I am writing in response to the article regarding Young Shakespeare Players East and the accusations of discrimination that the organization has faced over the last year.
Discrimination in all of its forms must be taken extraordinarily seriously. I was therefore concerned when I first learned last October about the accusations against YSPE. Despite the many fantastic things about the program, I would not have enrolled my son for a second or third season if I believed that YSPE and its directors had engaged in discrimination of any kind, including discrimination based on disabilities having to do with food allergies.
Through multiple conversations, and with the help of a parent who has read all of the legal documents and emails pertaining to the lawsuit, I have come to the conclusion that the accusations of discrimination were unfounded.
On the contrary, the evidence suggests that director Suzanne Rubinstein went to great measures to accommodate the needs of the potential participant with nut allergies. I have witnessed firsthand the high level of respect that Rubinstein gives to every child in the organization. They are a group of kids with widely divergent abilities, and YSPE provides them with a depth of experience and a level of self-mastery that is uncommon in our current educational environment.
All of which makes me feel very sad about this situation. Of course there is an essential place for legal action in the process of fighting for the rights of all of our citizens; of course life-threatening allergies must be taken seriously.
But I believe that Rubinstein and YSPE were prepared to meet the reasonable and very real needs of the child seeking participation in the program, and thus it seems to me that the efforts that have gone into this particular lawsuit were misdirected and that the legal decision was misguided.
Ultimately I wonder if the differences of perspective that led to this lawsuit have less to do with food allergies and more to do with the independence and self-governance that we, as a society, have come to believe our children are incapable of acquiring.
Ben James
Northampton