Flight diverted after family complains about flight movie

[paganhomeschooler]

I have never been to an 18/21+ movie before. I don't know if they even offer them around here. I did take my girls with me to the midnight showings of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 1&2, and my younger daughter had gone with me to the midnight showing of the Half Blood Prince. They are HUGE HP fans. They were very well behaved, didn't make a peep. They would have been crushed had they not been able to go to the midnight showings if they were 18+! We all went in costume and everything. I went as Molly, my oldest went as Luna, and my other daughter went as Hermione. There were tons of people all dressed up, and it was a great experience.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for a time and a place for kids. I just don't think it's fair to the well behaved kids who have parents that have taught them how to be civilized in public, for them to be excluded because people don't know how to parent. I really have a low tolerance for bratty, uncontrolled, misbehaving children. There is nothing I hate more than when we have a night away from the kids, and we're seated right next to a table with a 3 yo who is throwing food, screaming, and refuses to sit down. We went to Steak on a Stone once, and not only did some morons have a probably 9-12 mo baby sitting at a table surrounded by 800 degree rocks, the kid screamed the.whole.time. and their 3 yo ran laps around their table. We seriously almost got up and left, and we weren't even right next to them. My kids have never done anything like that. They are not perfect little angels, but they have been taught proper etiquette for public places. People compliment them all the time on how well behaved and respectful they are.

[2xx1xy1JD]

I am the first to admit that bratty kids drive me up a wall, and I have been known to let that reaction show in no uncertain terms. But I would never be annoyed / surly about an accidental bump caused by wacky seat design. Times that I have turned around with my Mean Lady Face on, have been caused by full on, purposeful, tiny tyrant KICKING - that mom or dad is willfully ignoring. Thankfully, I have a highly effective MLF, and one turn is usually all it takes. ;)

It can still be related to seat design. If the kids do anything other than sit still like statues, you'll feel a kick. There's just not really any other way for them to move their feet, since they can't reach the area under the seat in front like adults can. Of course, any game of Let's See Who Can Kick the Seat Hardest should obviously be discouraged - preferably through a chat with the parents.

[alba]

I have never been to an 18/21+ movie before. I don't know if they even offer them around here. I did take my girls with me to the midnight showings of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 1&2, and my younger daughter had gone with me to the midnight showing of the Half Blood Prince. They are HUGE HP fans. They were very well behaved, didn't make a peep. They would have been crushed had they not been able to go to the midnight showings if they were 18+! We all went in costume and everything. I went as Molly, my oldest went as Luna, and my other daughter went as Hermione. There were tons of people all dressed up, and it was a great experience.

Yeah, it wouldn't be fair if the only showing was adults-only, or if the better times were adults-only; the cinema nearest me has about a dozen screens so when they do an 18+ showing there's an all-ages one starting within fifteen minutes of it.

[Ex 2x2]

Savoring, that sign is the best!! I love it!!

[bananacat]

I'm not hating on pre-teens...these actually were preteens. I'm irritated by anyone talking in a movie, of any age. Babies crying, kids misbehaving, it all bugs me. Unless it's a kids' movie, I leave my kids at home when I go to the movies, so I definitely don't want to pay the outrageous ticket prices and listen to someone else's kids.

eta: I wonder if the higher ticket prices of the 18+ showings would cut down on some of the adults talking/texting/etc? They might not want to waste that much money? Idk though, some people are just inconsiderate.

But for every obnoxious pre-teen, there are 10 obnoxious adults. But they all get a pass because everyone would rather gripe about Kids These Days.

[Maggie Mae]

But for every obnoxious pre-teen, there are 10 obnoxious adults. But they all get a pass because everyone would rather gripe about Kids These Days.

I don't even notice the people texting, because I'm too busy watching the movie. And the occasional comment doesn't really bother me, especially if it's funny. But I hate it when people clap after the movie. That's just stupid. Who are you clapping for? The projectionist?

I so rarely go to films though, so maybe that's it? One of our second run theaters serves food and has a full bar on one level, so the under 21 people have to be upstairs, in the balcony. It's not expensive either, and the food is actual food, not just popcorn and soda.

[Flossie]

I don't even notice the people texting, because I'm too busy watching the movie. And the occasional comment doesn't really bother me, especially if it's funny. But I hate it when people clap after the movie. That's just stupid. Who are you clapping for? The projectionist?

