8-Year-Old With Prosthetic Leg Kicked Off Water Slide

8-year-old Averie Mitchell’s T-shirt sums up her spirited attitude: “Don’t tell me what I can’t do.” (Photo: Kimberly DeLaune Mitchell/Facebook)

Averie Mitchell is an 8-year-old from Oklahoma who loves gymnastics and swinging on a trapeze. The fact that she’s worn a prosthetic limb below the knee since she was 2 years old (the result of a joint abnormality she was born with) hasn’t kept her from being as active as any other child.

STORY: Girl Scouts Discriminated Against My Daughter, Mom Claims

So she and her parents were bewildered when they visited Frontier City’s Wild West Water Works, a local water park, on Saturday. There a staffer made Averie and her mother get off the water slide and climb back down.

“We were getting ready to go down the slide, and the attendant stepped in front of the slide and told Averie, ‘You can’t go down,’” her mom, Kim, told Oklahoma City’s KFOR news.

The lead attendant at the ride said that Averie had to come down because her prosthetic limb could scratch the slide. “I was angry, I was upset,” said Kim. “My child was crying. She thought she had done something wrong.”

STORY: Boy Suffers ‘Severe’ Injury on Playground Slide: What Parents Need to Know

Now Averie’s parents are accusing the park of discrimination. “I think they absolutely discriminated against her, given the reason that it could scratch their slide. People wear bracelets, watches, rings,” Averie’s dad, John, told KFOR. He also told the New York Daily News that Averie’s soft prosthetic leg is wrapped in a gel sleeve, so it can’t scratch the slide.

Yahoo Parenting could not reach Averie’s parents for comment, and a representative of Frontier City told Yahoo Parenting it would issue a statement, but it did not arrive by press time.

Yet in a statement issued to KFOR, park officials wrote: “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. 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.

“We never want to refuse our guests the opportunity to enjoy our attractions, but we must also always follow guidelines that have been set by our industry to insure the safety of all guests,” the statement continued. “To avoid any confusion or heartache in the future, we will strive to make sure this is communicated better in advance by adding the restrictions to our website and ride signage.”

Averie and her parents received refunds for their park tickets. But the Mitchells want Frontier City to do a better job of clarifying its policy. “Put it out there so other kids, or whoever you know, they’re not on top of the slide getting ready to start their day of fun at the water park when they’re told, ‘Sorry, you’ve got to leave,’” John told KFOR.

“This just isn’t about Averie … this is about the almost 2 million amputees out there,” Kim posted on Facebook. “All the soldiers coming home with limb losses, the individuals with accidents, diabetics. All these will be affected by this ridiculousness. Just because you are missing a limb doesn’t make you a ‘safety’ risk.”

Please follow @YahooParenting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Have an interesting story to share about your family? Email us at YParenting (at) Yahoo.com.