Blind teens say ice rink denied them access; Police called
August 6th, 2008From the Baltimore Sun:
A group of fourteen blind students and five adults complained yesterday that they were not allowed to skate freely at a North Baltimore ice rink because of their disabilities.
Police were called to mediate the dispute, and no arrests were made. The students were participating in a summer residential program sponsored by the National Federation of the Blind.
A spokeswoman for the Northwest Ice Rink denied that the group had been barred from the rink, but said she had proposed that they be separated from other skaters in a section that was cordoned off.
Rosy Carranza, one of the group’s leaders, said the students refused their own section of the rink and want to mingle with other skaters, using canes to alert others of their disability. “Our program is here to teach self-dependency,” Carranza said. “How would they feel if we were roped off in our own area — the blind area?”
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 at 9:55 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, accessibility, blindness/visual impairments, civil rights.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Email This Post
Our RSS Feed
August 7th, 2008 at 11:24 am
I have a background in teaching handicapped and mentally disabled adults. I have seen many wrong actions against them over the years. That being said. I feel that safety of both the sighted and blind patrons needed to be taken into consideration.
Having a section of the rink roped off just for the blind skaters would I think given them an opportunity to skate freely without thinking someone would run into them. Also, the sighted skaters could skate without possible tripping over a cane or blind skater moving in the way of the sighted patron.
I have several blind and deaf friends. I always run things by them to keep me in check. Thank goodness we live in a free society and can have our own opinions. My blind friend agrees with me. Having a roped off area would not have offended her. She added, she would not have the courage to even try to skate. So, good for them!
I deal with my own disabilities daily. I have had the stares and snickering. For myself I deal with it through prayer. The Lord must change me first before I can expect change from anyone else.
I hope your day is a good one. Thank you for the web site. I’ll be checking it out from now on.