Feb 4 - Teen with no hands barred from rides at SeaWorld

A teen born with no hands is humiliated after being kicked off a roller coaster at SeaWorld - one she says she’s been allowed to ride before.

According to the amusement park, 17-year-old Katie Champagne didn't meet safety requirements, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

“My heart just sank,” she said, explaining how a SeaWorld Orlando employee told her she had to exit the Kraken coaster.

“I was like, ‘Oh no, not again,’ ” she said.

While Champagne insists the park has allowed her to ride the coaster before, it’s not the first time safety rules have prohibited her from having fun. She recounted to the Sentinel being barred from Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure in December.

In both situations, Champagne was told she couldn’t ride because of her disability. Without hands, she wouldn't be able to grasp the pull-down harness, employees stated.

“Our policies regarding guests with disabilities were written in consultation with ride safety experts,” said SeaWorld Orlando spokesman Nick Gollattscheck.



According to Tom Schroder, a Universal spokesman, the theme park’s decision was correct, and aligned with “years of experience in this area.”

Still, the distressed teen and her parents are upset, and lobbying for the parks to change their policies.

They argue that Champagne gets along perfectly fine without hands. She is a co-captain on her high school equestrian team, an aspiring artist, and can use her arms to navigate her iPhone as quickly as any other teenager — or to hang onto a coaster's harness.

But it might not be so simple.

“Making exceptions opens theme parks to liability and park-goers to danger,” said James Barber, a member of the National[..]ociation of Amusement Ride Safety Officials.

“Safety rules aren't just put there arbitrarily,” he told the Sentinel. “They don’t put those restrictions there to be mean.”

Read more: Teen born with no hands barred from rides at SeaWorld, Universal; theme parks cite safety reasonsÂ* - NY Daily News

Damn man that must suck not to have hands. How does she wipe when she goes to the bathroom tho

[smiley]

Id smash

No shirt, No shoes, No hands, No service!!

Hopefully she was born without hands because if you lose your hands in the middle of your life you will forever have an itch where your hand should be...

I'm sure publishing an article about it made her feel great about it too.

Yea but if the park let her get on and an incident happened and she wasnt able to climb down to safety and died the parents would wanna sue the entire park for letting her on the ride. Cant please everybody

why you niccas gotta be !! all the time? better hope yall have some healthy kids, not her fault she was born that way. But I do understand what Insomniac was spittin as well, they did the right thing cuz the first thing the parents would do is try to sue the lights out that !! if something happened

I have a ride for her to get on that requires no hands, just her mouth. Amirite?

!! that !!. i enjoy getting handjobs too much....

Damn she looks cute.. I'd smash too..when she turning 18? lol..

id !! her in her[..] then make her ride a bike home with no seat

Damn you beat me to it....

She is cute though... I have never seen a cute physically disabled person... I didn't know they existed.... It's !!ed up they would let her ride on the coaster....

[smiley]

this is sad..

got me thinkin' if I'd ever !! with a female with no hands.. I remember when I was a kid, I played with my mom's friends daughter, who had half an arm.. Made me feel weird, but we were still jumping on the bed playing.

got damn

They can handle this situation two ways; 1st Have her and her parents sign a waiver saying if she gets injured or dies the theme park isn't liable for anything. 2nd Sometimes you got to let them get hurt so they can learn from it.