TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — On the westside, students with disabilities have a safe space to learn at the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (ASDB) Tucson campus — but with plans to close the school and relocate blind and visually impaired students to schools in their home district, families say the change will hurt them in more ways than one.
RELATED | Arizona State Schools for Deaf and Blind to relocate Tucson campus this summer
Beata Tarasiuk enrolled her 8-year-old daughter Kasia into ASDB last year. She says Kasia has shown more improvement at that school than in the two years she was at Robison Elementary School in the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD).
"She started in August, so even in the short time, they took her out of the stroller. She does not use the stroller in school anymore," Tarasiuk she said. "They use either a walker for her or she walks independently, but that was an achievement by physical therapy, her teacher, her personal aide, and occupational therapy and behavior therapist."
Kasia has an ultra-rare genetic disorder called SYNGAP1 that causes multiple disabilities including not being able to speak, epilepsy, autism, visual impairments such as Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) and nystagmus, and more.
Because Kasia is non-verbal, she communicates through a tablet device where she can click pictures and it'll say the word for her.
CVI means the brain has difficulty processing visual information. In other words, her brain struggles to interpret what her eyes see. Nystagmus is uncontrolled movement of the eyes. Because the eyes are constantly moving, vision can be blurry, unstable, or hard to focus.
According to Cure SYNGAP1, about 1,700 people in the world have this rare condition.
Tarasiuk says Kasia has finally found a school where she is safe, supported, and thriving. She wishes she did not have to fight for something as fundamental as Kasia's right to an appropriate education.
"ASDB can deliver what they promise. It's not only about vision and hearing, it's about sensory. So she's a very sensory seeking child and ASDB is designed to meet her sensory needs and they embrace her sensory needs in order for her to learn and that's throughout the day," Tarasiuk said. "This is not half an hour therapy a week, that is throughout the day. The facility is made for her. She's able to do her tricycle on the facility on the campus because the campus is big."
Tarasiuk said she tried to take Kasia's tricycle to her TUSD school, but staff could not accommodate her equipment.
"So because even though she's very strong as you can see, her hypotonia, which is a weak muscle tone, is in her ankles and she needs the constant exercise. So if she doesn't walk and she doesn't exercise, she will stop walking and she will be wheelchair-bound."
Tarasiuk said the elementary school just wasn't the right fit for Kasia despite the district's efforts.
"They really tried. I can't say that they didn't. They just can't. She's above and beyond what the regular school can offer," Tarasiuk said.
Tarasiuk says she and other families feel blindsided by ADSB officials' decision because they were not notified in advance of the possible changes. She demands transparency.
"There's not one person I can find that can say that they were included or informed or asked about this process of this decision making, so we're all blindsided," Tarasiuk said.
She doesn't believe there is an enrollment issue as ASDB stated.
"It's not caused by lack of need, it's caused by lack of acceptance to the school. So it takes a lot for a child to be accepted. There's multiple children right now even on the waiting list for ASDB, but they can't get in. So low enrollment is not an issue," Tarasiuk said.
She believes the school can come up with another solution instead of dividing up the deaf and blind and visually impaired students.
Tarasiuk said she and some other parents have come to the conclusion that ASDB Superintendent Annette Reichman is not fit for her job.
"This is a failure of leadership I believe, among others. We got together and we believe that with change of the leadership on the highest level we can keep our school, and we can keep the funding and reinvent how the school can work. So yes, the school needs a reform," Tarasiuk said. "So we petition ASDB board who makes those decisions to release the Superintendent Reichman of her duties and replace with somebody who's competent or who has a vision that is different than the shutting down and just destroying the school."
READ MORE | “We are against being relocated”: ASDB blind, visually impaired students send letter to governor
If her daughter has to return to public school, Tarasiuk fears Kasia's progress will be at risk.
"I am most grieving the opportunity for her to learn because now I have seen what can be. So now that I know that she can learn and she can be happy and she can be very well taken care of at ASDB, I am grieving that for her and for us," Tarasiuk said.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE | Student at ASDB fears bullying will return as school forces relocation decision
——
Vanessa Gongora is KGUN 9's Westside reporter.. Vanessa fell in love with storytelling by growing up in sports. She was fascinated by how sports reporters go beyond the x's & o's to tell players' stories, and how sports bring people together, inspiring Vanessa to provide the same impact as a journalist. Share your story ideas and important issues with Vanessa by emailing vanessa.gongora@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
----
STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
