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| Miles Ambridge separated from his class |
Parents are angry after a class photo showing how a wheelchair bound boy has been separated from the class went viral on the internet.
The photo, which was taken at the Herbert Spencer Elementary School, shows the seven-year-old boy Miles Ambridge, who uses a wheelchair, awkwardly separated from the rest of his classmates. As the rest of his classmates smiled for the camera, he strained his neck to appear closer to the group, the picture showed.
Ambridge has a genetic disease called spinal muscular atrophy, which attacks nerve cells, and as a result, uses a wheelchair to get around.
When the boy's parents saw the picture of the class, they were surprised. "It broke my heart," the father of the boy, Don Ambridge, said in an interview. "He was clearly leaning inward, he wanted to be included," the father said.
After Don Ambridge saw the photo, he decided not to share it with his child. Instead, he wrote a letter to the class teacher in the school in British Columbia.
"Basically, I said, ‘I find this disgusting. Please throw it out. I do not want that in my house.’ I am in so much pain. It hurts to see it." the father said.
The boy’s mother, Anne Belanger, also published the photo on a Facebook page.
Belanger, said: "I do not think it was a malicious act. I do not think that it was done on purpose. I do not think there was any rational thought behind it."
Belanger said that discrimination is a daily reality for people with disabilities.
The family said that the school principal, Tracy Fulton, responded immediately with a phone call.