Well, around here the clapping is just a sign of how much you liked the movie. A few seconds of enthusiastic clapping means you liked it. Calmer clapping means the movie was OK. Dead quiet means it was a snoozer. Unhappy mutterings meant it wasn't very good. A real stinker is when the lights come up, you see most of the audience has left during the movie and are now out front trying to get their money back.

[Katiebug]

I would be pretty livid if I'd paid a small fortune for airline tickets for our family and the entertainment was a film like Alex Cross. In order to edit it to be a "G" rated equivalent, you'd have a half hour of really choppy editing with no remaining meaningful storyline, so there must have been some violence and sexual content left in the movie. To be honest, that's not the sort of film I'd want to watch even without my kid present. IMO unless a plane has individual entertainment systems for each seat, it would probably be best to have true G rated entertainment or nothing beyond the little map showing the flight path of the plane.

People who say, "Well, just don't let the kids look at the screen" are clearly not parents themselves. I've been on planes with those shared screens and it's kind of tough to NOT see the screens at least in passing; they're positioned to try to give every seat at least some view, otherwise what's the point? We have a 2.5 year old. Even with a tablet or laptop or Leappad with headphones, the sheer novelty of Being on a plane! And having TVs! Right there in the ceiling! would render the entertainment from home significantly less exciting and ensure that the kid would keep trying to look at the plane entertainment screens regardless. The flight attendants and pilots and other passengers on the plane wouldn't be the ones having to deal with nightmares and questions later, we would.

Now, I would ask the flight attendant if the screen could be turned off but would not make a scene. We'd do our best to distract our children, get the names of the flight crew, and take up the issue with the airline after we got off the plane at our destination. I'd go to the media if necessary to have action taken and get some resolution and an apology. But I wouldn't risk the plane being diverted and us being deemed a "security threat" by some power tripping flight attendant, not over the showing of an inappropriate movie.

[hywelis]

This. SO MUCH.

On a bit of a side-note, I went to see the eighth Harry Potter film at an 18+ showing. It was great. No squealing fangirls, no children crying at the sight of Voldemort, just a nice, quiet cinema. A couple days later I read an editorial complaining about 18+ showings for a "children's film". I don't really understand it, because as I see it separating families from childless adults in these situations makes EVERYONE happier. It means that when children are noisy or boisterous in the family area, it's to be expected and accepted, so the parents are less stressed and not getting glares from people who want some peace, and the people who want peace can stay away from the children and let them be noisy elsewhere.

Off topic. Also, may contain spoilers.

I'm not a huge HP fan, however I'm currently reading The Deathly Hallows and, while I haven't watched the movie adaptation, I can't see how they can make a truly child-friendly movie out of it. I think it's a pretty dark story. The whole part about Dumbledore's character being questioned and Harry having to redefine his feelings for his Headmaster would be completely over young children's heads. I don't know how much of the torture/duels scenes they included in the movie, but some crucial parts, like Fred Weasley's death and his family mourning him, or Snape being killed by Nagini, cannot be turned into non-graphic scenes, IMO. No, I wouldn't call it a children's novel at all.

Hywelis

[Megan]

Now, I would ask the flight attendant if the screen could be turned off but would not make a scene. We'd do our best to distract our children, get the names of the flight crew, and take up the issue with the airline after we got off the plane at our destination. I'd go to the media if necessary to have action taken and get some resolution and an apology. But I wouldn't risk the plane being diverted and us being deemed a "security threat" by some power tripping flight attendant, not over the showing of an inappropriate movie.

How much power would an individual flight attendant have over this? I don't think the flight attendants can control individual screens, so they'd have to turn off all of the screens for you, which I'm willing to bet would cause complaints from other people on the plane. They're damned if they do, damned if they don't - putting on the movie is part of their operating procedure. If I were the attendant, I'd stick to how I was trained and get stuck talking to HR with your complaint rather than ignore procedure and deal with the complaints from other people. Complain to the airline about the movie. I don't see what getting an attendant in trouble would do though. It's like yelling at the cashier for a store's policies.

Someone posted above that the father made threats to the flight attendant when (s)he couldn't turn off the movie and when the FA tried to stop him from messing with the screen himself. If this is true, I can see why the FA said something to the pilot. The man was messing with electronics on the plane, likely above the head of another passenger and making threats.

(as an aside, are the screens visible from the first row in coach? I get the feeling they aren't and the family probably could have asked to be relocated somewhere where their child couldn't see the screen).

