Coming from the Hapkido school I learned at, we were told we had to make it work for ourselves; but were taught what through time had been found to be best for most people. I have seen video of a wheelchair-bound karate student who could take on many people and win. So do you think there can be no accommodation for those with limited physical or mental abilities?
Given what I said above, I think you are splitting hairs just a little too fine. What are the expectations for a wheelchair-bound person, or a child with downs syndrome? If they learn to use what they are taught, that they can learn and use, is there no room for accommodation?
I think I must not have been clear, because my point was the opposite. I think many schools have not considered how to create a promotion structure that can be inclusive, and so resort to meaningless and exploitive exceptions where people with impairments are concerned. If you create overly concrete and inflexible criteria for promotion, you limit your ability to provide meaningful accommodation for people who are disabled. AND, there is nothing saying that a person of any ability level, regardless of physical or mental limitation, can enjoy and benefit from training. My point is that, if the criteria for a pink belt in your style is that a person must do X, Y and Z, you are exploiting the disabled individual for feel good points, and are disrespecting their actual accomplishments. In my opinion.
Frankly, styles where the promotion criteria is less rigid allows for more interpretation of the intent. So, for example, in BJJ, it would not be a big deal for someone who cannot do an armbar from guard to be promoted to blue belt. While that is a fundamental technique, the promotion structure within BJJ isn't that rigid. There is plenty of room within the promotion structure to accommodate physical or mental impairments, as there should be.
Conversely, if someone is promoted to blue belt in BJJ, they will have earned it, regardless of physical or mental limitations. Not everyone will be a black belt in BJJ. Or a purple belt even. But what rank is awarded is rank well earned.
I went back and found this thread. Just spent a few minutes re-reading it, and it's got a lot of great contributions from people. I posted many times over the course of the thread, if you want to get a little more insight into where I'm coming from.
Disabled students as black belts MartialTalk.Com - Friendly Martial Arts Forum Community
I personally think you are again splitting hairs too fine. In the Hapkido school I attended, the GM would not test you until he thought you were ready. He certainly would not send a person to the Hapkido headquarters to fail a black belt test. Colored belts could be failed, I just never saw it happen. So it was not necessary to continuously take colored belt tests. My GM was too good a teacher to allow that to happen. But I guess every school is allowed to be what it wants to be.
Still, as was said above, any test could be failed, including tests in the school where I went. But the way it was controlled by my GM, it didn't happen that I know of.
I understand your arguments, but I think you are not willing enough to make accommodations when a person can be a formidable MA with the skills they do have.
I don't think you understand my arguments, but that's likely because I'm being too subtle or am not being clear.
It's theoretically possible that the Sun will not rise in the East tomorrow. We don't know everything there is to know about the universe, and it's actually a logical fallacy to conclude for certain that something will happen just because it always has. But do we truly consider it a possibility? No. The sun will rise in the East, set in the West and by your own account, no one will fail their promotion tests. Just won't be allowed to happen.
So, if no one fails a test, it's not an actual test. It is a demonstration.
The actual test sounds like it occurs in the school, over time. In your situation, the real test sounds like it's a practical test graded by your GM. Which is fine. Makes sense.
If you think it's splitting hairs, fine. No problem. I think the distinction is significant and important.
