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Re: Disabled drivers
Over the years FIRST has made many adjustments for people who have one challenge or another. In NJ one year a deaf student was allowed to have sign language specialist as a 4th drive team member. The very first year BAE sponsored the Granite State event there was a driver that was under 3' tall, (age 16) they were allowed a step stool. At the championship event in 2001 on Newton there was a blind student on a drive team. ( I don't remember what he/she did on the drive team.)
Remember we now have an FRC team made up of entirely deaf students.
Over the years FIRST has done everything they could to help out students with challenges. A part of every field is a wheel chair ramp that raises the chair at least a foot off the floor.
While it is necessary to help people who are truly challenged, I would hate to see exceptions made for perceived handicaps. Unfortunately as Dean says "Life is not fair".
I also have to ask: Is it FIRST, or the teams that limit challenged students activities? It appears to me FIRST has done everything it could to encourage / inspire all students.
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"One day you will come to a fork in the road. And you're going to have to make a decision about what direction you want to go." Boyd raised his hand and pointed. "If you go that way you can be somebody. You will have to make compromises and you will have to turn your back on your friends. But you will be a member of the club and you will get promoted and you will get good assignments." Then Boyd raised the other hand and pointed another direction. "Or you can go that way and you can do something for your country, your Air Force and for yourself. If you decide to do something, you may not get promoted and you may not get the good assignments and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors. But you won't have to compromise yourself. You will be true to your friends and to yourself. And your work might make a difference. To be somebody or to do something. In life there is often a roll call. That's when you will have to make a decision. To be or to do? Which way will you go?"
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