Man Claims In Lawsuit That Six Flags Kicked Him Off Ride Because He Has No Hands

You don't need hands to have fun.

You don’t need hands to have fun.

A man born without hands has had quite a full life — he went to college, got married, had kids, rides a bike and plenty of other things people with both hands do. For fun he enjoys riding roller coasters at Six Flags Over Texas, including the Aquaman Splashdown ride, but he says last May he was told to get off the boat because of his lack of hands.

The ride involves a cruise on a boat that culminates in the vessel shooting down two stories before splashing riders and bystanders with a wave of water. It’s not too dangerous, doesn’t flip upside down or go off on any loop-de-loops. The Dallas Observer says the man claims he was asked to get off the ride, despite the fact that he’d been able to handle it before just fine.

“She told him that he could not ride Aquaman because he does not have hands,” the man said in a lawsuit filed yesterday. “This caused [him] considerable embarrassment, as his children had never seen anybody discriminate against him due to his lack of natural hands.”

He complained to management and was told that it’s park policy that riders “must have at least one fully formed arm all the way down to the fingers.”

Well, sort of — the policy at that time just said that a rider had to be able to grasp, which the man can do. The new policy reportedly wasn’t published until four months later.

In his lawsuit, the man claims discrimination under the Americans With Disabilities Act because it’s not like anyone raising both hands in the air and yelling “WOO!” is getting kicked off for not hanging on at all times.

A Man is Suing Six Flags After Getting Booted Off the Aquaman Ride for Not Having Hands [Dallas Observer]

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