As posted by Daily Telegraph, Averie Mitchell was already at the top of the slide at Frontier City’s Wild West Water Works in Oklahoma City when an attendant yelled at her: “You can’t go down.”
Averie walked back down with her mother, Kim. Kim spoke to the lead attendant who said Averie’s prostethic leg could “scratch the slides.”
“The lead attendant came over there, pointed at her leg and said, ‘Those aren’t allowed on our equipment,'” Kim shared, as reported by Mirror. She said her daughter cried; thinking she had done something wrong.
Averie was born with a rare condition causing a “false joint” to form halfway between her knee and ankle. She has two broken bones in her leg and had her right leg amputated below the knee when she was two years old.
The illness was never a hindrance for the girl — who competes in gymnastic tournaments and takes part in summer school for circus acrobats — until her confidence was shattered when she was escorted to the front gates by security guards of the amusement park.
“I was pretty upset,” John, her father, said. “We’ve been to several water parks, even that one, and it’s never been an issue. She’s gone down slides just like anyone else.”
A gel sleeve covers Averie’s soft plastic leg, John added, and it’s “impossible to scratch the slides.”
“I just want them to change their policy. If it’s not a safety issue, then it shouldn’t be an issue at all,” he said.
The water park, on the other hand, is firm on its rules, according to Daily Mail.
“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,” the management said in a statement.