'It's completely unfair': Girl with autism excluded from field trip

LANGLEY, B.C -

 A Langley family is devastated their 12-year-old daughter was told she couldn’t participate in the year-end trip with the rest of her peers, just six days before the field trip.

Sophia has autism, albinism and epilepsy.

Her mother, Leah Burrell, said she was shocked when she received an email Friday night from West Langley Elementary’s principal, saying due to safety concerns, Sophia wouldn’t be able to participate.

“It's completely unfair to say, you know, four or five business days before she's supposed to go on this field trip, that she's incredibly excited for, that she can't go,” she explained.

“It's just such a defeating feeling as a parent to hear that your kid is just not allowed to go while the rest of the class is going on this field trip. I mean, it just feels horrible.”

Earlier this month, Sophia was able to go to Playland with her peers with two education assistants and a resource teacher.

Burrell thought the same accommodations would’ve been made for this trip to Cultus Lake.

Sophia is non-verbal, but her love of waterslides is clear. She enjoys watching videos online about waterslides, and for her twelfth birthday, she went to Edmonton's World Waterpark.

“She did amazing. She waited in all the lineups. Patiently she went down the waterslide, she waited for us at the bottom,” Burrell said. “It was, like, one of the best days for her ever. She was so happy.”

Burrell said she asked for more information to learn what safety concerns the principal and school district had, but didn’t receive a fulsome explanation.

She said there has not been any collaboration with the school district, making the situation frustrating.

“Inclusion is not thinking about us after the fact, right? Inclusion is planning for and always having her in mind from the start,” she said.

BCEdAccess, a group of parents advocating for access to education for students with disabilities, said, sadly, this happens far too often.

“I'm sad to say that I wasn't surprised. I see it every year. This happens to many kids, who are excluded from end of year field trips,” said executive director Tracy Humphreys.

Last June, a Nanaimo boy with autism was excluded from a class bowling trip. 

Humphreys said in all the examples, it appears the schools could’ve prepared better.

“It comes back to the planning question because they were aware they were planning a field trip. If they knew all of the students in their class and what their support needs were from the moment of planning, then they should be looking at that and saying, is this a trip that all of our students can participate in and benefit from? And if it isn't, what are the alternatives that we have that can be inclusive to all of those students?” she said.

“What happens quite often is parents are told very last minute that their kids are not able to participate. And so it's difficult for them to make arrangements and to try to advocate for their kids to be able to go, and that is also a very big issue for us,” she added.

11TH HOUR DECISION 

Late Tuesday afternoon, after CTV News asked the Langley School District why Sophia was being excluded from the trip, a spokesperson announced all students would be going to Cultus Lake on Thursday.

“The district is committed to ensuring equitable access for all students when it comes to learning opportunities, and that includes field trips,” said Joanne Abshire.

When asked what has changed since last Friday, she said they cannot provide specifics due to privacy concerns.

“In this situation, sometimes those safety plans take time to develop. And I'm pleased to report that the district and the school staff have been working for the last week to develop a plan to ensure that accommodations are in place, as well as additional staff to ensure that this student and all students will be able to be going on this trip on Thursday.”

Abshire said the school started planning the trip this January, but couldn’t say why the safety plans and accommodations weren’t made in advance.

Despite the development, Burrell said there’s little to celebrate.

“The damage is done,” she said. “They can't come back from the hurt that they've caused us, you know, and the feeling of being isolated from the community and that she's not seen as part of the class.”

Burrell said she doesn’t feel comfortable allowing Sophia go on the trip without knowing what’s changed.