rhapsodic.org is a weblog by Valette Keller

Leap Day

Donovan is an aide in the special needs class 7th period, which is really pretty awesome. It's exposing him to some of the difficulties those with disabilities experience on a daily basis, he gets to feel helpful (something that he loves), and he gets to do a lot of fun things like eat cake and go to the movies.

If every middle schooler knew how awesome aiding for this class was, there'd be a waiting list.

Today they went to see Big Miracle about Alaskan whales; the movie was partially filmed here in Anchorage last year.

He got a soda and some popcorn before the movie and ran into a confusing altercation with the cashier that resulted in him being made to buy two sodas when he only wanted one. He was understandably bummed about this because he didn't want two sodas and an adult in a position of (some) authority over him told him he had to buy two sodas.

After we got him from school and he relayed this unfair story to us, we drove back to the theatre and asked for a manager. The manager listened very closely to his story, understood what happened, and refunded him $5: more than the cost of the extra soda.

I wonder if the cashier had treated him in this way because he was with a group of special needs kids. And that makes me really angry.

The three of us talked about it in the car on the drive home and Donovan admitted to being nervous, but he was very happy with the manager and the outcome. I am so proud of him for standing up for himself to an adult when he was being treated unfairly.

I had planned on taking one photo each hour on the hour today for Leap Day, but after the theatre soda incident was resolved I forgot to take any more photos. And I'm okay with that.