.
A bthdzbiekk
blind girl in Britain has been told she cannot use her cane at school because it presents a tripping hazard.
A tripping hazard, that is, to the people who can see her — and her cane. According to the Bristol Post:
Lily-Grace Hooper, who is seven, suffered a stroke when she was just four days old, which left her virtually blind.
But her school, Hambrook Primary School, has now told the youngster she can no longer use her walking cane, because it could trip up teachers and other pupils at the school.
A risk assessment by Gary Learmonth from Sensory Support Service — done on behalf of the school — said the cane caused a high risk to other people around Lily-Grace, and that she should instead have full adult support “100 per cent” at all times.
In other words, at the risk assessor’s behest, the school is ready to create a dependent and incapacitated child out of a bold and bubbly girl who was getting around just fine. In fact, she’d come up with the cane idea herself, after tripping over some wrapping paper rolls at Christmas, and then realizing she could use them to tap her way around.
Her mother is, not surprisingly, beside herself:
“What about the health and safety of my girl? I like school, they are a good school, but this really is very poor advice.”
Perhaps. But to a certain bureaucratic mind, it not poor advice at all. It’s sensible! Jo Dent, the head of the school, insists, “The pupil has not been banned from bringing in their cane, we have simply asked them to not use it around school as a temporary measure, until we have the chance to meet with the parent and discuss the situation.”
Which is sort of like saying the gasping patient can have the oxygen tank in his room, he just can’t use it until after some more discussions.
Fortunately, an exec from Britain’s Health and Safety brigade has weighed in and said there is nothing that prevents a child from using a “walking stick” in school.
Nothing except a mindset that can’t see the forest for the tripping hazards. Quoth Ms. Dent:
“We have to consider all our pupils, so it’s important that we have an opportunity to discuss the situation before we make any decisions.”
Now there’s a lady who likes to discuss! Maybe once those discussions ensue she will see the light: Independence is the goal. Not blind adherence to bureaucracy. – L
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77 Comments
This is interesting as I would have assumed this type of discrimination was illegal in Britain, which has a similar system to our’s…or we to their’s I guess. I cannot fathom what the headmistress was thinking, to even suggest such a thing.
Just listened to an old episode of the podcast Invisibilia (the episode title has something to do with batman) in which they discuss, among other things, how being blind is something of a social construction with regards to how independent blind people can be. Except that all of these “social good” agencies are more about telling blind people what they can and can’t do and that they must be dependent on a seeing person than they are about actually helping the blind person learn to function in the world… So I’m not surprised they want to give her adult supervision 24/7 instead of a cane. I bet this is more about making the girl dependent so they don’t have to worry about her injuring herself than it is about other kids safety.
Maybe she can use a pool noodle?
/sarcasm, btw
I’m with Hineata – it sounds illegal to me. Besides insane and inhumane.
“Maybe she can use a pool noodle?”
Or a snooker cue. This is England, after all.
Seriously, though: WTF? Tripping hazard? Just because bureaucrats are incredibly klutzy doesn’t mean kids are.
“A risk assessment by Gary Learmonth from Sensory Support Service ”
WTH is Sensory Support Service? Sounds like another useless bureaucratic organization. The risk assessment sounds off as well, is it Grace or all the other students who are going to be unaware?
I wonder if there is a human rights issue here, removing a mobility aid from someone who needs it.
My late father is turning in his grave hearing this! My dad was a mobility instructor – a special education teacher who teaches blind students to be independent, primarily using a cane. He worked for a school district, so worked with students in K-12 (US). His primary goal was to empower the student to NOT have adult assistance. They crossed streets, shopped for Christmas gifts at the mall, navigated school and college campuses. Ugh.
Incidentally, my aunt is a retired mobility instructor as well. We recently visited one of her former students. He is a PhD candidate in biochemistry at University of California at Davis. That campus is huge and spread out! He navigated us sighted people around that campus! This guy is also creating 4D models of chemical compounds labeled with braille. He’s doing this to make chemistry more accessible to blind children. I really wonder what would have become of this guy if he was told he needed adult supervisiono 100% of the time.
Would not it also be a tripping hazard for her to be without a cane? Given there are “risks” for both of them she should be more at risk than those that can see properly.
We should remove all objects from the environment of children as they prose tripping hazards. I mean, really, what is more important than preventing our most vulnerable from falling onto the floor? If it prevents just one skinned knee, isn’t it worth it? Think of the children!
