Not evidence-based: Goats help boy cope with ADHD.
(via FARK.com, image via Cincinnati Enquirer)
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Truth is stranger than fiction. Great news find!
~Deb
ADHD is defined by moving societal norms. A broader latitude of temperment and behavior was tollerated years ago. Kids therefore ran afoul of rigid behavioral norms demanded by uptight and overconforming schools.
Unfortuantely the benefits of being ’special’ in some manner encourages acquiring such diagnostic labels. It can create bizaar feelings of entitlement in the recipients of such diagnostic labels, causing them to believe it is their right to trample other’s rights.
I have a hard time believing that a goat so wired as to jump on a trampoline on its hind legs is a calming influence on anyone. If the family feels so strongly about this animal’s theraputic benefit then they can simply have it certified by some legitimate support animal organization, have the animals undergo the species appropriate training, and take reasonable safety measures and insurance riders to protect the community in which they live.
It is not simply enough to claim some benefit is owed one from society merely because one is ’special’. Asking society to accomodate this child requries the family to make reasonable accomodation to society.
It’s a good thing that this family lives in a democratic country with a representative government. It is they and their neighbors who are the government. It is an abuse of the judicial power to use the courts to seek special consideration of a proper and constitutional law enacted by the legislature.
If they believe that the law is wrong then they need merely to petition their local coucilman to sponsor a bill changing the ordinance. Debate, then a vote will ensue and democracy in action can happen.
This is not a case of big government trampling the rights of some poor individual. Local government is very much in the hands of the locals.
Here’s the part that gets my goat. They are willing to go to court for an exception to the law for the health of their child, but:
“The latest available data indicate that an estimated 83 400 trampoline-related injuries occurred in 1996 in the United States. This represents an annual rate 140% higher than was reported in 1990. Most injuries were sustained on home trampolines. In addition, 30% of trampoline-related injuries treated in an emergency department were fractures often resulting in hospitalization and surgery. These data support the American Academy of Pediatrics’ reaffirmation of its recommendation that trampolines should never be used in the home environment, in routine physical education classes, or in outdoor playgrounds.”
http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/pediatrics;103/5/1053
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