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A Distinction Without a Difference

Acceptable activities and twisted priorities.
Published: 04 April 2013

More disabled people in the news. A teen couple with Down Syndrome are reseated at a movie. Their date is ruined and they are rightfully and understandably upset.

Predictably, the media gets involved at the injustice of it - the theater chain apologizes, refunds their money and the couple then upgrades their date request and the public comes through with private event tickets.


I'm confused and would like an explanation as to why one is a tragedy and the other is applauded.

I'm sure it will end with them being VIP's and all over the television. The theater will be reviled for their terrible treatment and people will talk.. and talk.. about how bad it was they didn't get what they paid for. I agree.

But it makes me think of ANOTHER story where a young man with developmental disabilities didn't get what he paid for either.. the opportunity to participate in sports at school as a player.

His story was also on the news, only this time the people who treated him poorly were feted as heroic and wonderful for letting him play. Once. For about five minutes. During the last game of the year in his last year at school.

Rather than having the skills his parents (and the rest of us) paid for him to have, he missed the passes and the shots, and everyone in the stands and on tv nodded and clapped and wiped away tears at the heartwarming spectacle - safe and content in the knowledge that this is how he is supposed to be treated, that this one day that showcased how much was with-held from him is seen as a testament to what people see as inclusion.

I'm confused and would like an explanation as to why one is a tragedy and the other is applauded.