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Hargis: Special event sadly limited by legal fears
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Since she was born, two months premature and weighing only 2 pounds, Emily Boeck has had an indomitable spirit.
One week after her birth, she suffered cerebral palsy, which would confine her to a wheelchair and severely affect her speech. But it was unable to touch her ability to light up any room with her smile.
Her parents, Troy and Karin, determined early in Emily’s life that they would do everything possible to make sure she experienced as much as every child deserves. With her daddy holding her tight, Emily has ridden roller coasters at Six Flags and the wave pool at WhiteWater.
Like most 10-year-old girls, she wants to pick out her own school clothes each day, and she sang every word of the “Sponge Bob” theme in her class play last week. But what she has looked forward to most each of the last six springs is participating in Special Olympics events around the Sequatchie Valley.
However, the Boecks were recently told that Emily would not be allowed to participate this weekend, nor would any other child needing assistance, because of a newly enforced rule designed to prevent liability issues.
It’s sadly ironic that our society has become so fearful of lawsuits that the Special Olympics now bans participants because they are handicapped. Despite the fact that many of the parents or volunteers guiding the wheelchairs often agree before the race to finish in a tie so each child receives the same blue ribbon, organizers worry that some hypercompetitive person might suddenly sprint down the track, endangering the child he or she is assisting.
This worst-case scenario was coaxed by the same legal representatives who told Special Olympics Tennessee president Alan Bolick that having parents sign a waiver would not be enough security to retract the rule.
“This is a rule that has been in place for a few years,” Bolick said. “This year, for some reason, we caught a few areas still doing (assistance), so we put an edict out to those to stop it now.
“It was a safety issue and a legal issue. It’s one thing if an athlete hurts themselves in a competition but a distinct difference if they’re hurt by another. I don’t want to exclude anyone, but I’m limited in what I can do. Insurance is a big issue for us, and unfortunately there are complexities of business.”
I just wish the suits who came up with this rule could have seen Emily shrieking and giggling at the starting line last year, anticipating the wheelchair event where Troy pushed her 50 yards and she smiled and laughed and soaked up every second of attention and encouragement from the people in the stands.
Troy, a former two-time All-America lineman for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and now the head football coach at Marion County High School, knows about competitive bravery. But as he held his daughter’s frail 3-foot-8, 50-pound body, helping her maneuver each tiny step of the 50-yard walk last year, he was overcome. At 6-foot-3, 270 pounds, he may look like he could uproot trees with his bare hands, but after Emily stopped to catch her breath five yards into the event, then continued on, Troy had to pull his cap tighter over his eyes to hide the tears.
“My wife and I don’t care about competing,” said Troy, who first became involved in Special Olympics by handing out ribbons throughout his four-year career at UTC. “We just want to participate. I’m not out to make Special Olympics look bad, but it’s a sad commentary that they worry more about the possibility of being sued instead of finding a way for all kids to participate.
“Few things excite Emily as much as being in front of a large group. She has been looking forward to this, talking about it in school, for the past month. It’s very hard to make her unhappy, but not being able to participate with other kids will really hurt her.”
And that is reason enough to change this ridiculous rule now.
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Comments
This is a sad situation. As a Special Education teacher in Marion County, I've had the opportunity to see Emily compete in the past, and her smile during the competition will light up the crowd.
I've visited with Emily's teacher, as well as the other special education teachers in Marion County, as well as our Director of Exceptional Children, and we've decided that next year, Marion County will be holding a county-wide field day for students with disabilities, to allow all of our students to participate in an event similar to Special Olympics. As teachers, our primary concern is for our students to have a fun time, and we do not want any of our students to be excluded in any event. I only wish we would have known about this new rule earlier this year, so we could have arranged a field day for our students this year, including Emily and the other students that were not able to participate in this year's Special Olympics.
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The compassionate individuals who established The Special Olympics would probably be embarrassed were they aware of decisions like this one. Has the entire world gone crazy?
If additional "insurance" is all that stands in the way of allowing participation of individuals like Emily, then let's find an insurer with the insight to become involved, rather than blatantly discriminating by limiting the involvement of the "Emilys" of the world.
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