My sister, and several other kids with asthma, who followed the rules and didn't go to the nurse when the teacher said no, ended up in the ER, several times.

Did the nay-saying teachers pay the ER costs? Because that would have been pretty good behavior change reinforcement.

Nope. Depending on which kid is was, either the teacher got a call from the parent or either the nurse or the principal got a call from the parent and then talked to the teacher, but it kept happening.

These were always gym teachers. It was nearly impossible to get a gym teacher to believe you were sick. "I can't breathe, I used my inhaler already and it's not helping, and I need to go to the nurse" was met with "Just sit down for a little while." Several ER visits out of that one, when the kid still couldn't breathe the next period. "I can't run a mile, and I've given you at least three notes from my doctor this semester telling you that I can't run and that you're not allowed to make me do things that I say I can't do" got "Give it a try." That one led to my dislocated knee. "Ouch! That hurts!" when hit in the shoulder during a self-defense class got laughter.

What I had, and what a bunch of other kids had, was a note from a doctor called a self-limiting gym pass. The idea behind this was that it was for kids who can do enough stuff in gym class to not be excused entirely, but for some medical reason can't do everything. And the note says that the kid should tell the teacher if there's something he or she can't do, and then the kid doesn't have to do that thing. Never worked. No matter how many of those notes I brought in, the gym teacher never believed that I wasn't just lazy or faking. There were a few semesters where the teacher was so bad about that stuff that my mom called the doctor to get me a note to get out of gym entirely, but usually, it was just deal with it as well as I could.

Well, they just literally don't understand physical inability and they thought you were babying yourself. But they are not doctors, though.

I went through that crap in gym too. I liked most stuff, but couldn't do anything in an inverted position because I would pass out. I told the gym teacher a billion times I could not do a handstand. She forced me to do it; I collapsed and had to be taken out on a stretcher because I hurt my back. Grrrrr.

And a lot of parents are all for zero-tolerance ... until their own kid gets caught in it.

A world of truth there.

I really wish I had the time and energy to fight the system each and every time it has been ridiculous, but there is only so much a single person can do. There have been so many battles over the years with the school system, and I have another 4 years to go. Ugh.

Huh, I never needed a note to say, "Can't, not gonna." Of course, it wasn't like the PE teacher was going to frogmarch me around the track. A Gandhi-esque bout of lump-on-the-groundness seemed to work.

Mostly I bowed out of things that involved flinging myself around. They brought out gymnastics equipment and expected a bunch of lumps to cavort on the stuff, whereas all I saw were broken bones in my future.

Oh, and swimming in high school.

I was very lucky wrt gym. K-8 all of my gym teachers were wonderful about letting me participate as much as I felt comfortable, without ever questioning me. In highschool, I had another study period.

A Gandhi-esque

I believe you mean Ganjhi.

Maybe he'd been smoking the ganjhi.

Now when I experience inappropriate giggling when someone mentions Gandhi it is all P-C's fault. Or I could blame it on the ganjhi. Either way much explaining will have to follow.

Hey, hivemind. I'm doing tshirts for my BFF's son's charity walk. I've designed a "superman" theme, but I can't find a royal blue tshirt on zazzle or cafepress. Any other sites where you can create your own stuff?

Thanks!

FYI, I got an email from Emily, and her school is now blocking b.org. She said to let you all know.

back to work