Absolutely insane. Instead of taking away the mobility and independence of the disabled child, how about teaching the sighted kids to be more aware of their surroundings and those not as able bodied? My father is blind in one eye and walks with a cane. If someone said he couldn’t have his cane I’d be apoplectic.
The reason blind people’s canes are white and red is to make them noticeable to sighted people and thereby prevent being tripped over! (That is, that’s standard in the US- not sure about UK.)
Is the Bristol Post like the British version of the Onion or something?
What about crutches? Do those kids now have to use wheelchairs?
How about desk legs and chair legs? Those things probably trip more kids in school than ONE girl’s tool for independence.
As someone who is not blind but extremely accident prone (tripping is my specialty), I would respectfully ask that all area rugs and non-skid mats also be removed because the edges on them are just asking me to trip over them. Add to that high heels and flip flops. If you want to really reduce tripping- it’s often stupid shoes that someone is wearing (running in flip flops should be a felony) so all schools should go shoeless effective immediately. Human error causes tripping accidents, not one blind person’s cane.
MichaelF
I had the same reaction to “Sensory Support Service”. Seems to me that this is all about liability, and liability insurance — and nothing to do with real risk or the health and safety of the blind or the other students.
I can almost see the school’s point. Some kids are bad, and their parents worse. It takes one kid to ‘absentmindedly’ cross the poor girl’s path and fall…the student’s parents sue the school for not protecting their precious’s safety…and the school has to settle. Money’s better suited to education going toward settlement. That’s the way they’re probably thinking. You can’t tell me people don’t do that, in this world of people suing because coffee is hot.
Also, if the school is crowded and the girl’s stick is out far enough, actual tripping is very possible. Kids when they’re going from class to class, or to lunch for that matter, don’t pay attention to their feet. They’re watching their friends or the teachers/hall monitors.
I’m having a “Wall-E” moment and imagining us all is automated wheel chairs with screens attached. Less risk of tripping and living without health complications from lack of physical activity.
We are naturally social creatures – so much of evolutionary biology and psychology suggests our strength is in creating bonds and social support systems. We are, by nature, an accommodating species. The classmates of this girl can and should accommodate something as simple as a cane.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stumbled after stepping on a crayon. They should probably ban those too.
‘Some kids are bad, and their parents worse.’
And then there are the apologists. They are the worst of all.
This should not be a problem, as most British helicopter parents now insist that their children be kept in plexiglass boxes for the duration of the school day. Ms. Julia Owsley, an educator at St. Crispin’s School for the Arts said, “It’s only a problem when the plexi-children need to go to the bathroom and they’ve forgotten their escape-keys. Unfortunately, teachers are not allowed to have a master key because we might be child molesters. The good thing about it is that if a child is being disruptive, you can cover their box with a cloth and they’ll go right to sleep, just like a budgie.”
Let’s get something straight. We are talking about a white walking stick for a blind person, not a 4 by 4 of oak or hickory. This stick is designed to be light, for a few reasons. First to allow for sensitivity, so that the person can feel what the stick has hit and somewhat identify it. Also so that continued use is easy and does not cause fatigue.
Anyone that walks or runs into this stick is going to push it aside, not trip over it. And if you actually trip over something like this, you need to stop drinking during the day.
Come on, it’s an assault stick. A potential weapon…. right?
Who else here has seen the story arc in Little House On The Prairie (in either the books or the TV show) where Mary gradually goes blind, and then later, attends a school for the blind, learns how to be independent, and ultimately grows up to be a teacher? This is considered to be a happy ending, or a success story, because Mary goes on to live a relatively normal life, despite being blind. Now, in 2015, more than a century after the time in which Little House On The Prairie was set, a school is saying that a blind student “should have full adult support 100% of the time.” The way I see it, that’s not progress.
Send the kid to school with a cricket bat then. At least she’ll be able to defend herself when the zombie apocalypse comes.
A riduculous story like this deserves a ridiculous solution.
I actually did trip over a blind girl’s cane once. It was a crowded public place. I was so humiliated and apologized profusely. She just laughed and assured me it was fine.
I did not sue for injury or humiliation.
And Warren, to explain my ability to trip (probably why the gal laughed) is despite the fact I don’t drink, I’m very spacey and can trip over anything. Indeed, it takes a very special person to trip over those sticks and I’m one of them!
Hmm, maybe we should teach people not to trip over blind people’s canes? It’s not hard — I’ve worked in offices with bllind co-workers and it’s amazing how easy it is not to trip over their cane.
