Too big for seat belts, disabled man loses chance to get out and play

Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007 | 7:10 a.m.

Daniel Davis loves to go bowling on Wednesdays at Terrible's casino. He has his own ball and shoes and will happily demonstrate his rolling technique to anyone who mentions the sport in his presence.

But Davis, 23, will never bowl a perfect game. He will never even drive himself to the bowling center.

Davis is a severely mentally disabled young man suffering from fragile X syndrome, the most common cause of inherited mental impairment.

Until two weeks ago staffers at Henderson's Building Lifetime Adult Social Ties program picked up Davis each afternoon for trips to a city recreation center, a movie or Davis' favorite, the bowling alley.

But the city has notified Lynne Davis, his mother, that her son is no longer welcome on the bus that took him on these outings.

The reason: Davis, who is 5 feet 7 inches tall and has a 60-inch waist, could no longer fit in a bus seat belt.

"He couldn't understand why the bus wasn't picking him up," Lynne Davis said. "He was waiting to go bowling."

Davis still can attend the events but needs his own transportation, a difficult task for his parents, who both work full time.

Under a city safety policy, all therapeutic patients - and the staff caring for them - must wear safety belts on the six buses used for the program.

"You would think they would say, 'We'll get a different seat belt,' " Lynne Davis said.

That's impossible, city staffers said.

"We have two different versions of seat belt extensions and neither was large enough," said Angie Kelly, assistant therapeutic recreation coordinator. "The manufacturer does not create extensions larger than those two."

City officials said retrofitting the buses would be costly and force them to take the much-needed vehicles off the road while the work is being performed. However, they did not know the exact cost or how long the buses would be out of service.

"It wasn't feasible," a city spokeswoman said.

Experts in disability laws said public entities must make strong efforts to ensure accessibility for all disabled people.

"If this individual cannot be accommodated there needs to be a change," said Marilyn Golden, a policy analyst at the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund. "But there is a limit of an undue burden. They have to look at ... how much it would cost and someone with budgetary authority would have to make the decision."

Davis had been using the program five days a week from 2 p.m., when the bus would pick him up at Opportunity Village - a nonprofit organization that works with those with mental disabilities - to 5:30 p.m., when he would return home.

These days, however, he has to get a ride from his grandmother or friends to return to the family's Henderson apartment, where he sits in his room.

Only those who know Davis extremely well can communicate with him. He is shy of strangers and is bothered by crowded places.

"He probably needs this program as much as anyone," Lynne Davis said. "They go everywhere. It was great."

Mary Ellen Donner, parks and recreation director, said Davis' parents could sign a liability waiver. But she made no guarantees that would get him back on the bus, saying the waiver would have to be reviewed by the city attorney's office.

Lynne Davis had not heard of that option. She said the city told her that her son would need a note from a doctor stating he was unable to wear a seat belt. But that statement would be untrue, Davis said, because her son has no problem fitting in the seat belts in the family car.

And until a month ago, he had no trouble snapping the bus seat belt. Now, however, he can't.

So for now Davis' bowling ball remains in its bag.

And Davis waits - for a solution, and to roll a few frames.