Lack of interest in politics, weakness for today's youth

Six Mile Poll

Bourne with an opinion

Student denied equal rights because of physical disabilities

By Jason Bourne
Staff Writer

I was surfing the Internet on Memorial Day and came across OnlineBartow.com and decided to read the news from across the state.

I came across one news story that really enraged me. The story was about a school in Gwinnett County named Berkmar High School that would not allow a disabled student to walk across the stage at graduation.

The student was paralyzed from the waist down due to a car accident several years ago and learned to walk by using a walker.

The student said that she was told it would take too long for her to walk across the stage and that the graduation ceremony was already too long. The school claimed that the decision had nothing to do with time.

I believe that the school is prejudiced against disabled students.

Before I go any further, I have to say that at my graduation from Woodland High School in May 2000, the stage was equipped with ramps at each end and I was allowed to roll across the stage and receive my diploma. That was one of the proudest moments of my life to say the least.

I believe without any shadow of a doubt that if a person completes all of the requirements for graduation then he or she should be allowed to walk in the graduation ceremony with the rest of the class.

The school in Gwinnett County is taking away one of the rights of a student, in my opinion. The people who made this stupid decision should thank God that they are able to walk and are not in a wheelchair or on a walker.

I would just like to know how these people, who took away a student's right to take part in the graduation ceremonies, would feel if they were in the same position as the student and their right to participate, after all of the hard work, was taken away.