Welcome to the forum.
Although I have to say, you could have chosen an easier subject to discuss. You know, ease us in gently.
Can't we talk about fluffy bunny rabbits or summit?
I used to work for weight watchers as a leader (used to then I couldn't resist the cake) and we had a couple of ladies with special needs (downs syndrome) who came in every week, with their carer . If I'm completely honest, it made me feel uncomfortable at first. I felt guilty taking their £5 for the weigh in, especially as they never lost any weight and had little understanding of the concept of healthy eating. Before anyone jumps down my throat, their carer told me this on several occasions no matter how much I tried to tell them.
Anyway, I had half an hour to weigh 60-80 people and advice them at the scales of how they are doing, what to do next, etc, but I found I had to spend more time with my two special ladies than most because obviously they needed things explaining more...I didn't want to neglect my other members of keep them waiting in a queue for too long.
After a few months I had a word with their carer and told her that I thought they were wasting their money and she put it all in to perspective for me.
She told me this - They might not be losing weight, but they've both put several stones on in recent years. Coming here is stopping them from putting more weight on. They spend all week talking about you and your class and look forward to Thursday night s so they can come and chat to you and your other members. If they didn't spend £5 here, they would spent it on crisps and chocolate.
She assured me that she did her best to try and help them with the diet and some of the information was going in and that they genuinely wanted to get on the scales and hear me praise them for doing well. I stopped worrying after that.
I popped in to my old Thursday night class a few months ago. There they were, three years on...still going to weight watchers, still big, but not any bigger. They came up and gave me a big hug and asked when I was coming back.
Anyway, back to your post - personally, I would be happy to dance with anyone, regardless of there special needs. I would only not dance with someone if they were smelly or were a danger to my limbs or back & that applies to anyone.
I do, however, suspect that some people suffer from 'special needs phobias', for want of a better phrase and would avoid dancing with your guys at all costs...might even stop coming to your venue. Personally I wouldn't worry about them. It's their problem if they don't want to dance with someone with special needs and they are entitled to say 'no' to anyone they want.
In short, I think the pleasure your special needs dancers get from your venue is far outweighed by the business you might lose by people who feel uncomfortable.
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