Monday, December 14, 2009

Who Has More Rights?

dogIn the article Appeals court upholds decision to allow service dog in Columbia school, the court ruled that a autistic student’s service dog is allowed in the school with the student. Of course, there is concern from another student’s parents because their son is highly allergic to animals.

I’m really glad to hear that this decision was made but I also feel for the student with allergies. I too am highly allergic to many things. Yet, there has to be a line dr awn somewhere.

I am highly allergic to fragrances but it is everywhere. When we go out to eat, I might be sitting near a person who has heavy perfume on. Sometimes our server has a bunch on too. I actually had to drop out of our church choir because some of the women had perfume on that stopped up my hose and caused me to sneeze and cough a lot. I have been on airplanes and encountered the same problems. But that is something I will have to live with.

One of the students may have to change classes in order to meet the needs of both of them. Maybe they can just keep them on separate sides of the classroom. I think the school will just have to be creative with this.

I feel we need to make sure all of students have a chance to be successful in the classroom but I’m not sure how we would go about it in this situation. What do you think the solution would be to this type of problem? Has this ever occurred in your classroom, school, or district? If so, let me know how this was solved. I’m really curious about how this would be dealt with and I’m so glad I’m not the one making the decision!

 

Original image: 'Service Animal'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59888866@N00/3166168670 by: Tom Arthur

2 comments:

Clix said...

Oo! Tough choice... If you haven't already sent in something else, I'd love to use this for this week's EduCarnival. I'd love to see some discussion about it - I'm curious what other people might suggest. I think the solution would depend on how severe the allergies are & what would trigger them. Maybe the children's doctors could work with the school system to create a solution?

loonyhiker said...

@Clix Glad you liked it. Feel free to use it instead of whatever I sent to you. I'd be interested in knowing too.