And what are these people going to do when they leave the safe fluffy confines of the school building only to be out in the world with people with canes?
What about prosthetic legs? Hazard or helpful?
What about wheelchairs? Either we demand they get rid of them, because rolling over someones toes can be dangerous, or we demand all students where steel toed boots.
No crutches either. Not the ones for those that need them permanently and not the ones for those with a temporary injury.
Instead of doing away with the cane, why not instruct the kids to watch where they’re going? Why not emphasize to them that a person with a red tipped cane has a visual impairment, therefore, they should be cognizant of that person when walking or running near them? You know, children ARE capable of being trained and this would be a prime opportunity to instruct them on the importance of being considerate to handicapped individuals. Just MY 2 cents worth.
In the US, this would be a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Not sure how these things work in the UK.
This is one of the dumbest things I’ve read in awhile.
Caiti, that Invisibilia episode was the first thing I thought of!
I really hope the negative press this school is receiving has them reconsider the needs of a blind child to learn independence. We need to teach them they are capable and smart, not dependent and needing “full adult support 100 percent of the time”.
They are capable of so much more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIGN44XJ7bY
Also, there’s the Anthony Doerr book “All the Light We Cannot See”d where the main character is a girl (Marie-Laure) that at age six goes blind. Her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. Later in the book the Nazis occupy Paris and she must flee the city and gets separated from her father and needs to survive. Her blindness at first is seen as such a disability, but as this great story unfolds it’s clear that she uses her other senses to well compensate for this disadvantage.
So the parent got in an aide for the child without discussing it with school. And the school have said, could we just hold off on this until we’ve discussed it because we have X hundred children to consider.
Have I read this wrong? I’m not really seeing the problem with the school here. A cane may not be suitable everywhere. A yard with 200 4 – 7 year olds running around in it, some of whom might have their own special needs, isn’t the same as using one in an office building or even on the street. It may be appropriate, but the school saying hold on, we need to check doesn’t seem outrageous to me.
I assume that the Headmistress and bureaucrats are concerned the a liability lawsuit if someone trips over the girl’s cane. Meaning that the legal system is driving us to overprotection.
I highly recommend the following about a blind man who gives blind people more independence:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kish
So, this genius consultant, did he also assess stairways, big feet, untied shoelaces, and the various bits and pieces of unattended student paraphernalia at the same time? School halls must be minefields by his reckoning.
Unfortunately here in the UK this is technically legal as providing the suggested 1:1 would be considered suitable adjustment to make for the blind girl (if they said she couldn’t use her cane and then diddn’t provide an alternative then they would be breaking the disability discrimination act. )
And this sort of cane is solely white in the UK…. If you see one with red stripes then it means the person is both blind and deaf
“First God made idiots. That was for practise. Then he made school boards.”
-Mark Twain
This is one of my favorite quotes and is certainly relevant here. I feel very sorry for the little girl and her mom.
Perhaps this story should be sent to John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight HBO TV show.
Keep up your excellent, compassionate work! I love your blog.
“You know, children ARE capable of being trained…” @John, I think that may be the prime difference between free range parents and the helicopters. We actually believe the kids can learn, instead of thinking they ‘aren’t ready’ as proven by the lack of knowing things they haven’t been given the opportunity to learn.
@HKQ452,
Blind people are part of society and have been for probably most of human existence. We know canes have been used by people for navigation for centuries (at least). I would expect a school to be able to deal with that fact, and deal with it without needing notification, or to spend months trying to figure out how to handle it. It’s a cane. The kid needs it. You make it work like a responsible adult.
But perhaps things are different there. The ‘white cane’ article on Wikipedia indicates the UK is a bit behind in this area. While the rest of the world has found great success with giving canes to blind toddlers, the UK generally doesn’t introduce the cane until 7 to 10 years old. I guess this elementary decided to make things easier for them self by pushing mobility training off on the the secondary schools by failing to start/discouraging cane use in 7-10 year old children. I’m guessing they don’t want to start mobility training, and lack either the training or budget for mobility training. I agree with @MichaelF, this is a human rights issue. Absolutely disgusting that they won’t let her do what blind toddlers do in the rest of the world.
@HKQ452 It seems like the school got thing out of order if they wanted to be considered as being “respectful” of the situation. It appears that the girl started using the device in school, then the school arranged for a risk assessment from an outside agency (which doesn’t usually happen over night), got the report or recommendations from said agency, told the girl to stop using the device, then sent a letter to the parent requesting a meeting to discuss.
