Girl with no arms and legs says cheerleading try-out is unfair

[QKShooter]

If you're tone deaf & you can't play a musical instrument....please don't sue the New York Philharmonic because you think it's unfair that you can't play in their symphony orchestra.

I honestly do respect people that strive to overcome personal handicaps and "be all that they can be" but, don't be a delusional moron as part of the all that you want to be.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...y John Stevens


Girl with no arms and legs says cheerleading try-out is unfair after she fails to make school squad

Last updated at 10:26 PM on 13th July 2011

A Nebraska girl born with no arms and legs has blamed unfair scoring after she failed to make her school's cheerleading squad three years in a row.

Julia Sullivan, 16, has complained to the school board after she said she was given 'no accommodation for her disability' during try-outs.

The wheelchair user did not make the team after she received a low score in the jumps/kicks category of the trials.

Miss Sullivan got her highest marks in the communication skills and enthusiasm/spirit categories.


The Aurora High School student, who said that she likes to dance, said: 'I just think it would be fun.'

Miss Sullivan told the Omaha World-Herald that she had practised for the try-outs with her older sister, who is a former cheerleader.

She had worked out ways that she could cheer from her wheelchair, including spinning around.

Miss Sullivan and her parents, Mike and Carolyn Sullivan, asked the school board to correct what they see as 'scoring errors' in her try-out.


They complained that the school had broken the Americans with Disabilities Act and other discrimination laws.

On Monday, the board declined to take up the matter after reviewing the district's policies with its lawyers and seeking a second legal opinion.

Aurora superintendent Damon McDonald said: 'In both cases, they came back and said the Aurora Public Schools policies and guidelines are appropriate and legitimate for all students.'

He told the World-Herald that he does not believe that they violated the disabilities act and that making accommodations 'would fundamentally alter the cheerleading programme'.

Mike Sullivan said he was frustrated by the outcome. 'For us, it's the basic principle,' he told the World-Herald. 'Any handicapped child in Nebraska could be kept out of activities.'

Miss Sullivan, who has no legs and arms that stop short of her elbows, has already overcome her disability to become a member of the school's marching band.

She hangs a cymbal from her wheelchair, which she operates with one arm and hits the cymbal with a stick attached to the other.

She took dance lessons for ten years, sitting on the floor with shoes placed on her arms so that she could tap rhythms on the floor

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[wmhawth]

Time for her to give it up and move on to something else. The Girls soccer team or volleyball perhaps.

[claude clay]

more news ( can't say 'good') flowing from the "Entitlement Generation"
im thinking their motto is:
WE WON'T CHANGE--WE WON'T CHANGE
WE WILL WORK TO CHANGE YOU THOUGH

....next; anyone up for a good swim? perhaps a float?

[QKShooter]

I am not a compassionless person. I do realize that while I really like baseball I'll never play Major Baseball....because I pretty much suck.

And if I did SUE to somehow manage to get on a team I (for sure) wouldn't want the pitcher to switch to a softball when I'm up at bat and throw real slow and underhand because it's just not fair that I can't EVER hit a pitch thrown at 93 Miles Per Hour.

[atctimmy]

Let's not forget who is it fault here, the parents. This is a teen aged girl who just wants to get on the team. There is nothing wrong with having a dream and being disappointed when you can't reach that dream. It's the parents fault for not telling her like it is. Not everybody gets to be an astronaut, a movie star or a cheerleader.

[QKShooter]

You really nailed it flawlessly atctimmy.

Let's not forget who is it fault here, the parents. This is a teen aged girl who just wants to get on the team. There is nothing wrong with having a dream and being disappointed when you can't reach that dream. It's the parents fault for not telling her like it is. Not everybody gets to be an astronaut, a movie star or a cheerleader.

[SIXTO]

Maybe there's a spot on the football team.

[Sig35seven]

Or baseball. She could be first base.

[Erick46590]

woooow..... how did this even get this far? from what I HAVE SEEN, cheerleading deals with kicks, flailing of the arms, running around do flips and such. How does (not to sound rude) a torso with a head, honestly, that IS mostly what she is, expect to be able to do ANY of these things? this is pretty ridiculous. I mean I do feel bad for her, but c'mon.

[dukalmighty]

I have a wheelchair, I never realised I could be a cheerleader,Of course it might get a little chilly in the winter time sitting in a chair with 30 degree temps and a 30 mile an hour wind blowing against my hairy legs

[Guantes]

Anybody can do anything, not.

[retsupt99]

Next will be tryouts for the diving team...


She could change her name to Ilene...

[tubadude]

....next; anyone up for a good swim? perhaps a float?

I knew a swimmer like that in high school. I think his name might have been Bobby.

[357and40]

Ok so I applaud her for the effort & the guts to go try out every year but the sense of entitlement has got to go... If you are not physically able to meet the base criteria of an activity then you should not complain when you do not make the cut at tryouts... If she can not be an athlete she can at least be an athletic supporter...

[babarock]

Of course it might get a little chilly in the winter time sitting in a chair with 30 degree temps and a 30 mile an hour wind blowing against my hairy legs

Thanks for that mental image

As for the young lady, good for her for trying and good for the school for letting her tryout but that should be the end of it. I'd like to do a lot of things but as the saying goes "a man has to know his limitations".