There’s perhaps nothing as refreshing in the heat of summer than splashing around in cool water. But one man said he was kept from the fun and relief a water park’s attractions can bring, after a worker told him he wasn’t allowed to go down slides because he had a prosthetic leg.

An Abilene, TX man was at the park celebrating his 7-year-old’s birthday, and had arrived at the top of a water slide when he says the employee prevented him from going down the slide because of his prosthetic leg, reports KTXS.

He walked back down and told a manager that he’d been visiting water parks across the state his entire life, and hadn’t had any issues before.

“The manager said ‘I don’t make the policy at other places, and I can’t explain to you why they let you go down their slides,’” he said, quoting the manager. “’I don’t make the rules here, but I do enforce them so you can either abide by them or leave.’ ”

After his mother posted about the experience on Facebook, a spokesman for the water park issued a statement on their prosthetic policy, and apologizing for any “embarrassment the family have suffered.”

“Any apparatus that has metal pieces protruding from it has the legitimate potential of damaging or scratching the riding surface. The next rider will follow a very similar path and have the potential for a very painful fiberglass cut,” he said.

But the prosthetic technician who built the man’s prosthetic leg says it shouldn’t have been a problem.

“There’s nothing down there, in my opinion, that would hurt either a tube or a slide,” the technician told KTXS.

The park spokesman added that upper management is “discussing a better way to handle situations such as these in the future, without creating a potential dangerous situation for subsequent riders,” noting that the park may include more specific signage at the entrance of the park and at the bottom of attractions, “to alleviate the unfortunate situation of a young guard being required to ask a disabled guest to exit a ride in front of other guests.”

The man says he’s appreciated the outpouring of support he’s received online, and hopes that his experience will educate others.

“I definitely feel a lot of positivity from it,” he said. “I definitely feel a lot of people uniting, and I think that’s great.”

Abilene man with prosthetic leg kept off slides at Texas water park [KTXS]

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