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Mother says special-needs children segregated at trampoline business
WISN.COM ^ | 10 APRIL 2015 | WISN.COM

Posted on 04/11/2015 5:49:11 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist

NEW BERLIN, Wis. —A mother of children who have special needs said she was treated poorly at a local trampoline business.

VIDEO: Mother disappointed over treatment of special needs children at Trampoline park

Amanda Karol said she wants her children to be treated in the same way as others. She and her husband adopted five children with Down syndrome from Ukraine.

Karol said she took their children to Helium Trampoline Park in New Berlin Thursday to celebrate one of their birthdays. However, she said they were segregated.

(Excerpt) Read more at wisn.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: downsyndrome; specialneeds
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1 posted on 04/11/2015 5:49:11 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

I wonder whether the trampoline park has certain insurance requirements….also wonder how coordinated those kids are. Some Downs kids could probably handle it, but I wouldn’t want to be responsible for their safety.


2 posted on 04/11/2015 6:02:15 PM PDT by Veto! (Opinions freely dispensed as advice)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

Yeah, and if her kid got hurt playing with the other kids, she would be screaming about that.


3 posted on 04/11/2015 6:04:24 PM PDT by Veggie Todd (The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. TJ)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

No good deed goes unpunished.


4 posted on 04/11/2015 6:04:54 PM PDT by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist
adopted five children with Down syndrome from Ukraine

Because there aren't any disabled children awaiting adoption in the US?

5 posted on 04/11/2015 6:08:33 PM PDT by PAR35
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To: Veggie Todd

Screaming and suing. I wonder that anyone opens a business anymore.


6 posted on 04/11/2015 6:08:57 PM PDT by jonathonandjennifer
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

She could have arranged in advance to have X amount of time reserved for her own party. Did she have an appropriate number of adults to supervise the children, or did she expect the business to devote their entire staff to her family only? It looks like she was looking to be offended. Isn’t everyone these days?


7 posted on 04/11/2015 6:11:43 PM PDT by EDINVA
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To: PAR35

I have friends who adopted a child with Downs from another country. There are more abandoned special needs children in other countries than in the US. Also, most kids available for adoption are in foster care in the US and that can be more difficult than going through an adoption agency for overseas adoptions.

My brother was adopted from foster care and it turned into a nightmare for my parents. He wasn’t the problem, the cozy relationship between the county (to whom you are tied forever when adopting from them) and the abusive adult group home literally contributed to my mother’s heart attack.

While this lady seems to be seeking attention, I would imagine her life is pretty stressful. I can’t imagine adopting five special needs kids. She might just be on edge from the strain.


8 posted on 04/11/2015 6:21:36 PM PDT by NorthstarMom
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To: PAR35

More power to her, it takes a special person to adopt special needs children, especially five of them.


9 posted on 04/11/2015 6:24:19 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

How can the lady’s children be treated like all the other kids when her Down’s kids will never be like the other kids. No law could ever be written that will make them equal. She needs to find other ways of entertainment that is appropriate for her special needs kids. The custodian mom needs help more than the kids.


10 posted on 04/11/2015 6:25:49 PM PDT by Doulos1 (Bitter Clinger Forever!)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

When I campaigned my Gorfym-the-Frog children’s ride around the Midwest fairs for a few years I was approached by a number of families with “special needs” kids. If I judged the child capable of sliding down Gorfym’s tongue and desiring to do it, I got it done, but I did NOT treat them as I would other kids. That might have resulted in injuries and I never had an injured child- or adult. Some of them I would catch at the bottom of the slide. Some of them I would clear the slide for a couple of moments so there would be no pushing and shoving. Each was treated as I judged appropriate. I saw a class of SpecEds with their teachers on the first day at the fair in Tulsa and invited them all to slide once for free who desired to. They all did and I had to gauge and treat each individually. The return was good. All their relatives came over the next few days bringing their more normal kids with money. The Frog got in the paper and that brought me more kids with money. It was a profitable fair.


11 posted on 04/11/2015 6:36:34 PM PDT by arthurus (it's true!)
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To: PAR35

We now have three beautiful biological children, but eight years ago we were faced with the fact that adoption was our only way to have children. International adoption was our only choice. Adoption within the U.S. is rife with negative issues. Not not that, but open adoptions are the “thing” now; as in, bio parents get to have a minor role in the process. This often leads to extortion. Give bio mom $1K and whe won’t show up to the kid’s birthday party.


12 posted on 04/11/2015 6:46:19 PM PDT by goodwithagun (My gun has killed fewer people than Ted Kennedy's car.)
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To: rockrr

“Put” in the corner? My kids fight to get in the corner at the trampoline park-its the safest (and most fun) place to be. My kids play multiple sports and I fear them being in the middle and getting knocked into. The trampoline business should be commended not criticized.


13 posted on 04/11/2015 6:51:33 PM PDT by icwhatudo (Low taxes and less spending in Sodom and Gomorrah is not my idea of a conservative victory)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

has she ever heard of liability??????


14 posted on 04/11/2015 6:58:50 PM PDT by terycarl (common sense prevails over all)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist
Amanda Karol said she wants her children to be treated in the same way as others.

And some parents are in complete denial.

