Picking your fights
Adirondack Patriot sent a link to The Blaze about armless and legless 16-year-old Julia Sullivan who wants to join her school’s cheerleading squad and she’s been rejected three years running. I certainly sympathize with her plight and her desire to be a normal teenage high school student, but she and her parents have sent the ACLU after the school.
“We would agree that there are some activities such as football where the ability to run and tackle are fundamental to the sport,” Kevin Schneider, the family’s attorney, told the World-Herald. “Making reasonable accommodations and modifications for cheerleading are not fundamental in that same way.”
What? And jumping around, dancing, twirling and catching your team mates aren’t fundamental to cheer leading? What “reasonable accommodations” should be made? Cyborg arms and legs? I’m sure other girls have been rejected by the team because they couldn’t dance or perform acrobatics well enough to be on the squad, right? That’s pretty standard. The “reasonable accommodations” they want is complete ignorance of the fact that Julia’s not even remotely qualified to be on the squad – anymore than I would be even in my prime.
Not everything is worth litigation, and the ACLU is doing this just to attract the money that sticking up for the handicapped would garner.
I know there’s at least ONE cheerleader out there who has a comment. You know who you are.
at some point there has to be a bow to reality. I mean its awesome that we have bionics that can allow people with out legs to walk, and even preform mundane tasks, but you have to accept at somepoint that there are limitations. What’s next, trying to force Yosemite to be handicap friendly?
“I know there’s at least ONE cheerleader out there who has a comment. You know who you are.”
Now why did you have to go and call out Ponsdorf like that?
I thought it was TSO. You know how he gets when Gisele is mentioned. But yeah, maybe I should have sued the ACLU because I was never a starter in HS football. Screw talent or ability, or even safety.
The kid has a lot of guts for trying out, but the line has to be drawn somewhere.
The minute I got the email telling me about this post I figured it was one of two subjects. Thank god it was this one.
This is the same line of thinking that has score-less little league baseball games, participation awards and all that nonsense.
Call me heartless, but if you can’t do something that a large majority of the population can do, changing the rules so that we all have to function to your level just makes us all worse at whatever it was you wanted to do.
I accept that I can’t wear a size medium, do I go sue to make medium shirts bigger? No, I pack my sad ass into what fits and I drive on…see, I use what fits for me, be it clothes, activites, or sports I think I can play.
Yes, I would hate to be in that girls position, but trying to sue to make them put me on a team when I couldn’t do it on my own would make me feel even more worthless.
Finally, a side note..cheerleading is NOT a sport, that is all.
Finally, a side note..cheerleading is NOT a sport, that is all.
But…but…it’s on ESPN!!!
Oh wait, so’s poker. Nevermind.
NHS #3: I thought it was TSO too?
But since it’s out there… Rah! Rah!
Played center on offense, and tackle on defense. At over 6 feet and over 200 lbs it would taken the ACLU AND someone with a gun to get me on the cheerleading squad. We did accidentally find our way into their dressing room by mistake once though.
NHS, yer last sentence says it all.
Now realize guys…20 guys 42 women. Its the most target rich environment you’ve ever seen.
And while she’s at it, let he be the starting center on the girls basketball team, and let he handle the short distance sprints an hurdles in track.
At least the School Board did the right thing.
Some cheerleading: dance, acrobatics, and such – is a sport even though some folks don’t like to call it that. Sitting on the sidelines yelling ‘rah’ isn’t a sport.
Must be a real slow day over there at the ACLU, what with no creches to abominate.
OK boys, I assume you were talking to me since I actually was a HS cheerleader. In most schools there are tryouts for cheerleading and not everyone makes the squad. A degree of coordination and physical ability are required. In my high school even way back when, the ability to do a back handspring was a minimm, with a standing back tuck preferred. A lot of girls are very disappointed when they do not make the squad. Should someone with ability be ousted for this “reasonable accomodation”?
Whether cheerleading is a sport or not is dependent on the school. Some schools just have girls on the sidelines. This is generally not a sport. Most these days are entered into competitions that include dancing and gymnastics and require real ability. A young woman with no arms and legs would not fit this bill.