[alba]

Off topic. Also, may contain spoilers.

I'm not a huge HP fan, however I'm currently reading The Deathly Hallows and, while I haven't watched the movie adaptation, I can't see how they can make a truly child-friendly movie out of it. I think it's a pretty dark story. The whole part about Dumbledore's character being questioned and Harry having to redefine his feelings for his Headmaster would be completely over young children's heads. I don't know how much of the torture/duels scenes they included in the movie, but some crucial parts, like Fred Weasley's death and his family mourning him, or Snape being killed by Nagini, cannot be turned into non-graphic scenes, IMO. No, I wouldn't call it a children's novel at all.

Hywelis

I would consider the last few books in the Harry Potter series Young Adult, not children's, although a lot of people outside of the book world don't seem to realise YA (broadly speaking ages 12-25) as a genre exists - though it's grown A LOT in the past decade or so - so they lump everything into either children's or adults.

The last few HP films are definitely YA - from OOTP or GOF up they're rated 12 here (or 12A in cinemas), which means you have to be 12 or older to watch them.

[Carla Bruni]

I'm not entirely sure where anyone got the idea that any airline is responsible for anything other than getting you from point A to point B with all your shit and in compliance with federal law. Anything they offer beyond that is nothing more than a customer service perk (movies, food, drink, fresh-baked cookies, blankets, pillows, etc, etc), and you can weigh the extent and quality of said perks to determine which airline to fly (if you have a choice) and what class of service you prefer. Airlines are not responsible for preventing your children from having nightmares, just like they're not responsible for preventing you from getting a headache on the plane because it's too bright or too dark or too stuffy for your personal preferences, just like they don't have to consult you on which weekend getaway cities they want to feature in their monthly magazine. It's this type of entitled attitude that kills me - your kid, your responsibility, your problem to solve.

[Patsy]

:roll: You force a child to watch a horror movie in a locked room they can't leave without dying, yeah, there's a responsibility there to hear concerns and turn it off. FFS.

[Carla Bruni]

No. There's no "responsibility". No United employee was holding the kid's head and FORCING them to watch the movie. If the kid's looking up and the parents don't like that, they can do whatever they want to distract THEIR child. What happens if the Duggars board a plane and begin objecting to content on shared screens?

ETA: To add on another hypothetical, if you're in an aisle seat on a plane with individual screens, you can totally see what the person across the aisle one row ahead of you is watching. So let's say there's a kid in 14D, and I'm in 13C and I want to watch Alex Cross. Do I have an obligation to turn it off because that kid can see it? Does United have an obligation to make me turn it off or switch to a Disney movie?

[ILoveJellybeans]

I presumed that all movies shown on a plane were fairly family friendly, because of the wide range of people there (like small children, religious people who would find things offensive, people who just dont like that sort of thing)

I think it would be cool if they maybe had family friendly areas on the plane-like sat families together in one area so they could put child friendly stuff on one bit, and more adult stuff on another. That way everyone can be happy.

[Freyacat]

I'm not entirely sure where anyone got the idea that any airline is responsible for anything other than getting you from point A to point B with all your shit and in compliance with federal law. Anything they offer beyond that is nothing more than a customer service perk (movies, food, drink, fresh-baked cookies, blankets, pillows, etc, etc), and you can weigh the extent and quality of said perks to determine which airline to fly (if you have a choice) and what class of service you prefer. Airlines are not responsible for preventing your children from having nightmares, just like they're not responsible for preventing you from getting a headache on the plane because it's too bright or too dark or too stuffy for your personal preferences, just like they don't have to consult you on which weekend getaway cities they want to feature in their monthly magazine. It's this type of entitled attitude that kills me - your kid, your responsibility, your problem to solve.

But the airline is making that problem impossible for parents to solve. There's no way to find out in advance what the movie is and make a decision about choosing that flight. There's no way to turn the screen off. There's no way to seat your child in a more comfortable fashion where they have room to play. Exactly how the hell is a parent supposed to solve this problem? A lot of people seem to expect children to sit and stare at the wall for an entire flight - if they cry because the movie is scary, they get glared at, but if they play with a toy to distract them and talk at all while doing so, they also get glared at. Being out in public with a child is sometimes a no win situation, because plenty of people out there seem to hate children on sight. Sad.

