Discrimination in daycare: an Austin boy has been repeatedly
turned down by provider after provider for daycare because of his
disability. Dustyn Henson is eleven and is in a wheelchair due to
his cerebral palsy. The daycare providers who have turned him
down, however, claim that the wheelchair isn't the problem. No,
it's his pants. Dustyn can manage pretty much everything himself
during the course of his day but can't undo and redo the fastening on
his pants when it's time to use the bathroom. Daycare providers
have therefore denied him service, claiming that child protection laws
prevent them from helping Dustyn with his pants.
Say what?
A daycare provider practically potty-trained my older daughter; are you
telling me that they never touched her pants to do so?
It
sounds
to me that the daycare providers in question are skipping out on their
burden to be accommodating to children with special needs. There
could be more to this story of course, but it appears that Dustyn's
family is making very few demands in terms of accommodation.
We're talking about doing a button on the boy's pants here! Not,
say, intubating him or providing therapy or any number of other
special-needs accommodation-type requests. Dustyn's mom, Niki,
has appealed their case to the state of Texas, and I'm hoping some workable
resolution can be found for this family. Until then, Niki will
have difficulty being able to work without care for her son.
