Image that you’re Magi Klages’ parents. Your beautiful 8-year-old autistic daughter was part of a Brownie troop that got too big, so she was moved to a smaller group for children with special needs. All seems to be going well, until one day Magi throws a fit during a matt-weaving project. You are there to witness the entire event and don’t consider Magi’s behavior abnormal for an autistic child thrust into a new situation. But four days later you get a call saying that Magi is no longer welcome in the new troop.
What do you do?
If you are Michele and Kevin Klages of Wisconsin you tell your story to the national media in hopes that other families with autistic children won’t have to go through what your family did.
In a recent interview with ABC News, Michele Klages detailed the incident that got her young child booted from the Girl Scouts. According to Magi’s mom, her daughter broke down during one of the Brownie meetings and began biting herself prior to running out of the circle.
“We don’t get it,” Michele told ABC News. “She’s 30 pounds and we were there. We were told she was scaring the other girls.”
In fact, the leader of Magi’s Brownie group told the Klages that their daughter would no longer be welcomed at meetings because she was a “danger” to the new group’s four other children who are all physically disabled.
“To feel like someone doesn’t want your child around, it rips your heart out,” said Michele. “I never expected my child to be discriminated against. Never in a million years.”
The 42-year-old mother also revealed that the leader of Magi’s Brownie troop has a child with special needs, yet was the very one who decided that Magi shouldn’t be allowed to return to the group.
Mind you, according to Magi’s mom, her daughter has been with the Girl Scouts for more than two years and never had a problem fitting in.
Leaders at the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, called the Klages’ incident “shocking.”
Since the Girl Scouts receives federal funding it is required to make a “reasonable accommodation” for Magi under the Americans With Disabilities Act. However, some autism experts say: “What happened here instead is [Magi] got a troop that said, ‘OK, we’ll try it.’ Then after one day they said, ‘Never mind, we don’t want to do it.'”
Frankly, I find the entire situation appalling. Can you image trying your best to expose your young child to others, picking an organization that pledges to “help people at all times” and to be “honest and fair, considerate and caring,” and then, have something like this happen?
To be fair execs at the Autism Society of America did issue a statement to ABC News following Magi’s incident that praised the Girl Scouts for doing “wonderful work” with children with disabilities. They went on to say that children with autism are rarely dangerous to others and that this particular incident illustrates the need for more support and training in organizations like the Girl Scouts.
Call it the understatement of the century… at least for the leader of Magi’s former Brownie troop.
What would you have done if this incident happened to your child?
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