Suppose you had an eight year old child, who was blind and relied on a cane to get around.
Suppose he acted up in a school bus, by tossing his cane in the air while listening to his music – not at anyone, but in the air.
What would you expect the driver to do about it? Maybe take the cane away for the rest of the ride and then report his behavior?
If that is what happened, this blog would not be written. Here\’s what did happen, as excerpted from Sidney Lupkin\’s article for abcnews.com:
Aschool took away an 8-year-old blind boy\’s cane as punishment foracting up and replaced it with a pool noodle, his father told ABCNews today.
DakotaNafzinger, who was born with no eyes, was listening to his music onthe school bus when the driver took it away from him, his father,Donald Nafzinger said. Dakota often taps his cane to the music, butthis time, his father said he threw it in the air. Nafzinger saidschool officials told him they thought Dakota was getting violent.
Thenthey gave Dakota a foam pool noodle in its place and sent him homewith it, Nafzinger said.
“Itis his eyes,” Nafzinger, 35, told ABC News. “He said he wasupset because he that\’s something he needs to get around with.”
Theschool district, North Kansas City Schools, admitted to the mistakeand has since given Dakota his cane back. Nafzinger said not only wasthat a good outcome, but sharing the story has shown his family howmany supporters they have.
“TheDistrict has reviewed the situation,” North Kansas City Schoolswrote in a statement. “We regret that a mistake was made inmaking sure the student was in possession of his cane when he boardedthe bus Monday evening. The District has apologized to the family andis working to rectify the situation.
I don\’t know who is more pitiable: the school officials, for taking this child\’s cane away and sending him home with a pool noodle, which makes them sadistic bastards specifically out to humiliate and endanger him – or the father, who thinks that simply getting the cane back is “a good outcome” (this, of course, assumes that is what he said: journalism being what it is today, you have to wonder).
If Dakota Nafzinger, absent his cane, fell and hurt himself, or walked into an obstruction because the pool toy could not be used to check what was ahead, what would they do? Laugh at how funny that was?
The school bus driver, assuming he/she was not the person who made this decision (that\’s the way the story reads) should be reminded of how serious it is for a child without eyesight to be without a cane.
The sadistic bastard, or bastards, who handed him a pool noodle and sent him home with it should never be allowed to set foot in that school again.