I know someone who is employed at a local elementary school as a “teachers’ aide”. Her actual job title is “Learning Support Instructional Aide”. Although she’s now assigned to a few other children too, her job, the reason she was hired in the first place was to aid the teacher in dealing with one child; a boy with very pronounced Autism. She tells me that he can be sweet at times and he is very bright when it comes to math, but he can be very loud and disruptive when not interested in what is being taught and sometimes acts out violently, toward himself and toward other children and adults when he doesn’t get his way. Her job is to try to keep him focused, help him learn as best she can while also keeping him from completely disrupting the classroom by keeping him as quiet as she can and not having him take up all the teacher’s time, i.e. allowing the other kids in the classroom to learn.

But another child she sometimes works with, along with another “Learning Support Instructional Aide” assigned to her full time, is girl with Downs Syndrome. This girl is in the 5th grade but can’t read, can’t write, can’t do anywhere near even 1st grade math, can’t go to the bathroom by herself and is very difficult to control in the classroom. And sorry to shatter the conception that all Downs Syndrome children or adults are big bundles of love, this girl has very violent tendencies and has hit, kicked, pushed and bitten other children and teachers, even one time attacked another child with a pair of scissors. She sometimes gets so out of control that she has to be removed from school for her own safety and the safety of others (and I think has had to be hospitalized on a few occasions from what my friend told me) but a few days later, she’s back at school and the whole cycle starts all over again.

None of the teachers or teacher’s aides, the school administrators, the school’s counselor (and probably most of the kids) in this school think that she (or they boy with Autism) should be there; that they would be better served by being in a special school, one better staffed and equipped to deal with their special needs and not “mainlined” in a regular school.

But this girl’s mother is some sort of “advocate for the disabled” and insists that her daughter be “treated just like everyone else” and has threatened to sue the school district for any perception she has that her daughter is being treated “differently” from the other children. That includes her insistence that her daughter not be held back (and FWIW, that is treating her “differently” from other children without disabilities, but that doesn’t seem to register with her), insisting that she be allowed to participate in sports and field trips, school plays and concerts, etc. even when it causes big problems and difficulties for the school and sometimes endangers not only her child but the other children.

But contrary to what she thinks about her “special snowflake”, the reality is that her daughter IS DIFFERENT. That’s not to say that children with “special needs” (and FWIW, I don’t know about anyone else, but I am rather beginning to hate that term along with terms like “differently abled”) should be locked away, mistreated and shunned by society, but thinking that they are not “different” and just like everyone else, or even “more special” than anyone else, is to deny the reality.

15 posted on 04/11/2015 7:18:31 PM PDT by MD Expat in PA
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist
My viewpoint has always been simple. No business owner is a slave. No one must serve anyone. No one must sell to anyone. I honestly don't give a rip if someone is a bigot who kicks every black person (or Downs person) out the door.

There's no reason for the government to be involved in the slightest. She's likely going to refrain from patronizing the business, and if I guess right, the business will be extremely happy about it.

My brother in law has Downs; it can be hard to take him places, especially when he gets excited (his mental facilities are about on par with a six year old.) I would not get offended if a business said ‘I'm sorry, but he's creating a disturbance and needs to leave.’ That has happened before, though each time it has happened, the business bent over backwards to offer alternatives.

In the case of one entertainment center, the owner offered to come in early so he could enjoy the games at whatever volume he wanted.

It isn't everyone else’s job to adapt to your needs, but for you to adapt your needs to fit in with everyone else. And from my experience, most businesses are willing to compromise.

16 posted on 04/11/2015 7:19:53 PM PDT by kingu (Everything starts with slashing the size and scope of the federal government.)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

Trampolines are inherently dangerous, even to well-coordinated children who need a lot of training before yu can let them exercise on them. Even then children need extremely careful watching.

Any trampoline park who let Downs children on a trampoline without extra special care for them would be derelict in my opinion.


17 posted on 04/11/2015 7:30:16 PM PDT by wildbill (If you check behind the shower curtain for a murderer, and find one.... what's yoIur plan?)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

Shocked to find so many (probably) unintended arguments for abortion here at FR.

Apparently, many here feel that Down Syndrome individuals should be treated differently. Excluded. Kept away from “normal” people.

You’ll all condemn those who abort, but many abort because they’ve heard from people like you and are terrified.

News flash: Pro-life is more than lip service. If we ever want people to accept a Down Syndrome pregnancy, those children who are here already need to be loved and included. They need to be accepted, not talked about like they are huge liabilitie or ate somehow contagious.

Shunning and excluding the disabled is not pro-life.


18 posted on 04/11/2015 8:47:03 PM PDT by mountainbunny (Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens ~ J.R.R. Tolkien)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist
She say's segregated, I say special treatment with their safety in mind.

Just cannot win with some people, holding her kid up as a shield to be a whiney flake.

19 posted on 04/11/2015 8:49:50 PM PDT by MaxMax (Call the local GOP and ask how you can support CRUZ for POTUS, Make them talk!)
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To: mountainbunny

I try to take everyone’s opinion into consideration.

I am not pro-abort nor do I think that this is an “exclusion” factor.

It has to do with a company’s liability, imho. If the parents wanted to stay away from any issue, they could have always rented a trampoline and put it in their backyard. The liability would have been theirs.

Truthfully, I wouldn’t own a trampoline center at all. Way too much liability.


20 posted on 04/11/2015 11:06:00 PM PDT by berdie
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