Girl Without Legs Or Arms Threatens Lawsuit To Become A Cheerleader (1 Viewer)

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au Lait

Senior Senior
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Julia Sullivan wants to be a cheerleader.

...

So she's practiced. Her older sister, a former cheerleader, helped her figure out ways she could cheer from her wheelchair. Julia, who'll be a junior at Aurora High School this fall, was born without legs and with arms that stop short of her elbows.

This spring, for the third time, she tried out to be a cheerleader. For the third time, she didn't made the squad.

Last month, she and her parents, Mike and Carolyn Sullivan, asked the Aurora school board to correct what they see as “scoring errors” in her tryout evaluations this spring, saying she was given no accommodation for her disability.

...

Kevin Schneider, a Lincoln attorney representing the Sullivans, said the policy of treating everyone equally is inappropriate when it comes to someone who has a legally recognized disability.

“We would agree that there are some activities such as football where the ability to run and tackle are fundamental to the sport,” he said. “Making reasonable accommodations and modifications for cheerleading are not fundamental in that same way.”

He also said there is a difference between a legally recognized disability, such as having no legs, and normal differences in human performance, such as coordination.

Amy Miller, an attorney for the ACLU of Nebraska, also argued for the need to accommodate students with disabilities in a July 1 letter to the board.

...

Schneider laid out the family's requests in a June 9 letter to the school board. He also detailed the steps they had taken to try to resolve the issue.

The sponsor of the program, he wrote, asked administrators before last spring's tryouts what accommodations should be made for Julia. The sponsor was told Julia was to be judged in the same way as other participants. Three tryout judges were given the same instructions. Seventy-five percent of a participant's score was based on physical activities. Twenty-five percent was based on teacher evaluation.

In the performance portion, Julia received her lowest score in the jumps/kicks category and her highest marks in the communication skills and enthusiasm/spirit categories.
Source: http://www.omaha.com/article/20110713/NEWS01/707139920
 
they should let her try out. but, don't change any routines, don't slow things down, no special rules, no exemptions. hold the pom poms straight out while standing on one leg.

fail. next!
 

Trixvix

Rookie
Oh Jeeze - just let the girl become a cheerleader already. Why the fuck she would want to be one is beyond me - they should count themselves lucky to have her.
 

Decent60

Patient goes beep beep beeeeeeeeeep
I don't see why they have a problem letting her in?
They could toss her up in the air and someone from special teams could kick a field goal when the catch her. No other school around would have that routine!
 

aRyan

TRUMP or BUST
If she can do the job correctly, let her.

No special privileges. Plus, sorry to say this, but at least me personally, I don't want to see a cheerleader with no arms or legs.
 

Trixvix

Rookie
If she can do the job correctly, let her.

No special privileges. Plus, sorry to say this, but at least me personally, I don't want to see a cheerleader with no arms or legs.
This isn't the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, it's high school. If she was trying out for Lacrosse then that would be a different story. Is she going to deprive some more worthy cheerleader out of a cheerleading scholarship by taking their spot?
Seriously! If the school plays their cards right they will be in the next "feel good" movie of the year.
 

aRyan

TRUMP or BUST
This isn't the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, it's high school. If she was trying out for Lacrosse then that would be a different story. Is she going to deprive some more worthy cheerleader out of a cheerleading scholarship by taking their spot?
Seriously! If the school plays their cards right they will be in the next "feel good" movie of the year.

I don't care about "feeling good" or any of that crap. This is how it starts. Next some black faggot will want to be a cheerleader, too.

Just do what you are supposed to do. An armless, legless lady isn't supposed to be dancing and jumping around.
 

treeghost

winter sucks
Sitting in a wheelchair cheering wtf there are athletic routines, waving pom poms etc, if she can't do cheerleady things, and she can't she shouldn't make the squad.
OH but she will out of pity :( They better park her ass out of the way when the real cheerleaders start dong backflips.
BIG NEWS FLASH: lots of girls with arms and legs don't make the grade either.
Yeah trixvix, the next shittay feel good movie nobody will watch.
 

Trixvix

Rookie
I don't care about "feeling good" or any of that crap. This is how it starts. Next some black faggot will want to be a cheerleader, too.

Just do what you are supposed to do. An armless, legless lady isn't supposed to be dancing and jumping around.

Hell, I don't know. I've seen documentaries on people with her disabilities and they get around pretty well - though to be honest, it aint pretty... lol
 

aRyan

TRUMP or BUST
Don't think I don't feel for this young lady but all I'm saying is she should do what she can do, not what she wants to do. I bet without arms or legs, if she put her mind to it, she could do something a lot more productive, and a lot better than something like being a cheerleader .
 

KingFate

Légion Blanche
I think she is just doing this so she can appeal to the "Cheerleader Amputee" fetish that is all the rage amongst high school kids these days.
 

Torque Button

"boo fucking hoo" "Die in a fire"
This user was banned
DENIED: Girl with no arms and legs says cheerleading try-out is unfair after she fails to make school squad

By John Stevens
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.

Unfair: Julia Sullivan is challenging the scoring for her cheerleading try-out after she failed to make her school team for the third year in a row

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.

article20145080cffc75a0.jpg


Overcoming adversity: Julia Sullivan plays the cymbals in her school marching band

Practice: Julia said that she had worked out ways that she could cheer, including spinning in her wheelchair

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'.

article20145080cffbf820.jpg


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.

- LET HER TRYOUT FOR THE SWIM TEAM -
 

aRyan

TRUMP or BUST
That article tries to make everyone feel bad, and it probably works, but god fucking damnit, a legless armless chick shouldn't be a cheerleader, not everyone who plays a sport should get a trophy, and niggers shouldn't be compared to apes because it's sure as fuck not fair to the ape.

Get my point?
 
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