Blind since birth ... Eight-year-old Dakota Nafzinger. Photo: WDAF-TV

Kansas City, Missouri: A Missouri school district has apologised to the family of a blind student whose cane was replaced with a swimming pool noodle after he allegedly misbehaved on the bus.

Rachel Nafzinger tells WDAF-TV that school officials took the cane from her eight-year-old son, Dakota, on Monday.

"Why would you do that? Why would you take the one thing that he's supposed to use all the time? That's his eyes," his mother said.

'Why would you do that?' ... outraged mother Rachel Nafzinger. Photo: WDAF-TV

"He has gone through so much in life already – eight years, eight years. I just don't like someone else putting my son in that position. If I don't stand up for him, who is going to?"

Advertisement

North Kansas City School District spokeswoman Michelle Cronk says the boy reportedly hit someone with his cane on the bus and that officials gave him the pool noodle as a substitute because he fidgets and needed something to hold.

"It's a lot harder with this (noodle)," Dakota told a television reporter from WDAF-TV. "They said they were going to give me this for the next two weeks. I can't feel things." 

Eight-year-old Dakota Nafzinger is guided to the family car in Kansas City. Photo: WDAF-TV

The eight-year-old was born without eyes, a condition known as bilateral anophthalmia.

The district released a statement on Wednesday that acknowledges making a mistake. His mother says school officials visited their home on Wednesday morning, returned the cane and apologised to the family.

"He's a good little guy and he shouldn't be treated the way he is being treated," his father Donald said.

AP