[DarkAnts]

But the airline is making that problem impossible for parents to solve. There's no way to find out in advance what the movie is and make a decision about choosing that flight. There's no way to turn the screen off. There's no way to seat your child in a more comfortable fashion where they have room to play. Exactly how the hell is a parent supposed to solve this problem? A lot of people seem to expect children to sit and stare at the wall for an entire flight - if they cry because the movie is scary, they get glared at, but if they play with a toy to distract them and talk at all while doing so, they also get glared at. Being out in public with a child is sometimes a no win situation, because plenty of people out there seem to hate children on sight. Sad.

:penguin-no: Many airlines publish their movie selection on their website. You just have to know where to look. You can also call the airline and ask them about the movies playing on the flight.

[HeckBound]

I'm not entirely sure where anyone got the idea that any airline is responsible for anything other than getting you from point A to point B with all your shit and in compliance with federal law. Anything they offer beyond that is nothing more than a customer service perk (movies, food, drink, fresh-baked cookies, blankets, pillows, etc, etc), and you can weigh the extent and quality of said perks to determine which airline to fly (if you have a choice) and what class of service you prefer. Airlines are not responsible for preventing your children from having nightmares, just like they're not responsible for preventing you from getting a headache on the plane because it's too bright or too dark or too stuffy for your personal preferences, just like they don't have to consult you on which weekend getaway cities they want to feature in their monthly magazine. It's this type of entitled attitude that kills me - your kid, your responsibility, your problem to solve.

I'm not sure when the hell stuff that previous generations of parents have dealt with successfully became Major Crises For Everyone to fret about, "go to the press" about, demand restitution for. When the fuck did everyone get so sensitive? If being out in public is so damned stressful and nightmare-inducing for your Special Snowflake, stay the fuck home. Paying customers don't have to watch Teletubbies on long boring flight just so Annabella and Ryder don't get their Pull Ups in a wad.

This country is kicking out the pussiest kids on the planet these days. It's really depressing.

[sparkles]

No. There's no "responsibility". No United employee was holding the kid's head and FORCING them to watch the movie. If the kid's looking up and the parents don't like that, they can do whatever they want to distract THEIR child. What happens if the Duggars board a plane and begin objecting to content on shared screens?

ETA: To add on another hypothetical, if you're in an aisle seat on a plane with individual screens, you can totally see what the person across the aisle one row ahead of you is watching. So let's say there's a kid in 14D, and I'm in 13C and I want to watch Alex Cross. Do I have an obligation to turn it off because that kid can see it? Does United have an obligation to make me turn it off or switch to a Disney movie?

This did actually happen to me only it didn't escalate to the point of having airline personnel get involved. I was in an aisle seat watching Catch-22 on my iPad. Not a terribly offensive movie, especially by today's standards, but it does have very brief female (of course) full-frontal nudity and a couple of graphic scenes (Hungry Joe getting cut in half by a plane--shot from a distance and Yossarian's bombardier spilling his guts). But overall relatively mild, especially considering I'm watching it on a freaking iPad with makes it very much a personal viewing experience. Right after the nudity scene, the guy one row behind me across the aisle started complaining and wanted me to shut if off. Very indignantly, he muttered at me, "Why do I have to watch this garbage?" To which I replied, "You don't. You're holding a book. Read it." Another passenger directly across the aisle from me started laughing and said "Touché." So Mr. Whinypants was effectively shut down but he did continue muttering until we reached our destination.

I haven't flown any long distance flights recently so I haven't had the dubious pleasure of in-flight movies. True that the airline doesn't owe you anything other than getting you from Point A to Point B safely but I do think that once they make something available to the general passenger population, there's some obligation on their part to make sure it's suitable for all. Unfortunately, even G-rated movies can be problematic. When I took my daughter to see Toy Story 1, she freaked the fuck out over the talking doll's head on the skate (if I'm remembering it correctly) and we had to leave the theater. When I was a kid, my school showed Disney's Alice in Wonderland as an afterschool treat and I was so creeped out by the Cheshire Cat that I ran out of the auditorium and all the way home in the pouring rain. (I still can't look at it nearly 50 years later.) I just don't think there's a one-size-fits-all solution to this issue.

I am, however, still fuming at the idiot parents who brought their two toddlers to a late showing of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Said toddlers cried almost constantly, while the morons ignored them completely. Ah yes, because nothing says wholesome kiddie entertainment like violent anal rape, cat dismemberment and vicious murder. (I've got an unerring 6th sense about stuff like this so I always close my eyes, and sometimes stop up my ears, well in advance.)

