Peanuts and Fire Alarms

I want to start this post by saying I don't have the answers to the questions I pose below. I merely want to explore a concept that has been on my mind of late.

In the wake of the anti-vaccine movement (don't worry this blog won't be about that), other concerns about public safety have surfaced. Topics that most interest me deal with public schools.

As a child, I pretty much ate the same thing every day at school: goldfish crackers, applesauce, a fruit roll up, and the ever-popular pb&j sandwich. I clearly remember a friend of mine saying she hated peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Appalled, I inquired as to why. Well, turns out she was allergic to peanuts. But she knew this. She was probably around seven, and knew not to touch peanuts. She also had an epi-pen that she knew how to use. Bottom line, she was prepared.

By middle school, there seemed to be some weird rules about taking medication to school. Inhalers and epi-pens had to be kept with the school nurse. Clearly, this is problematic. It's like keeping all fire extinguishers at the fire department. The, perhaps not-so-subtle, reasoning behind all this was that school were afraid of being sued if a student misused their medication. This fear of legal repercussion slowly morphed into more and more rules. Kids can't keep their medications with them, they can't eat peanuts at school, and, in some cases, they aren't allowed to run at recess (seriously).

So by now you're wondering: what the heck does this have to do with anything? Well, here ya go. My question is this: why is it that some disabilities overwhelm the spotlight, while others get no attention at all?

As a youngster with epilepsy, I knew when I had to leave a classroom. If there was a video with flashing lights, if some idiot had a strobe light, or if (and I still maintain this is true) the class was really boring. But never once have I heard of a warning, much less a rule, about showing such videos in class, or banning annoying strobe lights from school campuses.

And now I want to share a little story: I was at my high school one morning taking my AP Computer Science exam. Out of nowhere, the fire alarms started going off. It was "just a drill" as always, but the alarms didn't stop. After a couple minutes the sound relented, but the lights keep flashing. Because of some AP rule, we weren't allowed to leave the room. I made a comment about my condition and the supervisors covered the lights with printer paper. It didn't do anything. And I was told if I left the room, I would fail the test. So I sat there, with my head the crook of my arm, and failed anyway. When I went to the school counselor to complain, I was told I could retake the test but a) colleges would see that I took it twice, and b) I would have to pay $150. Bullshit. So I took the failing grade, got into the competitive computer science college I wanted, and now work at a software company...further solidifying my notion that AP tests are bullshit to begin with. 

Despite this, I'll tell you what I don't want to happen. I don't want to ban TVs from classrooms, just as I don't want to ban peanuts from schools. I'll exit the classroom, you won't eat the peanut butter cookies. Of course, there are extreme cases of allergy. But those are rare and can result from many different allergens.

Bottom line: why are we so up in arms about some issues and not others? Maybe it's because no one has sued over a flashing video or fire alarm? But that's a whole other issue.

Comments welcome!