Mari Klages is a Brownie Again
December 6, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
8-year-old Mari Klages—-whose was asked not to return to a Girl Scout Brownie troop for girls with special needs in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, after attending one meeting—-is now again a Brownie again, thanks to her former troop leader, Dina Johnston, and the Girl Scouts organization. Writes Laurel Walker in today’s Journal Sentinel:
Anita Rodriguez, vice president for organizational strategy at the southeast Girl Scouts chapter, said, “The bottom line for us is we do not discriminate and the Girl Scouts did not kick her out” but worked to find a solution.
Unfortunately, she said, the special needs troop that was tailored to the sedentary needs of the other three girls, including one with brittle bone disease, has disbanded after three meetings because parents and leaders were “uncomfortable with the publicity and how they were portrayed.”
Maybe the arrangement wasn’t a good fit for Magi and the others. Clearly, better communication and understanding all the way around was in order.
Walker also notes that Girl Scouts in Cedarburg are making a DVD to “promote autism awareness for other children.” Perhaps it might helpful to bring up Mari Klages’ experience or at least to consider why she was excluded?
I think we can become very protective of our special needs kids and it sounds like that was the case in this situation. To be fair, if I had a child with brittle bone disease I might have thought twice in this situation as well before having what I might have seen as a rambunctious child around my own kid. I’m sure the leaders were afraid that all it would take would be one bump or bite and not only would the other child be hurt but the scouts could potentially be liable.
As they said, communicating those concerns between the parents and leaders of the kids in the troop was obviously handled badly. The Klages should have been made aware of what types of temperments and needs were in the troop.
It’s kind of sad, though. That the group had to be disbanded. Autistic kids aren’t the only ones who need a safe community.
I think it all shows the difficulties parents of special needs and their children have to find groups and activities that they can be comfortable in, and how our kids do have different needs—-how to provide for everyone, that’s the challenge for us.