Confusion after student with autism prevented from walking at graduation ceremony

A Texas high school student with autism thought he was going to walk during his school’s graduation ceremony on Saturday. He didn’t, his family is upset and demanding answers, and the school is promising to find out what went wrong.

On Monday, a Tumblr post with a screenshot of a Facebook complaint began to draw attention. The complaint was written by Maria Nanez, mother of student Julian Nanez. Julian is a high school senior with autism; he’s in the special needs program at Sam Houston High School in Arlington, TX.

Maria and Julian thought he was going to walk in Sam Houston’s graduation ceremony last Saturday, along with the other special needs students. The four others made it; Julian didn’t. What’s unclear is why that happened. There is no indication from the school that Julian was ill-equipped to participate in the ceremony.

Maria said in her post, and in an interview with CBS 11 in Dallas-Ft. Worth, that Julian’s teacher told her he wouldn’t be allowed to walk in the ceremony.

“They didn’t want to put up with him so they said they didn't have faith in him to walk,” Maria’s Facebook post read.

This is where the story gets murky. Many Sam Houston students responded claiming that special needs students were accommodated during the ceremony.

One even said the photo of Julian in his graduation robes must have been photoshopped. But officials at the Arlington Independent School District (AISD) confirmed to Yahoo Canada that some kind of incident occurred.

“It’s unfortunate that a series of miscommunications led to one of our students being unable to participate in graduation exercises,” said Leslie Johnston, director of communications at AISD.

Those miscommunications seem to centre on how Julian was to be accompanied to the ceremony.

According to the report from CBS11, Julian had attended a graduation rehearsal, and was planning on walking to the stage with his brother.

Nanez told CBS11 that she believed Julian “may have been fussy during the rehearsal.” That may have spurred the change of plans.

“One of his teachers told me he wasn’t going to walk. She basically told me she didn’t have faith in him,” Nanez said.

In a post on the Sam Houston High School Alumni Facebook page, Cindy Escamilla, who said she is Julian's aunt, corroborated Maria's account.

"The school was the one that decided my nephew was not capable to walk the stage with the assistance of his sibling... she talked to the school on Saturday and was told she didn't receive tickets because they felt that Julian wasn't capable to across the stage."

(The post has since been deleted from the Alumni page; Yahoo Canada preserved a screen capture before it was removed.)

AISN's Johnston said Julian was excluded because of a simple mistake.

“There were a number of communications, phone calls and messages, but unfortunately, a misunderstanding occurred with regard to the meeting location prior to the ceremony,” Johnston said,

“That confusion resulted in the student being unable to participate.”

Yahoo Canada followed up with Johnston to ask if this was just a case of Nanez not being in the place where school oficials expected to meet him; we didn't receive a response.

But Maria said she didn’t know where to go, and when she tried to phone Julian’s teacher, there was no answer. Without knowing what to do next, the family went home.

“Just to see him walk; I just wanted the opportunity for him,” she told CBS11.

Johnston said the AISD is working with the Nanez family to find a solution.

"We’re proud of Julian and all of our students for the hard work and achievements that led up to graduation. The campus administration is working directly with the family toward a resolution."

That resolution could see Julian walk with the graduating class in 2016. While his senior class has left, he’ll remain at Sam Houston until he’s 21 as part of the special needs program.

As school boards adapt their curriculums to met the needs of a greater variety of students, including those with autism, incidents of mistreatement take on greater prominence. Ottawa alone has encountered three notable cases where students with autism were singled out.

Nanez said she wasn’t sure if Julian understood what had happened. But students with autism often understand when they’re being singled out. Mary Beth Leroux, program coordinator at Making Small Talk, a division of the York Autism Centre in Gormley, Ont., said being included in the ceremony is sometimes more important than the accolade itself.

“Our students want to feel like their peers,” Leroux said.

“They want to be included in the all the big and little things that happen within the school. The recognition may not mean the same thing to them, but it is being included that is the important part. It is their basic human right to be included.”

One client at Making Small Talk, now 26, had to miss her graduation ceremony due to illness. She agreed that the exclusion from the event would be the worst part.

“I would be crushed,” she said.

“I would feel bad, I love those type of things. I want to be with my friends. If I were not able to attend it would not be fair. I would feel like I was not smart and feel bad.  I would feel horrible about myself. I would not be able to feel like everyone else.”

Yahoo Canada reached out to Maria Nanez for comment; this post will be updated if and when she responds.