A wheelchair class photo drew ire from parents.
A second-grade child in a wheelchair was separated from the rest of his classmates in a class photo in New Westminister, British Columbia.
“I couldn’t comprehend how the photographer could look through the lens and think that this was good composition... this just boggled the mind,” mother Anna Belanger told the Toronto Star.
The photo shows the students arranged in three rows, with wheelchair-bound Miles Ambridge standing on the far right.
“Being picked on and being set aside is horrendous and this was what was happening,” added Belanger.
Belanger said that being confined to a wheelchair presents its own set of problems, and it makes it even harder for the boy to be separated from other children.
“This was not a malicious act, I don’t think it was done on purpose. I just don’t think there was any rational thinking behind it,” Belanger told the paper.
Belanger added that she is “not on warpath” and noted that she just wanted “to bring awareness” to the matter, reported The Province newspaper.
Father Don Ambridge said that it was likely just a “lack of awareness.”
“It’s wrong, but it doesn’t mean it was intentional,” he said, adding that he blames the photographer and not the school for the mistake.
He said the photographer was likely under a tight deadline to get the photo done
“It just means that somebody dropped the ball for a moment and that can be incredibly hurtful,” he said.
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