Blind Injustice

Cane confiscation

A blind girl in Britain has been told she cannot use her cane at school because it presents a tripping hazard.

A tripping hazard, that is, to the people who can see her. According to the Bristol Post, "Lily-Grace Hooper, who is seven, suffered a stroke when she was just four days old, which left her virtually blind. But her school, Hambrook Primary School, has now told the youngster she can no longer use her walking cane…A risk assessment by Gary Learmonth from Sensory Support Service—done on behalf of the school—said the cane caused a high risk to other people around Lily-Grace, and that she should instead have full adult support '100 per cent' at all times."

In other words, at the risk assessor's behest, the school is ready to create a dependent child out of a bold and bubbly girl who was getting around just fine on her own. She'd come up with the cane idea herself, after tripping over some wrapping paper rolls at Christmas and then realizing she could use them to tap her way around.

Her mother is, not surprisingly, beside herself. "I am absolutely livid," she told the Post. "What about the health and safety of my girl?"