This is heartbreaking, Colleen. I hope the family will find a good solution for him soon. I wish that the other children and their families would have stuck up for him on the trip.

I'm so sorry to hear about this. All it would have taken is one teacher or administrator determined to include this boy. I think the work thing is even worse than the vacation, in a way, because one teacher could surely telephone businesses until someone would welcome him.
And what does this teach the other kids about how valued anyone is, including them? Something happens to you and we cut you loose?!

Yes, so many places have to be handicapped accessible, surely there was one that could have accommodated him. Same thing for the trip. There are plenty of places to hike that also allow you to drive to the top or end. He could have been driven to meet his classmates and enjoyed the experience. Even better would have been a trip where he could have participated. I'm sorry this happened to him and hope the new school will do better.

As some one who has found work experiences and organized trips for students with handicaps, (mostly mental and behavioral but I have had to deal with wheelchair issues too) I know that it can be done. All it takes is people who see things in terms of challenges and believe they have the ability to meet them, they see solutions, not problems. Such institutions exist. Hope your friend finds such a group of people. Everyone I know who works with handicapped kids will tell you that you learn from them, it is a benefit to your own personal growth to serve them, not a problem. Such ideas are becoming rarer and rarer though, in our cutthroat society. But they still exist. Hope the kid's parents and the kid know enough not to give up, to keep looking for options. Like I hope there is a support group they're involved with, and I dunno about Australia, but here we have all kinds of camps with lots of nature experiences for handicapped kids during the summer. And, lots of organizations that welcome teen volunteers, and would probably be glad to accomodate him. So phooey on those other folks!!

This is so sad! We can see how unfair this is and emphasize with the poor kid and we aren't even on the ground with him. You have to wonder what this does to him emotionally in addition to having to live a confined life.

Colleen, I agree, there's no reason that boy couldn't do the work experience or the trip, except that no one at the school cares enough to be sure he's included.

I mentor high school students in a "school to work" program and one of my students was in a wheel chair because she was born with spina bifida. I have a tiny little cramped office space with 10 employees in it, but we found room for Stephanie and she learned office skills and found that there were tasks that she could perform and even excel at, skills that would allow her to make a living. Did it take more of my time and more planning than a normally abled student? Of course it did. Did my staff take a deep breath and work with me on it? Of course they did.

There's no excuse, none at all.

Annie

Disgusting! Their complete disregard for him as a adolescent, a human and someone with a terminal disease is reprehensible. A disabled rights advocate or better yet, an attorney, should be contacted. I'm not familiar with your laws, but in the US we have the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and this would not be tolerated. I'll bet OZ has a similar law on the books. Advise them to contact a support organization for more details.

At first I forgot about this being in Australia, so I was thinking that it would totally be against the law for them to not include him. I don't know what Australia's laws are, but if it's not against the law, it should be. What awful people to treat him that way. Maybe the local media needs to hear about it, if your friends would be willing to deal with that.

Sally

Colleen that is beyond sad...There are pluses and minuses to our laws for including all kids, regardless of ability....but this is one instance where I think inclusion would be good....for all concerned!

Thanks for the support! There are laws here wrt accessibility of schools and other public buildings, but not sure if they extend to compelling schools to ensure disabled students are included in activities which are not, strictly speaking, in the school premises. If not I think this is a major failing but even worse that the schools wouldn't just automatically ensure this happens, without having to be compelled to.
Australia is still not as litigious as the US and as this boy's parents are not well off I imagine they're not even considering going down the litigation path as it could turn out to be expensive and also take up a lot of time they could otherwise be spending with their son. In addition it's been a hard journey for them since this diagnosis and it may well be they don't have the fight in them at the moment and are just holding on for the next couple of months when the school year will finish and he'll change to a hopefully better school.
I agree, Linda, inclusion would have been good for all concerned. As I said in my original post I think it an opportunity for teaching compassion and consideration passed over.
I also doubt they would appreciate the fight going to the media, the boy already feels like a freak and the media spotlight would intensify it in the mood he's in. I just wish I had a magic wand.....

Yeah, I could see how the media could turn it into a "freak" show, not that I'm calling him a freak. This is just beyond sad and just plain unbelievable how people can treat their fellow human beings that way. I'd be tempted to send a note to the school officials asking them how they sleep at night, knowing what awful people they are. But I doubt I'd have the guts to do that.

I wish him well in his next school.

Sally