Wheelchair boy placed in back row of Photo

Misfit

Misfit

Lawful neutral
Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Wheelchair-bound boy placed in back row of his school graduation photo

The parents of a wheelchair-bound boy are considering legal action against the NSW Department of Education and Communities in Australia over what they believe is an act of discrimination. Luke Smith, 11, who suffers no mental disability from his condition, hydrocephalus – water on the brain, was left staring at the backs of his classmates in a photo taken to celebrate the year 6 graduation at Beresfield Public School, near Newcastle. In the image only his wheelchair is visible between the legs of his mates in what should have been a lasting memento of his primary education.
 
K

Kris10

♥
I certainly hope this was a terrible oversight by whoever was lining everyone up for the picture. Either way, that's really sad :frown:
 
Bay_Kat

Bay_Kat

Tropical
Hopefully the photographer was fired, not only was the kid in the wheelchair put in the back row, but the other kid is behind the pole and can't be seen.
 
Roman

Roman

Active Member
Wheel Chair People are usually placed in the front of the group, not the back. I feel so sorry for that boy.
 
vraiblonde

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
“I bawled my eyes out,” his distraught mother Vicky Smith, who snapped a damning photo of the situation, said. “I’m just shattered,” his father Phillip Smith said
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Nothing like some good solid hysterical overreaction. :yay:

This simple resolution is to ask for the photo to be retaken, and I'm sure the school would be happy to comply, considering the circumstances. But...alas. It's just so much more fun to alert the press and hire a lawyer.
 
RoseRed

RoseRed

American Beauty
PREMO Member
vraiblonde said:
Nothing like some good solid hysterical overreaction. :yay:

This simple resolution is to ask for the photo to be retaken, and I'm sure the school would be happy to comply, considering the circumstances. But...alas. It's just so much more fun to alert the press and hire a lawyer.
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If she was there and snapped the "damning" photo, why didn't she say something to the photographer?
 
mamatutu

mamatutu

mama to two
MarieB said:
Why did they do it by alphabetical order :whistle:
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That is a good question. I guess as a rule they do alpha order for yearbooks and easier to find a subject in a picture. I always think that pics should be shortest to tallest, but I am short. Either way, I don't believe for a minute that the poor boy was an oversight; it is a pretty hard to miss a wheelchair, or the fact that he had been in school with them for years. Not to mention that special arrangements should have been made for him, so he could be seen. I don't think there should be a lawsuit; I just worry about that little guy's feelings and, his perception of his fellow humans. As far as the child behind the pole, I agree with Kat; bad photographer. Obviously, the photo will be retaken. I hope our ace researcher on unusual stories, Misfit, follows up on this.
 
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MarieB

MarieB

New Member
They also apparently "practiced" the photo for quite a long time. I'm thinking a rocket scientist was in charge.

I'm also wondering why the mom stood there and snapped a shot instead of intervening.
 
kwillia

kwillia

n/a
vraiblonde said:
So she could contact the press and her lawyer.

This whole incident is ridiculously overblown.
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Exactly. The wheelchair isn't an automatic one which means someone helped him get to that position. I envision a fellow student putting him there and then running off to their spot and the adults responsible for the picture weren't aware he was in the back. I fully believe that had one of them realized he was back there he would have been repositioned.

The parents most certainly spotted him and did not speak up... that makes them primary at fault.
 
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