An Oklahoma family is accusing an amusement park of discrimination after employees refused to let their daughter go on a water slide because of her prosthetic leg, leaving the girl in tears.
Averie Mitchell, 8, was born with a condition that caused her right leg to be amputated below the knee. When she tried to go down a slide at Frontier City’s Wild West Water Works on Saturday, the ride attendant “stepped in front of the slide and told Averie, 'you can’t go down,'" her mom, Kim Mitchell, told Fox 13.
“I was angry, I was upset. My child was crying. She thought she had done something wrong,” Mitchell said.
The ride attendant at the Oklahoma City park told the family that Averie’s prosthetic leg could scratch their slides, but her Dad, John, objected.
“I think they absolutely discriminated against her, giving the reason that it could scratch their slide,” he said. “People wear bracelets, watches, rings.”
The family says they were humiliated as they were escorted by security to the front of the park to speak to a manager – and claim the policy the attendant cited was not on the theme park’s signs or website.
Frontier City issued a statement about the incident Monday and told KFOR-TV that their website’s park guidelines have been updated. The family received a refund.
“Like many water parks across the United States, regulations regarding loose articles and medical assistance devices are enforced to ensure the safety of each guest,” the park said. “Unfortunately, we can’t allow loose articles, swimwear with exposed metal ornamentation, casts, certain limb braces, or prosthetic devices on certain slides at Wild West Water Works.”
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