DISABLED GIRL DENIED DISNEYLAND TRIP
Madison Wolanyk, a disabled teenage girl was denied the chance to visit Disneyland on a school field trip. Why? Sources say the bus conveying the students did not have a lift for the wheelchair.
The 14-year-old Madison was born with cerebral palsy, spina bifida and autism. She attends a special education class at Hilltop Middle School in San Diego.
Madison’s father, Eugene Wolanyk, said he did not have a prior knowledge of the excursion. He said he only became aware of the excursion when his daughters school bus came to their home.
Mr. Eugene Wolanyk said that Madison wasn't taking the bus that morning because of a scheduled visit to see the doctor.
"He said, 'Why? She's not going to Disneyland?'" Wolanyk recalled. "What trip to Disneyland?"
Wolanyk said he called the vice principal of the school who claimed Madison wasn’t joining the trip because they couldn’t get a lift for the bus.
Wolanyk said. "He just told me very matter-of-factly there's like 100 students going so we couldn't get the lift for the bus, so that's why Madison's not going,"
Wolanyk said the vice principal had also given him an envelope with two complimentary tickets that would expire that same day. He said he called the principal of the school who claimed that it was Madison’s idea to be excluded from the trip. He said Madison had initially told him she didn’t want to go. Madison refuted the principal’s comments.
Eugene Wolanyk filed a claim with the Sweetwater Union High School District and suggested that his daughter also missed last year's special education trip to Disneyland for the same reason. He went on to describe the actions of the school as ‘cruel’.
Wolanyk told reporters, "I want Madison to be given every opportunity that every other child has, especially since she's on a trajectory of attending high school until she is 22"