The demand of parents that their palsy-afflicted son not be accorded “any special treatment” whilst they at the same time insist he attend a regular school and that the school provide a full-time nurse to take care of him has been generating controversy online.
At issue is the insistence of the 51-year-old father and 48-year-old mother of a 13-year-old boy afflicted by severe cerebral palsy that the boy not be sent to a special school for the disabled, and that he instead attend an ordinary school as a regular student.
Suffering from complete paralysis since birth and unable to speak, the child is totally dependent on constant nursing for his day-to-day life.
In accordance with the demands of his parents that “we want to see him learn together with other children regardless of his disability,” he was allowed to attend an ordinary elementary school in Narita, although his mother had to accompany him at school to attend to his extensive nursing requirements, as the school could not provide him a dedicated nurse.
In particular, as he was completely unable to eat or drink by himself, he required assistance at meals and his parents only allowed this to be provided by themselves due to the danger of him choking. After his mother succumbed to fatigue, he was left with no effective carer and his parents insisted the school provide proper assistance in future.
After he graduated and moved to middle school, the local educational authority resolved to accommodate his needs by providing a special nurse for his exclusive use.
His parents are keen for him to receive equal treatment in spite of his condition – due to their insistence on “no special treatment on account of his disability” he now receives marks of 0 on all his tests, whereas previously his test scores were tactfully left blank.
His mother explains: “He wasn’t graded in elementary school. It was special treatment. Now he is graded the same as everyone else. I feel the other children recognise him for that. I’m grateful for the 0.”
The insistence of the parents that he receive “no special treatment” whilst they at the same time demand he be provided with a full-time carer and presumably claim a variety of generous benefits on his behalf has raised more than a few eyebrows online:
“Isn’t that total special treatment?”
“I pity his classmates.”
“This is just to satisfy the ego of the parents.”
“I can’t help but think the are demanding the most extreme form of special treatment possible.”
“Making a completely paralysed child attend a normal school would be hell…”
“Segregation really is required for both sides.”
“In middle school we had retard classes in the same school. Thanks to them classes were cancelled a number of times, honestly I can only remember them causing problems for everyone else.”
“They say that, but I bet they are claiming all their disabled benefits as much as possible.”
“Laying on a full-time nurse for one child will cost $100,000+, from our taxes of course.”
“The parents themselves are completely prejudiced in refusing to let him go to a school which they don’t think is ‘normal’ – it causes problems even for other parents of disabled children.”
“This is just the parents pursuing their own self indulgence and not thinking about the welfare of their child.”
“What about all the tens of millions of yen in tax money they would have to spend building disabled facilities at the school?”
“I’d like to see how these parents responded to hearing their kid be rejected from all the high schools for failing every test.”
“All the treatment and benefits this child receives are themselves a form of discrimination. Without that discrimination he’d die. So be sure to discriminate against him, for his sake!”
“This would be fine with a minor condition, but for something truly debilitating he needs to be given proper care at a special school.”
“Using tests to separate idiots and smart people is special treatment and discrimination, so why don’t we just let any idiot into the top universities?”
“The parents don’t want to recognise their responsibility for bringing a cripple like this into the world. By desperately making him ape normal kids they are merely trying to assuage their own guilt.”
“They’re happy for him to get no marks in a normal school test, but in a special school he might actually be able to get marks in a test.”
“I’m the parent of a disabled child – hearing this kind of news disgusts me. Why can’t they accept the disability of their own child?”
“These people are confusing ‘differentiation’ with ‘discrimination’ and consequently developing a massive persecution complex.”
“I wonder how happy this child is to be surrounded by children totally different to him…”
I think the parents are the REAL retarded ones
Sounds to me like his parents want a normal child but they want one so badly that they do this? I understand wanting normalcy but this is all just wishful thinking.
If the kid could speak out for himself, he probably would feel better off in a special school where his needs would be better taken care of.
For all I can see, this is just the parents wanting to keep themselves from having to say their son goes to a special school.
I feel sorry for the kid. Those 0s might be crushing him.
F the weelchair, MAKE HIM FALL DOWN STAIRS
I dont want to be a jerk or anything but…
If i got it right, he cant move any limb nor talk… what good going to school will do to him again?
Sorry if that sounds offensive but… i would rather die than only be able to WATCH… cause.. that’s pretty much everything he can do =\