WTF, OVER?!?


www.abc25.com/Global/story.asp?S=2216126

Class Trip May Be Cancelled Because Of ADA Questions

EVANSVILLE -- A Tri-State school may have to cancel its annual field trip because a national park doesn't comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

NEWS 25 works to find out if Mammoth Cave has to be ADA compliant.

4th grader Matt Dotson can't wait for his class field trip to Mammoth Cave.

Dotson said, "The part I really want to see is bats. I've seen toy bats, but i've never seen real bats."

Matt -- who is this year's Easter Seals child representative -- has cerebral palsy.

When school officials started planning this year's trip, they learned Mammoth Cave -- a national park -- doesn't comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

Officials with the park say an elevator once used to get special needs patrons hundreds of feet below the surface hasn't been used for that purpose for more than two years.

So now, there's a possibility Matt won't be able to go where his classmates go.

NEWS 25 asked Matt's teacher Kerri Rowe said, "How would it make you feel if Matt couldn't go?"

She said, "It would not be enjoyable. I don't think I could enjoy the trip without him."

Whether Mammoth Cave has to be ADA compliant is grey area itself.

While that elevator in the cave was used for mobility impaired tours for at least 30 years, Mammoth Cave spokeswoman Vickie Carson told NEWS 25 -- quote -- "The cave elevator does not meet safety standards for any kind of passenger traffic."

Bottom line -- does Mammoth Cave have to comply with the ADA?

The cave's spokeswoman says no -- that ADA requirements apply to constructed structures, not natural features, such as the cave.

NEWS 25 called the U.S. Justice Department -- a spokesman there told NEWS 25 while there are accessibility requirements for the cave, they are dealt with by the Department of the Interior, and not an ADA issue.

All of that is lost on Matt Dotson, who wants that elevator fixed.

Dotson said, "Get a screwdriver, get a hammer, get a saw. Just get it fixed."

We tried to contact the Department of the Interior, but could not reach anyone.

The school is looking at one tour that's offered that Matt could go on, but if he can't go on that tour, Matt's principal says the entire 4th grade -- 81-students -- won't be going. h

It has come to my attention that the general public is comprised of total morons.

Next they will campaign to make the Grand Canyon accessible to disabled people.

Great, perhaps I can petition the court and file a grievance against one miss XXXXX XXXXX for not going out with me when I was 16.  I was acne challenged, and she made NO reasonable effort at adapting to my condidtion.

He could probably do the tour that uses the natural entrance, not many features in that part of the cave other than the immense (Mammoth) size of the rooms once inside. The Frozen Niagra Tour has hundreds of steps though. Anyone ever see the natural entrance? you can feel the cold air before you ever see that giant hole in the ground.

I'm going to hell for laughing at that one. ^

Make it a class project in spelunking and have the kids figuire
out how to get Matt Dotsons' ass down there in that cave. Damn, do
I have to think of everything?  



GM

Airwolf, you'll be hearing from my attorney if you do not cease and desist your daily assault on my blood pressure.

Quoted: All of that is lost on Matt Dotson, who wants that elevator fixed. Dotson said, "Get a screwdriver, get a hammer, get a saw. Just get it fixed."

I feel bad for the kid, but part of growing up (disability or no disability) is learning that you can't have everything you want.  Unfortunately many parents these days do not teach this to their children.

There were a couple class trips to Roller Rinks that I didn't participate in (I have Cerebral Palsy), but dealing with being left out of those was nothing compared to the treatment I received from my classmates, many of whom I would gleefully kill, a few decades later.

CKMorley

PS The chick in the chair is hot :-)

Quoted: I'm going to hell for laughing at that one. ^

Me too

Quoted: I'm going to hell for laughing at that one. ^

Ditto.

When I first read the title I thought it meant the American Dental Association.  Now it all makes sense.

Just  keep in mind that all kids aren't born "perfect". You might end up being a father to one of "us".
My football obsessed Dad had a hell of a time dealing with the fact that his only son wasn't gonna be a Football Hero.

But on the Bright Side, disabled teens don't get preggers or get their GF's preggers, because the "normal" kids won't date them.....

As for the cave...... just fix the fucking lift. If this were a tour group of crusty old AARP'ers, they'd fix it post-haste.


CKMorley

This is a tough crowd.

I hear the Chickamauga battlefield isn't ADA compliant either.




One thing they left out of the article, surprisingly, is the elevator is also the emergency exit for any medical situations. If it ain't up to code, there is a bigger problem then some poor lil kid who can't go on a field trip.



