 8, 2010, at 11:29 PM, Carly B wrote:

> Hi all! I'm an avid reader of this list and I am so impressed with the
> excellent advice and support that's offered here! So I'm coming to  
> you for a
> bit of that for our family. We adopted our son Brian two years ago.  
> He has
> albinism and with it, low vision. He is 7 years old and in 1st  
> grade. We
> signed him up for community Track this spring. He had his first  
> practice
> tonight. In an effort to create a comfortable adjustment, I  
> contacted the
> coach (it's a husband/wife team, and I spoke with the wife) and  
> asked her if
> I could tell her a little bit about our son. We had a very pleasant,
> hour-long conversation. She has a teaching background, a son with a
> disability, and seemed very understanding, warm, and willing to be
> accomodating. That said, I didn't ask for any "unusual"  
> accomodations, like
> equipment or a one-on-one coach. His needs actually relate more to his
> having been institutionalized for the first five years of his life,  
> and he
> is still playing catch-up in terms of skills like jumping with both  
> feet and
> landing with both feet, as well as other coordination skills. I  
> mentioned
> that he has a strong aversion to loud sounds, especially sudden  
> sounds, and
> that he cannot stand the sound of the gun. I said that I want him to
> participate in practices but not in meets, and that in the next year  
> or so
> when he is better able to tolerate the gun then he can start attending
> meets. For now, I just want him to have the peer experience and  
> hopefully
> gain some skill and confidence. She said she thought that was an  
> excellent
> idea.
>
> Well, when I arrived at practice, the Track Commissioner was there.  
> She came
> over and greeted me, and then proceeded to explain to me that she is  
> quite
> concerned about Brian's safety and the safety of the other players.  
> She
> mentioned this at least three times in the course of our 45-minute
> conversation. I was shocked... will I ever stop being shocked? She  
> also said
> that the "Board" has a policy on the website (implying strongly that I
> should have known about it and read it ahead of time) that requires  
> any
> child with special needs must have a written request for  
> accomodations. (She
> had a copy with her. It's dated December, 1998) It states that the  
> request
> must be made in writing, it must include "the child's name, parent's  
> names,
> the sport, diagnosis and its affect on the child's ability to  
> participate in
> the sport, as well as the type of acommodation requested" and must be
> submitted to the Board, and that "No request for accommodation will be
> considered if these procedures are not followed." In other words, my  
> calling
> the coach to discuss Brian ahead of time was woefully insufficient.  
> The
> policy also states: "Reasonable accomodations are actions, which can  
> be
> taken that will not place undue hardship on the association and its  
> members.
> No accommodation will be granted which will expose any participant  
> to an
> undue risk of harm." As far as I could determine, this policy has  
> not been
> updated since 1998. (I should add that I'm pretty certain that the
> Commissioner involved herself when the coach contacted her to ask  
> about
> whether there was any other signal they could use other than the  
> gun. This
> was a suggestion the coach made to me in our conversation, not the  
> other way
> around, and I specifically said this probably wasn't fair to ask for  
> and
> something I wouldn't expect. I think she was bending over backwards to
> accomodate us, and asked the Commissioner about it on our behalf...  
> hence
> the visit to practice tonight.)
>
> The Commissioner mentioned that "special needs" are her "area" but  
> when I
> asked for specifics, she said she is an elementary school  
> paraprofessional
> working with kids who have autism, ADHD, EBD and the like but has  
> never
> worked with a blind or low vision child before. I tried to take this  
> as an
> opportunity to educate, but it was not easy. She was the most  
> ignorant and
> resistant person I've come into contact with to date. In the course  
> of our
> conversation, she stressed that her coaches are all volunteers and  
> that it
> was very unfair to think that they should accomodate Brian in any  
> way. She
> added that many of them would probably quit if a child like Brian  
> were to
> enroll on their team. She admitted, however, that Brian's coach didn't
> complain about anything I had told her about Brian and did not seem  
> unduly
> concerned. I told her that it was never my intention to drop and go,  
> and
> that I would be doing much of the accomodating myself. (I had said  
> this to
> the coach in our earlier conversation.) Toward the end of our  
> conversation,
> she added that she is also very concerned about how other parents  
> will feel
> when they see Brian in Track. Then she said, "You know what I mean,  
> I'm
> sure." I said, "Actually, I really haven't met anyone who has been  
> concerned
> about Brian in that way." She seemed very fixated on the idea that  
> Brian's
> presence creates some kind of grave danger for everyone involved.
>
> I am wondering specifically if ADA or IDEA address what in my  
> opinion is a
> draconian policy, and whether this organization falls under the  
> umbrella of
> either. It's a community sports organization which as far as I can  
> tell,
> doesn't receive any funding from the school district, but does use the
> public school facilities. I'm not thinking about bringing legal  
> action, but
> I like to know what the law provides, more as an opportunity to  
> educate, not
> to bully.
>
> Thanks in advance for any thoughts. God bless! --Carolynn Barnes
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