[Katiebug]

:roll: You force a child to watch a horror movie in a locked room they can't leave without dying, yeah, there's a responsibility there to hear concerns and turn it off. FFS.

Kids aside, there are a lot of adults who wouldn't want to watch that kind of movie - I'm one of them. I think the last drama movie I watched was "The King's Speech" and before that was probably "Saving Private Ryan". I loathe all horror movies and dislike most action movies. It's not for any religious or moral reasons - I just flat out don't like them. From the description on IMDB, Alex Cross is not a movie I'd choose to watch and even without our child traveling with me I would be ticked off to be stuck in the sardine can of coach class and have that movie playing on shared movie screens. As an adult I can make an effort to just not look at it, but I'd really question the decisions of the airline's entertainment programming people in choosing a movie that wouldn't have broad appeal across a variety of demographics.

If it makes my 2.5 year old a speshul snowflake, so be it - but she is not exposed to graphic scenes at her age. I don't really give a shit if not wanting her to see violence and gore is annoying or silly to the kid haters of the world - my responsibility is to my children, not to random strangers. Like I said, I wouldn't make a scene on the plane but you'd better believe I'd raise hell with the airline once off the plane.

I usually fly United and it's been years since I was on a flight with shared screens - I thought their long haul planes had all gone to the individual entertainment screens in seat backs. Apparently not!

FWIW, the director of Alex Cross [link=http://consumerist.com/2013/04/12/alex-cross-director-agrees-with-passengers-who-think-movie-shouldnt-be-shown-during-flights/]agrees with the parents[/link] that his movie is not one that should be shown on shared screens to a captive audience in an airplane.

[Boogalou]

You can find out what movies will be playing on the airplane beforehand. About 40 seconds of googling brought me this: http://www.united.com/web/format/pdf/tr ... 4-hemi.pdf But if you buy your ticket in advance something like that wouldn't be available. We can argue all day on what is and isn't appropriate to be showing on planes but at the end of the day what is definitely not appropriate is raising so much of a scene that the pilots have to divert the plane. They would not just do that on a whim, someone's safety would practically have to be in danger for that to happen. If pilots divert the plane there is a check list of steps that they have to go through before they make that decision. It's not just "someone asked a question, let's land in Chicago!"

[mlady]

I really don't care what they show on planes because I don't have to watch or listen. As a parent, if your special snowflake is special in a mental/emotional way you need to work your life around that but nobody else does. Really. NOBODY ELSE DOES. I'm not saying that to be mean, it's just a fact of life that every minute of your snowflakes life isn't going to be puppies and rainbows and you need to accept it or stay in your home, a controlled environment. I dont' want to accommodate you (autistic kids or whatever) because I really don't have to. I'm already polite and not doing anything offensive or disruptive (more than I can say for many special snowflakes) and just living my life well. If you or your snowflake can't then don't fly, drive. Don't travel, because you never know what you will run into that will upset the delicate balance of snowflakes life. When and if you do have to step outside the controlled environment accept that your life will be a bit hard because I DON'T CARE AND IT'S NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY. Think about it, it's not MY problem but everyone else in the world has it (not just you, not just on that flight, but everyone I come across in public with "special needs" whatever they are) wants me to. FOREVER. For my entire life! To tippy-toe around them. Anyplace, anytime. I'm telling you now, it's not going to happen.

I agree with the poster who would hate living a world geared to sensitive 5 year olds.

[Tator Tot Tubby]

I really don't care what they show on planes because I don't have to watch or listen. As a parent, if your special snowflake is special in a mental/emotional way you need to work your life around that but nobody else does. Really. NOBODY ELSE DOES. I'm not saying that to be mean, it's just a fact of life that every minute of your snowflakes life isn't going to be puppies and rainbows and you need to accept it or stay in your home, a controlled environment. I dont' want to accommodate you (autistic kids or whatever) because I really don't have to. I'm already polite and not doing anything offensive or disruptive (more than I can say for many special snowflakes) and just living my life well. If you or your snowflake can't then don't fly, drive. Don't travel, because you never know what you will run into that will upset the delicate balance of snowflakes life. When and if you do have to step outside the controlled environment accept that your life will be a bit hard because I DON'T CARE AND IT'S NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY. Think about it, it's not MY problem but everyone else in the world has it (not just you, not just on that flight, but everyone I come across in public with "special needs" whatever they are) wants me to. FOREVER. For my entire life! To tippy-toe around them. Anyplace, anytime. I'm telling you now, it's not going to happen.