Should the mom have communicated with the school that the family was working to provide the girl with a mobility device *ahead* of it showing up at school? Out of fairness to the school, I would say that would have been the preferred, respectful approach on the part of the family. However, common sense would lead one to believe that this isn’t necessary as the parents are the responsible parties for the child and that making a child more independent would be supported by a school. I’m not sure that I would have acted differently than this parent did.
Given that it appears that the parent did not include the school, the school should still do the right things right. First step should have been a call or note to the parent requesting a meeting to discuss the situation and everyone’s concerns, THEN if warranted by the school, engage a risk assessment. Then meet with parent again to review the findings and discuss and develop a plan. The parent may or may not agree with the plan, but they aren’t being blind-sided either.
How about all the helicopter parents put medical helmets on their kids in case they trip over the cane and manage to hit their head? Then have the other parents sign contracts to the school saying they will not sue if they refuse the helmet. If their kids cannot pay attention to a blind girls cane and parents refuse to but a helmet on, it is the parents fault. Each day this world seems more insane.
HKQ452 November 19, 2015 at 1:06 pm #
So the parent got in an aide for the child without discussing it with school….
Good God, where are you from? Do other people around you share your thinking? Is the use of a cane by a blind person so far beyond your realm of experience that you think it appropriate to contract a consultant to conduct a risk assessment? Are the children in your world so inept that the presence of a cane is a viable threat to their health an safety? Are you this deferential to the opinion of anyone, no matter how outrageous, that you perceive to be in a position of authority?
Please visit me here in New England the next time your hair need sheared. The weather is getting chilly this time of year and I could use a new wool sweater.
“Blind people are part of society and have been for probably most of human existence. We know canes have been used by people for navigation for centuries (at least). I would expect a school to be able to deal with that fact, and deal with it without needing notification, or to spend months trying to figure out how to handle it. It’s a cane. The kid needs it. You make it work like a responsible adult.”
Needing a cane, crutches, wheelchair, or other modern devise designed to increase mobility is a basic human right. Lastly, if the school confiscates her cane, can this child at least have a seeing eye dog to navigate her environment?
@lollipoplover Probably no on a dog – dog bites, allergies. /sarcasm/
@Julie-
I was hoping this girl be granted a seeing eye dog if they took away her cane. Maybe an obese and abundantly shedding St. Bernard that breathes loudly and emits noxious gas during school hours, especially towards these administrators who seemed to have lost their common sense.
Or at least tripped over it.
@Julie – That does sound like a better way for the school to have gone about it.
@Roger I’m from the same place as the family in the article. And yes, the children here are “so inept” (or as I call it, normal and energetic) that I could see a long cane in the school playground being something quite a few of them would fail to notice when they’re running around. I don’t think that’s necessarily a reason to say it’s inappropriate, heaven knows they have enough other stuff they trip over, but it’s still an additional hazard. So the school wanting to think about it doesn’t seem unreasonable to me.
I was in third grade when I had my toes run over by a wheelchair in school. Actually wasn’t that bad and I don’t think I even said ow. It was one of the motorized ones too, so heavier, but with big rubber wheels. And as to those defending the school, it says she’s been using the cane IN SCHOOL since April. Why is it suddenly a problem now?
That school doesn’t sound like a safe space.
CHILDREN CANNOT SOLVE OWN PROBLEMS. BLEEP BLOOP. PRINCIPALBOT NOT COMPREHEND CHILD SELF-SUFFICIENCY OR BENEFITS OF INDEPENDENCE FOR DISABLED.
Well then, HKQ452, perhaps you should take the advice I posted earlier, in jest, and propose it at your next meeting with the headmistress. Reposted here for your convenience.
We should remove all objects from the environment of children as they prose tripping hazards. I mean, really, what is more important than preventing our most vulnerable from falling onto the floor? If it prevents just one skinned knee, isn’t it worth it? Think of the children!
I will never understand the British deference to illegitimate authority. They still slobber over their royal family, for christ’s sake.
And now, something (not entirely) different – my favorite clip from my, obviously, favorite movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxGqcCeV3qk
My handle would be Dennis, but no one would get it.
“I will never understand the British deference to illegitimate authority. They still slobber over their royal family, for christ’s sake.”
