A friend of mine
tagged me in a link on Facebook. Curiously, I clicked on the link, and it was a
link to a news website. The article, which was published by the site RT.com,
told a sad story. It was similar to the story I wrote about earlier in this
blog concerning the little boy being excluded from a photo. This story, though,
hit me close to home.
I
hold two degrees, one of which is in History. A lot of History can be seen in
museums. Museums are one of the few public attractions that people can enjoy
for little to no cost while also learning something in the process. The R.T.
article told a heart-breaking story of a little girl being denied access to the
museum.
The Haas family
of North Carolina was on vacation in Georgia and intended to visit the “Ships
of the Sea” museum on a Sunday before they left. The father admitted in the
article that he was aware that it might be difficult for his daughter to make
the journey into the museum, but he was baffled by the reason she was denied
access. What reason could have confused him so much? A museum employee said
that the little girl in a wheelchair was not allowed in the museum because “the
carpets would get too dirty.” No, don’t adjust your computer screen. You are
reading that right. The little girl Lexi, who has a disability, which requires
her to use a wheelchair, was denied access not because her wheelchair wouldn’t
fit in the building, which would also be wrong—but because the carpets would
get too dirty!
I
usually am not surprised by anything anymore, but this one makes me go,
“WHAAAAA--?!” The museum later fired, to put it nicely, the “misguided employee.
“ When I read this, I thought that they had handled the situation correctly,
but when I read further down in the article, I came across another incident
where a similar problem occurred at the same museum. With Lexi’s situation,
there was a literal apology issued. Still, in the second situation where a boy
with Muscular Dystrophy was denied access, the article made no mention of an
apology. While these are only two incidents, these incidents highlight a point,
which I have made before.
The
legislation does not change people. Even though the ADA is in place to
safeguard the disabled community from these types of incidents, sadly, they
still occur. More often than not. Several years ago, I went on a school trip to
Boston, Massachusetts, around Halloween to use a personal example. The trip was
designed to showcase the Witch history of Salem. On this tour, the professor
from The Edinboro University of Pennsylvania was in charge of it was under the
impression that all sites would be accessible for the few other disabled
individuals that went on the tour and me. However, we found this not to be the
case. Granted, I am aware that Salem is a historic town, so a lot of its
buildings do not fall under the ADA because they are a grandfather. I still
believe that accommodations could have been made for the other disabled person
and me on the trip to view certain sites. Instead, we were given personal money
to go to an alternative activity. I was appreciative of the gesture, but I felt
it was a gesture that she should not have had to make. In the RT.com article,
they noted that the Haas family was offered the option for Lexi to view the
little tour on T.V. While this is an option, it takes away from experience and
further separates people with disabilities.
As
I’ve said above, this incident and others like it make me wonder. Will society
ever step out of the ’80s? If it is only persuaded to do so by words on paper, I
fear the answer is no. My question is, what will it take to bring society fully
into the 21st century when it comes to equality? For not only
disabled people but other groups as well.
Footnote:
http://rt.com/usa/museum-rejects-disabled-girl-024/
