The Reason This Girl Was Kicked Off a Water Slide Will Frustrate You Beyond Belief

Like every other kid at Oklahoma's Wild West Water Works water park on Saturday, 8-year-old Averie Mitchell was excited when it was finally her turn to slip down the water slide with her parents. But unlike every other kid, Averie was forced to get off the slide and climb back down.

The reason? She was wearing a prosthetic limb — a device she's worn below the knee since she was 2 years old that hasn't kept her from excelling in gymnastics and trapeze — and a staffer said it could potentially scratch the slide.

Her mom, Kimberly, was furious at the Frontier City-based water park after they "made Averie cry and then had the audacity to escort us to the front like we did something wrong," she said on her Facebook page.

She accused the park of discrimination and balked at the park's officials who claimed the girl's prosthetic — like loose articles, swimwear with metal ornamentation, casts, and medical assistance devices — posed a "safety" risk: "Please explain to me how Averie's prosthetic is a safety issue," she added. "The policy states, 'If the individual is able to climb and have full body control to enjoy the slide . . .' Averie could climb to the top of the bucket if she wanted to. This makes it even more ridiculous."

This morning, Kim said the water park is now working with the family to improve its policies and make any such restrictions more visible to guests.

"This just isn't about Averie," Kim said. "Yes, I hate it that it happened to her, but this is about the almost two million amputees out there. All the soldiers coming home with limb losses, the individuals with accidents, diabetics . . . These people have overcome great odds and can do more with what they were given than most of us 'able-bodied' people can."