I agree with the poster who would hate living a world geared to sensitive 5 year olds.

wow..... you really hate kids....

I agree that we shouldn't have to make the world G rated. Kids are gonna see stuff that will freak them out, there's no way out of that. Even as a child with an anxiety disorder I understood on some level that my reactions to things were different.

I think what we need to do is establish what is reasonably out of question for public places. When your supermarket has music playing while you shop, they edit out the profanity. Basic television is censored and so are ads in most magazines. I'm not saying we need to make the world revolve around children but we do need to make public spaces safe for the majority of people. Being on a plane, there's really nothing you can do to avoid a pull down screen. Therefore, it's reasonable to expect that the film being shown on that screen is appropriate for all viewers. Personally, I think that most PG-13 movies would be suitable if anything horribly graphic were removed. Yes there may be a few swear words and you may be exposed to a naked human body (gasp!) but there tends not to be exceedingly graphic violence. There still are some films in that rating zone that are a bit past what I would see as reasonable (The Hunger Games being one simply because the whole concept is disturbing and the whole film is violent) but for the most part, PG-13 is fine. Most children who are too young to see those films wouldn't understand the sexual content anyway. No, we don't have to show Winne The Pooh, we just shouldn't show The Human Centipede either.

[LilMissMetaphor]

I really don't care what they show on planes because I don't have to watch or listen. As a parent, if your special snowflake is special in a mental/emotional way you need to work your life around that but nobody else does. Really. NOBODY ELSE DOES. I'm not saying that to be mean, it's just a fact of life that every minute of your snowflakes life isn't going to be puppies and rainbows and you need to accept it or stay in your home, a controlled environment. I dont' want to accommodate you (autistic kids or whatever) because I really don't have to. I'm already polite and not doing anything offensive or disruptive (more than I can say for many special snowflakes) and just living my life well. If you or your snowflake can't then don't fly, drive. Don't travel, because you never know what you will run into that will upset the delicate balance of snowflakes life. When and if you do have to step outside the controlled environment accept that your life will be a bit hard because I DON'T CARE AND IT'S NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY. Think about it, it's not MY problem but everyone else in the world has it (not just you, not just on that flight, but everyone I come across in public with "special needs" whatever they are) wants me to. FOREVER. For my entire life! To tippy-toe around them. Anyplace, anytime. I'm telling you now, it's not going to happen.

I agree with the poster who would hate living a world geared to sensitive 5 year olds.

...so, peanut butter? In schools?

[Bloo]

I really don't care what they show on planes because I don't have to watch or listen. As a parent, if your special snowflake is special in a mental/emotional way you need to work your life around that but nobody else does. Really. NOBODY ELSE DOES. I'm not saying that to be mean, it's just a fact of life that every minute of your snowflakes life isn't going to be puppies and rainbows and you need to accept it or stay in your home, a controlled environment. I dont' want to accommodate you (autistic kids or whatever) because I really don't have to. I'm already polite and not doing anything offensive or disruptive (more than I can say for many special snowflakes) and just living my life well. If you or your snowflake can't then don't fly, drive. Don't travel, because you never know what you will run into that will upset the delicate balance of snowflakes life. When and if you do have to step outside the controlled environment accept that your life will be a bit hard because I DON'T CARE AND IT'S NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY. Think about it, it's not MY problem but everyone else in the world has it (not just you, not just on that flight, but everyone I come across in public with "special needs" whatever they are) wants me to. FOREVER. For my entire life! To tippy-toe around them. Anyplace, anytime. I'm telling you now, it's not going to happen.

I agree with the poster who would hate living a world geared to sensitive 5 year olds.

Have you ever stopped to think of how many daily accommodations children (and adults) with special needs have to make for the world around them? Non-disabled people, myself included, don't often think about how people with disabilities have to go out of their way to function in a world that isn't tailor made for them. They make accommodations that never get recognized because we live in an ableist society.

For example, I have a child in my class who has sensory issues that make wearing clothing extremely uncomfortable. However, because of the school dress code, she has to make accommodations by wearing uncomfortable items for the several hours she's in school.

I have another student who wants to be completely alone when stressed- as in, not even watched. That's illegal, so he has to make an accommodation by dealing with other people.

Neurotypical adults aren't the only people who have to make accommodations in this world. In fact, they don't even make most of them.