-Vintage Canuck- Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 “Look at the angle that he was in,” says New Westminster mom Anne Belanger, her voice a whisper as she fought back tears. “He’s ostracized. He wants to be part of the gang so much.”: When Anne Belanger received her son’s grade two class photo last month, she immediately stuffed the image back into its envelope in disgust. In the photo, the students and teacher line up neatly in three rows. But one student is missing from the group. There, in the far right edge, her son Miles Ambridge sits in his wheelchair, separated from the rest of his classmates by an empty space on a bench. Despite the obvious gap, the seven-year-old beams for the camera, craning as far to the side as his tiny body will allow to be closer to his friends. While she can hardly stand to look at the photo, Belanger is overcome with anger and sadness when she does. “Look at the angle that he was in,” said the New Westminster mom, her voice a whisper as she fought back tears. “He’s ostracized. He wants to be part of the gang so much.” Miles has spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic disease that attacks nerve cells in the spinal cord, causing muscles throughout the body, especially in the arms and legs, to weaken. The disease does not affect cognitive abilities. Miles was diagnosed at just 13 months, when doctors told his parents their boy would never walk. Living in a wheelchair, Miles has already faced more challenges than any young child should have to deal with, said his father Don Ambridge. That’s why it was all the more frustrating to see Miles excluded from the group in what should have been a simple class photo, he said. Ambridge, who was the first to see the photo, said the image made him feel humiliated for his son. “For some reason it makes me feel even worse that he’s so happy in the picture,” he said. “I think it’s because he’s still innocent ... He’s still naive to how other people can treat him.” Miles’ parents have decided to keep the photo from their son, who hasn’t seen the picture. Belanger said Miles is “profoundly aware that he’s different than his peers.” If he saw it, she thinks he would be deeply hurt. But his parents still wanted to bring attention to the photo in a bid to shed light on discrimination, which they said is still a daily reality for people with disabilities. Belanger posted the photo to the photography company’s Facebook page. Lifetouch Canada removed the photo with a message that it was taken down due to privacy laws, but that they had sent it to their head office. Not satisfied with their response, Belanger posted the photo again with the other children’s faces blacked out. Meanwhile, Miles’ dad sent the photo back to his son’s school, Herbert Spencer Elementary, requesting it be thrown out. When school principal Tracy Fulton received the returned photo, she said she immediately contacted Lifetouch as well. Still, Fulton said the company didn’t immediately see anything wrong with the photo. It took some coaxing until Lifetouch agreed the separation of Miles from his class was a mistake and offered to retake the photo, she said. “You want to think that they just made a mistake and they weren’t willing to correct it,” said Fulton. “But in the meantime, the parents were really hurt by it.” Miles’ mom said she blames both the photographer and the school for the gaffe. However, Fulton defended the school’s actions and said the photographer was solely to blame. Fulton said none of the school staff had seen the photo before Miles’ father sent it back. At the photo shoot, she said his teacher, from her position, also couldn’t see the distinct gap between him and the rest of the class. The photo was retaken earlier this week by another Lifetouch photographer. In the new photo, which his parents have not yet seen, Miles was taken out of his wheelchair and supported by a caregiver on a bench beside his classmates. On Thursday, Lifetouch admitted their photographer made a mistake. Dean Cochrane, manager for the Lifetouch office in Burnaby, said the company teaches its photographers to build the composition of photos differently when they work with people in wheelchairs. “On this composition, it wasn’t done right,” he said. “This will be a learning experience for this photographer.” Regardless, Belanger said the photo is discrimination and a reflection of a society that still attaches stigma to disability. “Kids can be cruel but this comes from adults, which is even worse,” she said. “Adults should know better.” http://www.theprovince.com/news/photo+that+broke+mother+heart/8523150/story.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Boudreau Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 That biatch teacher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drouin Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 That biatch teacher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warhippy Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Thank you for this post. We all need the reminders from time to time lest we lose touch with our own humanity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
250Integra Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Blame the photographer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyJoeJoeJr. Shabadoo Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 I find it hard to believe it was intentional. It's not like the kid was a flames fan or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HTania Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Thank you for this post. We all need the reminders from time to time lest we lose touch with our own humanity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
250Integra Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 I find it hard to believe it was intentional. It's not like the kid was a flames fan or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jester13 Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Blame the photographer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Vanderhoek Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 I can understand the mother being upset, but come on. The photographer should have noticed and perhaps made soem suggestions, the class, teacher could have thought up something to incorporate the young boy into the picture more so. I don't know, could it really have been that hard to slide the kids down the two feet to the end of the bench so they are all in a row and have the teacher sit on the other end ? This is a sensitive issue but come on, just look at her boy smiling, maybe the problem is the mother looking at the situation her son is in and not being " young, innocent, and naive " about it. the kids are smiling and happy, photo taken. Done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 I don't think it's quite a big of a deal as they are making it out to be there's even an empty spot on the other side of the bench too. He looks to be be as close to the bench as possible and looks extremely happy in the photo. It seems like a case of the Mother and Father taking it as disrespectful to their Son when it really doesn't seem to be the case at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magician Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Should have put him in the middle of the photo infront of the benches with the class on each side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rypien37 Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Slow news day or what? Photographer was just stupid/not thinking. PS Teacher is hawwt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Should have put him in the middle of the photo infront of the benches with the class on each side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRussianRocket. Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Should have put him in the middle of the photo infront of the benches with the class on each side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeNiro Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Overly sensitive mother, nothing more. Yes the picture should have been done better, but to act like it's intentional discrimination is ridiculous. It seems like the mother hasn't come to terms with him being in a wheelchair yet. He seems like a happy young kid, just be happy about that. It could have been solved without the media quite easily. But it seems like too many people nowadays wanna bring attention on themselves/their cause. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rampage Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 I was ready to blame the teacher for letting the picture be taken like that, but in the article it says she wasn't able to tell about the gap. The photographer was an idiot on this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeNiro Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Should have put him in the middle of the photo infront of the benches with the class on each side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KFBR392 Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 That kid is boss. I doubt he even gives a damn. Dude is fully aware of his placement in the picture and he's still happy as hell. The Photographer probably learned a good lesson, and hopefully the parents ease up on treating this little guy like he cant handle a bit of adversity. I'm sure he's survived worse situations than this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainly Mattias Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 the mom needs other things to deal with than a class picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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