The Bellingham School District - Separate but Equal

Last spring, I graduated from Squalicum High School. Squalicum is one of three high schools in the Bellingham School District. Throughout my educational career, I have noticed that Bellingham Schools do the least amount of work possible to meet the bare minimum ADA standard with regard to equal access.
As a preschooler, I attended Geneva Elementary. Near the playground, there was a staircase without a hand rail. Mike Anderson, the head of the maintenance department at the district office, refused multiple requests to put in a railing as the gradient did not warrant a hand rail. He did not consider that disabled four and five year olds used this stair case to get to the play ground everyday. I remember falling down those stairs and gashing my elbow and scraping my knees. From then on, I sat down the stairs and crawled up them as I did not want to continue to fall on them.
From Geneva, I move to Happy Valley Elementary; however, Happy Valley was not the elementary school I was supposed to go to. All the children in my neighborhood attended Lowe Elementary, but I was not able to join them as there were too many stairs to climb and Lowe did not have an elevator. At that time, instead of upgrading their buildings to a standard that allowed equality for all, Bellingham School District displayed on their website that they were not a handicapped acceptable school district.
For sixth through eighth grade, I went to Kulshan Middle School. Kulshan Middle School opened in 1994. However, when I began my schooling at Kulshan, there were not ANY handicapped door openers in the entire school. When the lack of accessibility was questioned, I was told that handicapped accessible door openers were not necessary as someone would just open the door for me. However, after nine weeks of pursuing the district, door openers were finally installed. Unfortunately, the door openers were only installed at the far north end of the school at the end of the eighth grade hall (where the handicapped parking spots were located). Installing the openers here was deemed acceptable as separate but equal entrances. Even though it was great to have door openers where the handicapped parking spots were, door openers were not installed at the main entrance to the school. Many times the doors to the eighth grade hall were locked meaning that I had to go to the entrance of the school and wait for someone to open the doors anyway. The other thing I disliked was having to travel down the eighth grade hall as a sixth grader to get to the wing that my classes were in.
When I was in middle school, I rolled to school. At the trailhead that lead to the entrance of the school, there was not a curb cutout. I was expected to travel behind the handicapped school busses to get onto the sidewalk and then enter the school. It took my mom two-and-one-half years and thirty-five pages of documentation and an explanation that the ADA would pay for the curb cutout (something Mike Anderson should have known) before Mike Anderson finally authorized the cutout. Mike Anderson also refused to install the curb cutout until Spring Break of my eighth grade year as he did not want the noise to bother students. Fortunately, it is now there for others to use.
My high school career was completed at Squalicum High School. The one thing that really bothered me about the building and still irks me today, did not happen until I was a senior in high school. When Squalicum was built, there was a plan to have a gym entrance from the outside. Well, for some reason the district signed off on an unfinished building. So, up until last year it was only used for graduation but not for athletic events. However, last year, our athletic director thought it would be an awesome idea to finish the entrance and have the team's supporters enter through the main gym entrance instead of the bottom parking lot doors. Even though this allows for more parking space, it also means that people unable to use the stairs have to enter the building through a separate but equal entrance. Plus, all disabled persons have to travel at least four times as far as the able-bodied person to get to the gym. From the handicapped parking space a person must travel along the front walk, up the ramp to the main doors, through the main school entrance, to the elevator and then down to the bottom floor to finally arrive at their destination. As for me, the distance does not bother me as I get around in a power chair. But for someone who uses a walker or cane, this distance is not acceptable. There are handicap spots for a reason! For me, I do not appreciate having separate but equal entrances.
As for graduation, we still used the gym entrance. I was not able to wait out side with my classmates before we entered the gym. Instead, I sat by myself at the bottom of the stairs waiting for the classmate who was to walk in front of me. Once that classmate walked by, I was to cut into the line. However, I did graduate and I am thankful for that opportunity.
To contrast the Bellingham School District. The Eastmont School District showed how schools should treat people. For four years, my family and I lived in East Wenatchee, Washington. There, I attended Grant Elementary. When I was in fourth grade, I received my first wheel chair. My mom informed the principle before Christmas break that I was going to get a power chair over the break. Before my mom could ask for door openers to be installed, the Principal said, "Well, I guess it's time we to get up to standard." When I came back to school after break, not only did I find door openers on the MAIN DOORS, but on two other sets of doors as well. I did not have to wait for someone else to open the door for me, and I could still be as independent as possible because though Grant Elementary was built in the 50's, it was ramped everywhere and I did not have difficulty traveling throughout the entire school.
So overall, I had an adventurous experience with regards to school architecture; and even through all the obstacles, I made it to the end. I know many others who have faced obstacles also successfully graduated and are now at a university as well. There are so many things that are placed in our way to build our character and make us stronger. If we let things that we cannot control stand in our way, we will be hindered and not go anywhere in life. Do not give up on your dreams and continue the fight for equality for all. End separate but equal access!