MCNP is about 50 miles down the road from my house. If I hade the time, I'd probably go every month. I've done the half-day cave crawl, the 4 hr lantern tour, and the historical tour several times. While I can understand the desire for the boy to see the cave system, trekking him up and down the various stairs and inclines would be a monumental. Perhaps the boys dad could step up to the plate and carry him.

ever read the short story...Harrison Bergeron?

Our society has been reduced to the lower level, so we dont hurt the feelings of others.

NEWS 25 asked Matt's teacher Kerri Rowe said, "How would it make you feel if Matt couldn't go?" She said, "It would not be enjoyable. I don't think I could enjoy the trip without him."

Wow! Somebody get this lady some rubber boots and Charmin!

I agree with the school.
A 4th grade class is a team of sorts. Stick together thru thick and thin, help one another, etc. I applaud their decision, though it seems unfair to the others. Try to imagine it thru the lives of that child or his parents.

Quoted: Quoted: All of that is lost on Matt Dotson, who wants that elevator fixed. Dotson said, "Get a screwdriver, get a hammer, get a saw. Just get it fixed." I feel bad for the kid, but part of growing up (disability or no disability) is learning that you can't have everything you want.  Unfortunately many parents these days do not teach this to their children.

Exactly.

Good. Dumb public schools following dumb public rules. Pain felt because of it.

Introduce school choice, the problem solves itself.

They should get some volunteers to take the kid to an uber-ly cooler place... it wouldn't cost more than $50, between gas, lunch, etc.

Hell, they could open it up to a few more kids.

I don't like the idea of cancelling a trip for one person but leaving that one person high and dry is just not kosher.

I'm sure they can work something out.  At this point, and because kids arent beaten enough these days, the other students are just going to hold it against him.

- BUCC_Guy  
(With only a month of wheel-chair experience, I can't really pretend to understand the kid's situation to any extent)

You see when I was a kid, we didn't lower ourselves to the lowest common denominator but raised the lowest common denominator up. The system has changed.

TJ, this sums up EXACTLY what has changed in this country, and what will be it's downfall.

Uppidy crips ruining our country. You know the Germans didn't stand for this in the 30's. They did something aobut it...

[qb]
Nazi Euthanasia

In October of 1939 amid the turmoil of the outbreak of war Hitler ordered widespread "mercy killing" of the sick and disabled.

Code named "Aktion T 4," the Nazi euthanasia program to eliminate "life unworthy of life" at first focused on newborns and very young children. Midwives and doctors were required to register children up to age three who showed symptoms of mental retardation, physical deformity, or other symptoms included on a questionnaire from the Reich Health Ministry.

A decision on whether to allow the child to live was then made by three medical experts solely on the basis of the questionnaire, without any examination and without reading any medical records.

Each expert placed a + mark in red pencil or - mark in blue pencil under the term "treatment" on a special form. A red plus mark meant a decision to kill the child. A blue minus sign meant meant a decision against killing. Three plus symbols resulted in a euthanasia warrant being issued and the transfer of the child to a 'Children's Specialty Department' for death by injection or gradual starvation.

The decision had to be unanimous. In cases where the decision was not unanimous the child was kept under observation and another attempt would be made to get a unanimous decision.

The Nazi euthanasia program quickly expanded to include older disabled children and adults. Hitler's decree of October, 1939, typed on his personal stationery and back dated to Sept. 1, enlarged "the authority of certain physicians to be designated by name in such manner that persons who, according to human judgment, are incurable can, upon a most careful diagnosis of their condition of sickness, be accorded a mercy death."

Questionnaires were then distributed to mental institutions, hospitals and other institutions caring for the chronically ill.

Patients had to be reported if they suffered from schizophrenia, epilepsy, senile disorders, therapy resistant paralysis and syphilitic diseases, retardation, encephalitis, Huntington's chorea and other neurological conditions, also those who had been continuously in institutions for at least 5 years, or were criminally insane, or did not posses German citizenship or were not of German or related blood, including Jews, Negroes, and Gypsies.

A total of six killing centers were established including the well known psychiatric clinic at Hadamar. The euthanasia program was eventually headed by an SS man named Christian Wirth, a notorious brute with the nickname 'the savage Christian.'

At Brandenburg, a former prison was converted into a killing center where the first Nazi experimental gassings took place. The gas chambers were disguised as shower rooms, but were actually hermetically sealed chambers connected by pipes to cylinders of carbon monoxide. Patients were generally drugged before being led naked into the gas chamber. Each killing center included a crematorium where the bodies were taken for disposal. Families were then falsely told the cause of death was medical such as heart failure or pneumonia.
[/qb]

To those of you who are link challanged.

Harrison Bergeron