A primary school in Inverness has cancelled an adventure holiday for its pupils after the mother of a disabled pupil threatened to sue the school for discrimination because her daughter was incapable of taking part.
Rather than tell the idiot mother to crawl back under whatever rock she’d dragged herself out from underneath, Highland Council has cancelled the trip.
The British government’s DirectGov website has these guidelines on obligations for service providers under the Disability Discrimination Act:
Under the DDA, it is against the law for service providers to treat disabled people less favourably than other people for a reason related to their disability. Service providers have to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to the way they deliver their services so that disabled people can use them.
[…]
What is considered a ‘reasonable adjustment’ for a large organisation like a bank may be different to a reasonable adjustment for a small local shop. It is about what is practical in the service provider’s individual situation and what resources the business may have. They will not be required to make changes which are impractical or beyond their means.
Is there any reasonable adjustment that can be made to enable a disabled child whose mother says would be unable to take part in any of the physical activities to take part in an adventure holiday? No, quite obviously not and Highland Council need a slap for caving in to this idiot.
The issue in my view is whether the school has checked with the adventure holiday centre as to the reasonable level of adjustment that can be provided and who might as a result be excluded. As this is a holiday specifically provided in the great outdoors, it is likely many activities will exclude disabled people by the very nature of the activity involved and although unfortunate there would appear to be little that can be done for individual disabled people to take part in these activities, but that should not be allowed to stop other people taking part.
I’m incapable of playing a piano concerto in the Albert Hall, who do I sue?