School District forbids deaf 3-year-old's name sign because it "looks like a weapon"

by Steve_C 22 Replies latest social current

• 

  Steve_C

  I'm shaking my head at the utter ridiculousness of this.
  
  http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/school-asks-deaf-preschooler-change-sign-language-name-191629255.html

  Three-and-a-half year old Hunter Spanjer, who is deaf, signs his name by crossing his forefinger and index finger and moving his hand up and down.

  To his family, friends and those who know the Signing Exact English (S.E.E.) language that the Grand Island, Neb., boy uses, that gesture uniquely means "Hunter Spanjer."

  But to Hunter's school district, it might mean something else. The district claims that it violates a rule that forbids anything in the school that looks like a weapon, reports KOLN-TV .

  Watch the video. He's taken the finger-spelling for the letter "H"--as in Hunter--and modified it to make his unique name sign.

  When I was studying sign language, the name sign I chose was an "S" for Stephen--which looks like a fist--which I brought to my nose (because I have a rather prominent nose). If I had been a child at this school, would the administrators have banned my name because it looks like I want to punch someone in the nose?!

  Grand Island Public School: Let the three-year-old boy sign his name, and hire some administrators that have the common sense to know when to pick their battles.
• 

  JeffT

  My wife has some friends with a son named Gunnar. I wonder if they 'd let him go to school here.

  The public schools need to drop this nonsense.
• 

  Berengaria

  From the article linked. LOL I think someone at Yahoo is being funny

  But to Hunter's school district, it might mean something else. The district claims that it violates a rule that forbids anything in the school that looks like a weapon, reports KOLN-TV.

  And Hunter's parents claim that Grand Island Pubic Schools administrators have asked them to change their son's sign language name.

  "Anybody that I have talked to thinks this is absolutely ridiculous," Hunter's grandmother Janet Logue told the TV station. "This is not threatening in any way."
• 

  Scully

  

  So, I guess they feel that the sign for the letter "H" looks like someone waving a gun? They clearly have no clue about deaf culture.

  That is really insensitive to this boy's identity, both in terms of his name and as a deaf person.
• 

  ZeusRocks

  Schools these days are becoming ridiculous with stupid rules. Even here in Australia, we just had a story where a school in Sydney have banned kids from doing cartwheels and handstands at school and in an Adelaide school kids aren't even allowed to touch eachother.
  I can't believe the way this school is behaving because of how he says his name in sign language.
• 

  Berengaria

  I'm sure that at least some of these rules have to do with litigation. Parents these days seem to be ready to blame the schools long before they take responsibility themselves.
• 

  144001

  Beks, lawyers are the source of all evil . . .
• 

  NewChapter

  It's not as simple as asking them to modify the sign. This is the boy's language, and how he identifies himself. How would they like modifying their own name? Weird stuff.
• 

  King Solomon

  I'm sure that at least some of these rules have to do with litigation. Parents these days seem to be ready to blame the schools long before they take responsibility themselves.

  There's probably a lawsuit waiting in the wings against the school district for violating Hunter's rights under the ADA, if they don't engage in some serious back-peddling...
• 

  NewChapter

  If this is in the US, a lot of schools adopted a zero tolerance policy for any kind of gun signs after Columbine. One girl got suspended for pointing her finger and pretending to shoot a boy. It wasn't hostile, she was just playing, and out she went.

  I don't think it's about litigation so much since those policies started popping up everywhere.

  Yeah---like those boys used their fingers to shoot their fellow students. Whatever.