As a side note, there is a significant liability issue involved here. Assuming that this young woman would not be involved in routines (which have a VERY high rate of injury – usually due to poor coaching); she is still in harms way. While a high school cheerleader, I got run over as part of a sideline tackle (as an aside, I think the jackwagon on the other team did it on purpose, thus our all american defensive guy creamed him on the next play) and had to avoid basketball plays on numerous occasions (remember most high school gyms are not that big). This young woman would be a danger to herself and others.
I think the ACLU has clearly run out of important issues to worry about.
Sorry, Susan, I was talking to VTWoody the only cheerleader I’ve known since I left high school.
It’s all about the money and the air-time with the ACLU.
Same as with the blind hunter a few years back.
We’ve taken the idea that we’re all created equal to absurd lengths.
Not to mention that nobody wants to be the bad guy and tell the quarapalegic girl that she can’t realize her dream. The poor girl…let’s all just play along with the stupid charade.
Sue brings up a good point: the liability issue.
So this isn’t about the girl getting on the cheersquad – it’s about the girl getting the cheersquad shut down entirely. Then everyone is equal. Until she wants to play football.
I don’t know, there are wheelchair marathoners who have their non-functional legs amputated to reduce weight. It seems a cheerleading squad would be able to get a lot more height out of their aerial stunts if the person they’re throwing has half the body mass of a typical teenager and no flailing legs to get in the way.
Y’know, I was born with what the doctors call a “handicap” and this pisses me off no end. It infuriates me that many like myself bust our collective asses to prove that we do NOT need special concessions in order to move ahead and do for ourselves. Then you have this stupid little twit on a pity trip who WANTS people to feel so sorry for her that they bend rules in order to accomodate her.
Really? It makes her feel good about herself knowing that the bar was lowered so that she could “fit in”? She, her parents, and the ACLU all need to be run over repeatedly with her wheelchair.
Screw this shit.
She could be the designated landing pad in case the others miss a catch.
Hey, someone had to go there…..so I did.
AndyN makes a good point but overlooks one thing: What goes up must come down. Perhaps they can outfit with a helmet and she can land on her head safely. And please do not call me retarded. I am mentally (and emotionally) challenged!
notice how the lawyer understood the “football was different.” funny.
The story seems to indicate that the parents sicced the ACLU on the school. I wonder how the feels about all this. I think any goodwill she may have garnered for “being brave and fighting the good fight” may be used up and I’d be concerned that her parents are the ones driving this for some sort of political point.
“The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.”
– Aristotle
Here is an idea…..let’s push her to be on the swim team…..after all her handicap shouldn’t get in the way right……
Or she could play softball. She can be second base.
Oh, I’m so going to hell for that.
RobD @ 22 If she went out for the swim team, she’d need to change her name to Roberta, or “Bob” for short…
I was thinking the diving team myself–less splash.
you know Cheer leading has the highest number of injuries in High School sports? At least with football you wear pads.
What Susan said. As a cheerleader-for-a-year. You have to try out-even the ablebodied aren’t guaranteed a slot.
ROS said it best. And knowing of her so-called “Handicap”, I feel her response is credible. While it is unfortunate that she has no arms nor legs, that is not the problem of society. There is a guy with the same described situation, but he damned sure doesn’t need a pity party. He is one hell of a motivational speaker. This is a short, (4 min.)video of him in action. Don’t see a need for the American Criminal Lawyers Unit here.
note: There are people who “disliked” his video. Gimmeabreak
@26
I pretty sure at least a couple of cheerleaders at my high school wore pads.
Jesus Christ Lilyea, you really are a fucking piece of shit.
Whazza matter, Houser? Don’t like the fact that your cheerleading days 1–didn’t get you any pussy, 2–only showed your (considerable) weaknesses?
You shouldn’t have been so eager to put on that skirt, m’boy. I don’t see what Jonn has said in this thread that warrants your comments. Me, OTOH, yeah, I said it, what about it?
Houser has got that liberal/progressive vernacular down pat.