Thomas is a 7-year-old boy who was discriminated against when he registered for the Western Slope Youth Bowling Tournament in Grand Junction on April 12 and 13, 2008. He is a USBC ember, but he needs a ramp to bowl with. The Tournament Director, Dana Palmer, will not give us a definite answer on whether she will allow him to use the ramp; therefore, he is unable to participate in the tournament. Although we have tried to call her, she will not return our phone calls.

Thomas needs crutches and braces to walk. We have tried to encourage him to be independent his whole life, but too many rejections like this will discourage him. Just because his legs don’t work quite right doesn’t mean anything else is wrong with him. He will go far in life providing he is not discouraged.

Taking away Thomas’ braces and crutches would be like taking away another child’s glasses. Thomas would not be able to carry out his daily living skills without his crutches and braces. Just like another child may not be able to carry out his or her daily living skills without his or her glasses.

Without these aids whether it is crutches and braces or glasses the child would not have nearly the quality of life he or she has become accustom to with them. Thomas is a normal everyday kid who enjoys doing normal everyday kid things.

Taking away the ramp Thomas needs for bowling would be like taking away another bowlers wrist brace. He would not be as successful at something he truly enjoys. Thomas truly loves bowling. Bowling is the one sport he can do and truly succeed. It would be a shame to discourage him from bowling.

FRANK, JANA, THOMAS, JORDAN AND LIZABETH SCHMEDEKE
Craig

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 12:28 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.