US Boy Scouts revoke badges from Down's syndrome boy. Is this fair?

By Sarthak Parajulee

Mar 24, 2018

02:20 P.M.

A young boy with disabilities is stripped of all his Boy Scout badges after it was found that he hadn't truly earned them.

15-year-old Logan Blythe, who has autism and Down syndrome, was denied becoming Eagle Scout claiming that he hadn't earned any of the badges required to hold the honor.

According to The Autism Site Blog, Eagle Scout is the highest position in the Boy Scouts and this requires earning 22 badges and also complete a service project.

Blythe had been excited about becoming the Eagle Scout and even chosen his service project as distributing kits of blankets for special needs babies at nearby hospitals.

However, only a day after approving the project, the National Parks Council sent the message that they could not promote Blythe to Eagle Scout because he hadn't truly earned any of the badges.

It was revealed that for the past three years, the council had been making special accommodations to allow Blythe to receive badges. His intellectual disabilities meant that he couldn't truly complete the required tasks.

“For example, if a task is cooking and the instructions are to pour a cup of flour, Logan won’t stop pouring. In situations like that, the local chapter has awarded him a badge regardless, for his effort,” the online source quoted Blythe's father, Chad, as revealing.

Now that Blythe is serious about becoming an Eagle Scout, it seems the council cannot allow him to hold that rank. Although Chad realizes that the council's earlier intentions were good, he is now disappointed about the 'distress and disappointment' that his son will go through.

The family has now filed a lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America and the National Parks Council and has even requested them to change their discriminatory policy.

“I want the Boy Scouts to change its policy. They should reinstate Logan’s badges and acknowledge the fact that not all boys have the same capabilities,” the boy's father stated. He also added that the lawsuit was about 'his son's honor.'