News flash: So do Americans. Enough of them to make it commercially viable, anyway.
I see this as good news. Please let me explain before you jump down my throat.
I can’t see that taking away her cane as a lasting solution. However I do enjoy watching bureaucrats hang themselves. Although this poor girl is being trampled on by stupidity, I can’t see that she will lose her cane. A flock of people will jump to her side and she’ll become an instant celebrity just like Danielle and Alexander Meitiv. I enjoyed watching the egg on the face with the Maryland CPS.
I don’t like policy and regulation where common sense is no longer utilized. I’m glad to see intelligence starting to make a comeback. (although this post says otherwise) However we need to be careful that we look past headlines. Stupid bureaucracy stories are becoming sought after by the news. We all know how the News loves to change facts in order to get the most outrage. If we believe everything printed as fact (about stupidity) then we are just as guilty as the people that believe that there is a kidnapper lurking on every corner because the headlines say so.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the ‘facts’ of this story were altered to get the maximum outrage.
I hope I am not the only one who giggled at thoughts of this girl sitting in the hallway intentionally tripping everyone over… just because she is 7 and how much fun would that be!!
(I think red tape is a much bigger tripping hazard!)
There’s a blind man that walks up and down the road regularly. Right on the edge of the road so he can tap it with his walking stick every other tap so he knows where he’s going. Maybe I should stop and tell him that he’s creating a tripping hazard for stray dogs and passing cars?
When I was at primary school I had a blind classmate who used a cane, yes people did trip over it from time to time, but no more so that we tripped over random school bags left in stupid places, our own laces or each others feet!
After tripping over it once most kids quickly leant to look where they were going!
There must be no stairs in that school, because if anything’s a falling/tripping hazard, is a staircase.
Was there an accident with the cane? Or is this just another stupid example of “worst-first” thinking? Let’s all cry and ban the cane because sometime,somewhere, in this or another reality, someone might stub a toe on the cane. Oops! Mommy, don’t let that maybe, ever, never happen.
Unhinged from reality.
So I was reading the comments to my husband, as our 4 year old falls down all over trying the unrestricted setting on her skates. She announced “Falling is okay, you can get back up again. I’m learning.” Now if only these administrators could learn from her.
Re: prosthetic legs – remember a while ago when they banned the high school basketball player from playing because his prosthetic leg was deemed a hazard to the other players?
Barry,
This American Life did a segment on Daniel Kish:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/544/batman
If I remember correctly, his mother refused to treat him differently than a child who could see. It was really interesting to hear about his experiences riding a bike as a child and how he believes blind people are capable of far more than they currently do (this in reference to his helping blind children) – it is fear, often from their parents and well meaning people, that keep them from accomplishing more.
Kids shouldn’t be allowed to wear eyeglasses at school, either – they’re an accident risk.
The regulator has stated the school was wrong.
http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Regulator-rubbishes-health-safety-claims-denied/story-28193039-detail/story.html
So the minor tripping hazard to sighted persons which is caused by the cane is more important than the far greater tripping hazard that this girl faces without her cane?
“I can almost see the school’s point. Some kids are bad, and their parents worse. It takes one kid to ‘absentmindedly’ cross the poor girl’s path and fall…the student’s parents sue the school for not protecting their precious’s safety…and the school has to settle. Money’s better suited to education going toward settlement. That’s the way they’re probably thinking. You can’t tell me people don’t do that, in this world of people suing because coffee is hot.” Not really, I’ve had people trip over my cane more times than I would like and have never heard of this. I completely agree with all the outrage here.
Please folks, know the facts before referring to the ‘hot coffee’ lawsuit as sue-happy or frivolous, unless you believe that getting 3rd degree burns from a beverage is perfectly fine.
https://www.caoc.org/?pg=facts
“Please folks, know the facts before referring to the ‘hot coffee’ lawsuit as sue-happy or frivolous, unless you believe that getting 3rd degree burns from a beverage is perfectly fine.”
That case was by definition not frivolous… the plaintiff won (although not as much as she’d hoped).
McDonald’s didn’t lose because their coffee is hot, they lost because it’s so much hotter than hot coffee normally is. They serve it super hot because people who buy coffee from a drive-through are planning on drinking coffee somewhere else, and they want it to still be hot when they get there. So McD’s coffee is 180-190 degrees rather than the 155-165 that coffee is usually served at.
Why don’t they just make all the kids use wheelchairs then no one will ever trip, because what is one girl’s lifelong independence compared to the chance of some skinned knees?
