A Wish To Be in the Brownies
November 22, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Disability Rights, Parenting
After 14-year-old Casey Reilly, who has Asperger’s, was excluded from week-long scouting trip, which prevented him from advancing in rank, his parents filed a lawsuit against the Pacific Palisades Boy Scout Troop 223—-more recently, in Wisconsin, after one visit to Girl Scout Brownie troop for girls with special needs in Oconomowoc, the troop’s leaders told 8-year-old Magi Klages’ parents not to bring her back. Magi is autistic and, after graduating from a Daisy troop, she wanted to continue with Brownies. A local Brownie troop with 22 girls was too overwhelming so her parents, Michele and Kevin Klages, decided to try the troop for special needs children. Magi’s first meeting at the group was difficult, understandably, as she was faced with a completely new routine:
In the new group, with her dad beside her and her mother behind, Magi didn’t like sitting in “circle time” and sharing, Michele explained. When she bit herself, her parents spoke to her. When she threw a fit, her mother pulled her off by herself. When they worked on a mat-weaving project, she did fine. At one point she got up and ran, but her dad caught up.
“That was the extent of what she did,” Michele said. “It was a new experience for her. With any child with autism, it takes a few times. Routine is important.”
So when a troop co-leader called them Monday and told them not to bring Magi back because of her behavior and their concern for the safety of the other girls, the Klageses were upset.
“I never expected my child to be discriminated against,” Michele said. “Never in a million years.” Especially, she said, from a troop leader who had a child with special needs herself.
“The Girl Scouts are not above discrimination,” she’s concluded.
The Klages have been contacting both local and national headquarters without satisfaction.
Some commenters responded with a lot of frustrationto Casey Reilly’s story with accounts about autistic children in their local troops. According to the website of the Girl Scouts, the organization has “a long history of adapting activities to girls who have disabilities, special needs, and chronic illnesses” and considers diversity one of its core values—-surely there’s a way to make Magi’s wish to be a Brownie possible?
Jeff Stimpson
Jill Cornfield
it must have been so hard for that kid, hearing he wasn’t allowed. surely they could have imagined how he might perceive that: “something’s wrong with me; I’m not good enough”. something along those lines. i love that his parents are fighting for him.
I can’t see why they should have a problem including special needs children especially in a situation where the parents are willing to provide one-on-one support. I’ve been very lucky with our local troop who have embraced Patrick as a member of the community (and rightly so!).
I am wondering if Magi just doesn’t want to be a brownie. Biting herself and running off doesn’t sound like she was having fun, but just frustrated and not happy.
As for the other boy, it may make the, understandably, angry parents feel better with issuing a law suit–for the benefit of other special needs kids. However, not all boy scout groups discriminate.
As a former Daisy/Brownie/Junior/Cadette leader, this saddens me. I had several girls with special needs, but they all went to school together. When new girls came to school and to the troop, it understandably took a while for everyone to get used to each other, but I would never have kicked one out.
My son is currently a boy scout - although not a very high participation one. We made it all the way through cub scouts, with his interest lagging each year - it would be fine with me if he quit, but he doesn’t want to. He’s going camping with them in a few weeks - an overnight in a salt mine - but other than that has not done anything with them in a year. Fortunately, the leaders are ok with whatever level of participation he is comfortable with.
I am really saddened to hear this about Girl Scouts. The Boy Scouts, however, have a history of discriminating against gays, so I am not surprised that they are not okay with a spectrum kid either. There is no way in the world I’d let either of my children participate in the Boy Scouts.
Sounds like the parents were right on top of helping their daughter adapt which is great. I can’t believe the leader called and asked her not to come back. What was she thinking?
I have a real problem with Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. I have heard too many stories of bad things happening. If M wanted to be in it I supposed I would be very involved just to watch things closely. I also feel the same way about camps. Too many of the parents and helpers are young and have no history of abuse on their records.
