I seriously doubt taking away a blind child's cane was done without some due consideration, especially as litigation happy a society we have become. I'd bet a good steak on there being a LOT more to the story.
Brad
If the blind kid was using it like a lance, or (if it was the folding variety) nun-chucks there are ways to deal with that. The article says he hit another kid. His parents counter that he "fidgets" with the cane. Kick him off the bus for a week, just like they do to any other kid "convicted" of acting out on the bus. (That the school will have to pay for specialized handicapped transportation should not influence their disciplinary decision.
)
The school calls it their property, saying they gave it to him when he enrolled. I'd love to track that back between the Department for the Visually Handicapped, Dept. of Rights of the Disabled, his parent's medical insurance, and the various fedral/state laws on accommodations for the handicapped. Guide canes are of a particular size and flexibility in order to transmit information other than "Hey, you are about to bump into something!" Much comes from the sound of the cane tip gliding over a surface or being tapped. There's a blind guy at the VA who can tell, in the rain on an asphalt road, how far away from him I'm standing via the sounds from tapping his cane.
That pool noodle better be able to transmit the same information.
stay safe.