Are you kidding me? The stupidity of the establishment makes me crazy. This kid needs to learn independence not to rely on others to take her from place to place. It makes me wonder how we can see the stupidity but the people in “power” can’t or won’t. She needs to believe in her own self and they are interfering with that. I hope it works out for her… I will be on the lookout for updates.
OMG I have been scanning some of these comments and this hkq person is annoying me no end. Why would parents of a blind child think to notify the school of a cane when the school would know she was blind and should expect her to use one for mobility. If a paraplegic kid enrolled would the parents need authorization for a wheelchair? Others have stated there are hazardous grounds to cover for all children. Out at recess balls get kicked or throw..jump ropes trip kids, hula hoops… so many toys can cause a problem. My son got smacked in the head (no not by a person) and ended up with 7 stitches…he was in first grade. Don’t parents expect a certain amount of regular kid stuff to happen. I didn’t scream that they should not play during recess… My kid got banged up and got over it. There are any number of issues arising in school and you deal with them as they come. If parents each taught their kids how to behave in the first place so many things could be avoided.
And as for the hot coffee lawsuit…I heard it was because the woman held it between her legs as she drove away and squeezed the cup therefore popping the lid and getting burned. So yes frivolous lawsuit…who holds a hot cup of anything between their knees in a moving car? That is why McD’s has cup holders and cars do as well. Had she just done that no problem. It would have cooled down by the time she got where she was going and could use her hands. Another woman filed a suit because her kid was fat but all he would eat was McD’s…so since she couldn’t let him go hungry she bought it everyday. But it was their fault because it isn’t healthy food… And may I ask who first brought him there to eat? Who didn’t teach him the word no when he asked everyday?
Some people have to take responsibility. This girl is trying to fend for herself and the school of all places is trying to inhibit her learning. Ugghhhhhh makes me crazy!
Gosh James, thanks for repeating my exact point. So thankful that someone so much smarter than the rest of us checks in on this site often in order to correct the dummies.
Gosh, Beth, way to whine like a small child. What was your point, again?
“And as for the hot coffee lawsuit…I heard it was because the woman held it between her legs as she drove away and squeezed the cup therefore popping the lid and getting burned. So yes frivolous lawsuit”
Still not a frivolous lawsuit. A frivolous lawsuit is one that the plaintiff brings but has no chance of winning, thereby wasting everybody’s time. If the plaintiff wins the case, it is by definition not frivolous.
A frivolous lawsuit would be like the guy who sued Michael Jordan for $432 million for looking like him, thereby causing him to be pestered all day by Jordan’s fans.
HKQ452,
Actually after raising three, and watching them go through school, you do not give kids nearly enough credit. Kids actually are more attentive and willing than you know or want to know.
Kids will pay attention, be mindful of this girl’s cane, and a lot of them will jump at the chance to help her carry things and get around. It is second nature to a lot of kids. And it is about time you and others start trusting in humanity.
“And as for the hot coffee lawsuit…I heard it was because the woman held it between her legs as she drove away and squeezed the cup therefore popping the lid and getting burned. So yes frivolous lawsuit…who holds a hot cup of anything between their knees in a moving car? That is why McD’s has cup holders and cars do as well. Had she just done that no problem. It would have cooled down by the time she got where she was going and could use her hands.”
Actually, that’s not what happened. Everyone who constantly cites the “hot coffee” case as a frivolous suit are buying into the corporate propaganda trying to paint it as such. If you read the actual facts, you would have a different opinion and agree with the jurors who awarded her millions (when all she asked for were her medical bills). First, the car was parked in the parking lot after going through the drive thru, so not moving. She took the top off to put in the cream and sugar, which is totally reasonable for most coffee drinkers to do. She accidentally spilled it and immediately received 3rd degree burns, which is not something a beverage that is merely hot should do. In fact, one of the reasons the jurors gave her so much is that McD had already had hundreds of injuries from their coffee and had been already cited by inspectors numerous times for keeping it at an UNSAFE temperature. Because of this case, they now keep their coffee at a safer, lower temperature, so in the future any accidental spills will not cause the severity of burns this lady had to suffer through.
I was actually told as a 17 year old high school student that my fully accessible school does not allow manual wheelchairs for safety reasons.
I have Ehlers-Danlos, a genetic disorder, and while I have trouble walking, I can propel my chair with my feet. They repeatedly told me they were not violating the ADA.