Editor’s Note: This article is part three of a three-part feature originally published last fall in the Vashon Riptide, covering issues related to disability justice at Vashon High School. Parts one and two were published in the Dec. 23 issue of The Beachcomber. The article can be read in its entirety by tinyurl.com/yc6hafrk. Read more Riptide journalism at riptide.vashonsd.org.

By Lila Cohen, Savannah Butcher and Blake Grossman

For The Riptide

Moving forward with disability advocacy at the forefront at VHS

One of the most propitious strides towards disability justice at Vashon High School, and one that connects students and staff, is the newly-formed Disabled Student Advocacy Club (DSA).

The club, founded and led predominantly by VHS senior Wendy Axtelle, is a place where disabled students and allies can discuss issues and possible solutions at VHS.

“[The DSA] talks a lot about student advocacy, but we also need to hear from teachers because some information that should be [publicized] is still behind closed doors,” said Ari Officer, a DSA member.

DSA members are looking forward to connecting with each other as a community.

“The greatest tool we have right now is each other,” said Axtelle. ‘It’s long overdue that we allow students — especially marginalized groups — to advocate for themselves and work with each other. I think the most important thing is to allow students to work together, unite, and work with the administration. [The school district] could try to implement universal designs, but they’re not going to work unless we get the students involved — no one knows our situations better than we do.”

Some students are hoping the DSA can bridge the gap between staff and students by encouraging administrative members to incorporate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into general-education classrooms.

Kathryn Coleman, the district’s Director of Teaching and Learning, is a strong advocate for UDL and highlights that its principles benefit all students.

“The classic example is the curbs, and the cutouts in the curb, that allow people with mobility issues to be able to get up and down on the curb easily, or the ramps in front of buildings,” Coleman said. “[It] turns out … that [people who] don’t have mobility issues also benefit from having ramps in the building and cutouts in the curbs. If you take that concept and overlay that into education there are strategies that we can use in the classroom that help students with a variety of different challenges be able to access their learning. And it’s something that everybody else can use as well.”

As the administration works to implement practices such as UDL, the DSA continues to build community.

“[DSA] is about creating a community for students that have been excluded from every group,” Axtelle said.

VHS Counselor Tara Vanselow called attention to the staff’s readiness to collaborate and solve issues with students.

“Staff really, really cares and wants students to feel like they’re seen and heard and cared for, and [we want them] to get what they need,” Vanselow said. “It’s hard to hear [students say they aren’t] feeling seen and heard, but that’s just an important part of the conversation. [It reminds us that] we need to do better. We’re willing to take hard feedback, take it to heart, and make the changes we need to make.”

The administration’s current task is to consider what meaningful changes will support all students.

“Part of our job [is asking ourselves,] ‘what support [can] we provide that everyone needs right now?’ There’s so much stress and anxiety for youth right now that we need to be looking at. …What universal things can we implement that are going to support students?” Vanselow said.

Some students are dissatisfied with the actions taken by the administration, complaining about a lack of follow-through. VHS Principal Danny Rock is a common target of flak from the student body.

“There are students here who cannot stand me, and that’s just part of the deal. I don’t like it. I wish it weren’t so, but it’s the truth, and I certainly don’t ever seek to create that dynamic,” Rock said. “I will say that if I think that my presence is problematic for a given solution, then I do try to push others forward and step back myself because sometimes good leadership means getting out of the way. Sometimes, not being front and center is the right move … if you’re part of an organization, and the leader is not leading the change that they’re seeking to have happen, [then] it’s going to have a hard time happening.”

Rock is interested in working with students on figuring out how to strive for equal learning opportunities.

“At the end of the day, I want disability justice. I fundamentally care about disability justice, both personally and professionally. I’m super interested in having our whole school move forward in this way,” he said.

Axtelle shares this vision and thinks there is a long way to go.

“I genuinely think we need big changes. Our whole education system, as a country [and] globally, is not built [to serve] all students. [On Vashon], we’re a small community … We’re isolated. We could make changes, but we just don’t. I want to see change in the administration. I want to see them support students more. I want to see them listen. I want to see change in the student body,” she said.

As staff and students come to agree that change is needed, staff looks to students for direction on how to best solve these problems.

“The youth [are the people] who push change in our world because [they’re] able to see things from a different point of view than those of us who have spent more time being entrenched in the systems … I hope that where we’re headed is a place in which we can have these conversations to move forward and not to get divided and move apart from each other,” teacher Beth Solan said. “It’s so important to have hard, difficult conversations around all kinds of different privileges and opportunities … but I hope that we can use these conversations and have [them] in grace and compassion … in an effort to make it better.”

Lila Cohen and Savannah Butcher are deputy editors of the Riptide. Blake Grossman is a reporter for the Riptide.