Follow up to the Casey Reilly case,Palisades Family Wins Appeal In Local Boy Scout Lawsuit
November 20, 2008
“After two years in the courts, the parents of a 14-year-old autistic boy who filed a lawsuit against Pacific Palisades Boy Scout Troop 223 will now have their case heard in federal district court” (…) “Now, there will either be a summary judgment hearing in front of a federal district court judge or a trial before a jury. The lawyers are in the process of gathering supporting evidence, and Dubovy expects a court date will be set for early 2009″.
I have to agree with others that this is a sad situation in both cases. Our experience with Boy Scouts has been extremely positive, with our district just having a scoutmaster training on autistic children at the last roundtable. Our troop has been VERY supportive of all the kids in the group with special needs, not just autism.
It really depends on the troop your involved with. We have to remember that people aren’t perfect and that they have preconceived notions about who our kids are and what they can do. If scouts (girl or boy) or campfire or any of the other youth groups is something you or your child wants to be involved with, keep looking until you find the right group who “gets it”. They are out there.
The good that comes out of these situations I hope is that it will lead to better education for the volunteer leaders on how to include all children in their programs.
It’s a sad situation on all sides. Magi may have adapted well within a few meetings. It sounds like the parents faced the situation realistically and provided support for their daughter. Brownie leaders are volunteers, too; I’m sorry the leader didn’t have support from other parents in the group in order to keep the troop going.
–former GS leader, leader trainer, and mom of special needs child
I was hopeful that Boy Scouts would be something for Charlie but the troop in the town we used to live in didn’t seem like the right setting for him. Seems it might have been easier when kids are younger, perhaps (well, for some kids—I think this would have been the case with Charlie).
As for the Boy Scouts, I’m not at all surprised that they condone discrimination against the disabled; after all, they teach intolerance and bigotry against gays–why would we expect any better of them? The Girl Scouts, however, had a reputation for being more tolerant and inclusive. I’m disappointed in them.
My experience is similar to Siliconmom. My oldest son and my other son, who is on the spectrum, both went through scouts and earned their eagle rank. At the troop level, boyscouts is run almost entirely by volunteers. Therefore, there are enormous differences from region to region, council to council, and troop to troop. The attitudes of the troop will be largely determined by the troop leaders in place at that particular time. I participated for a fairly long time in order to span both son’s involvement and I saw enormous changes when the leaders would change.
Since I participated as a leader, I did see the issues from both sides. A number of times I was put into a difficult position because a parent would expect me to provide a level of help and service that I had no experience or training in. It can be an uncomfortable situation which, in the end, requires both the parent and the leader to work together.
I know that scouting has made a lot of news about its intolerance. However, as I said, at the troop level, which is where the boys activities are managed, the attitude of the troop is determined by the volunteer leader. Therefore, the attitudes of boyscout troops will span the spectrum of attitudes of people. I did not see any indication that the intolerance was systemic to the scouting organization.
My experience is that scouts is not for everyone. It has some good and some bad that a parent must weigh against each other. The biggest plus is that, generally, a parent can be involved and can make a difference.
Gregory and Christine Lisiak, the parents of a girl in the Oconomowoc Brownie troop, respond; their daughter has a physical disability, as they note.
620AM WTMJ
ABC news has picked up this story and includes mention of Adam Race and Wendy Portillo:
Thing is, it isn’t always a good fit to mix different needs. Especially when many with disabilities are fragile. If the parents hadn’t seen a similar child before, I can understand there concerns, especially if it wasn’t made clear her parents would always be there. I know the ppi classroom Tristan started in wasn’t a good fit now that he’s had better. I imagine Magi would do better in a smaller group of typical girls.
“Thing is, it isn’t always a good fit to mix different needs. Especially when many with disabilities are fragile.”
And when many with disabilities have different abilities? At my high school, anyone too disabled to take the stairs got a key to the elevators for the duration. You could get a key for using a wheelchair for life or for using crutches for a month, but you couldn’t get one for being deaf. Likewise, Gallaudet’s admins seem to pick which disabilities they want to focus on instead of welcoming blind hearing students as much as sighted deaf ones.