umm, guys this group excludes people based on merely their sexual orientation why should they be any different now?
The whole question of kids who have a variety of conditions in Scouting is trobling to me.Several fellows who are in the agency I work for have their own Scout troop.They are adults,so really wouldn't fit in any other type of troop.Besides,they are all friends. Current DD philosophy would suggest that the troop be disbanded,as it is clearly not age appropriate. Yet the men involved would be devastated if this were taken from them. One person we haven't heard from is the boy.Has anyone observed his behavior in this setting?Possibly he acts out in response to teasing from scouts.Possibly he engages in some form of self-stimulation (no not THAT form) which kids or parents found disturbing.Maybe his behavior is a sign that despite what his aunt wants,he hates scout meetings. I was able to leave Scouting by saying,"I'm done with that."Did this boy have that option?We don't know. I am far more interested in this family than I am the parents of the "normals".You see one normal ,you've seen them all.
http://www.scouting.org/factsheets/02-503.html i was in scouts for a while - i was not terribly interested in rising through the ranks or getting merit badges, but was up for any nature exploring trip (hike, canoe, cave, camp, etc.) - my troop had a (insert your favorite) kid and he certainly acted out a little at times, but nobody tried to make him go away - everyone liked him and that was that people need to grow the f*** up
Fair enough Mel, but let me reframe the issue to one that you are highly sensitive about. Were we to learn that a black child had been excluded from a Cub Scout troop, how would you react to the poster that said "Wait, we don't know the whole story. Maybe he was playing rap music and selling crack all the time in the meetings." My point is not that there may be legitimate sides to the issue. As in my example above, perhaps this particular hypothetical black child really was a disruption to the meetings and did not participate with the troop. My point was simply that starting with the assumption that this developmentally delayed child was acting out in inappropriate ways, without anything in the story suggesting that was the case, is the kind of stereotyping that is harmful to the rights of children with disabilities. While I am intentionally being overly strident towards posters who are generally open minded people, my purpose is to point out the harm inherent in making assumptions about the behavior of disabled children and excusing inappropriate reactions to those with disabilities.
Fair enough, but since the facts in this case are unknown, except by the principals in this case; i.e., the Cub Scout Committee and Pack 765 of the Boy Scouts, regarding the child in question, all the speculation, assumtions and hypotheticals you can conjure are fools errand! Let the Pack control their own...
Yeah, they should've just eaten the kid. Survival of the fitest and all. BTW, how did you survive your childhood?
Fair enough, I guess I feel like I know the folks online personas enough to not call that particular wise-ass-ness to task; I DO admit that were it someone saying that who I didn't "know," I might have reacted differently, so your point is well taken.