B.C. graduate pressured to change artwork critiquing her high school’s accessibility barriers

For months, Grade 12 student Lexis De Meyer had been anticipating her high school’s year-end art show. But as the 17-year-old delivered a speech to the school community about her student project focused on inclusivity and accessibility, joy eluded her.

The speech wasn’t her words. Rather, it had been censored by school administrators who disagreed with Ms. De Meyer’s observations after she spent weeks getting a first-hand look at the shortcomings those with mobility challenges face in the school.

“It didn’t feel honest; it wasn’t what I wrote. It was very not what I intended to write,” she said in an interview.

Ms. De Meyer had been enrolled in the art activism class at Robert Bateman Secondary School in Abbotsford, B.C. The class encouraged students to take a stand on a social issue and use art to drive change. As part of the program, students create large-scale artworks that highlight these issues, culminating in a year-end exhibition to showcase their pieces.

Ms. De Meyer latched onto a subject in a personal way: She had broken her ankle playing rugby, forcing her foot to be confined in an air cast and requiring her to use crutches. Over the next few weeks, she experienced the accessibility barriers her school presented: School entrances lacked functioning automatic doors; only two out of the three floors had accessible washroom stalls; there were just five of the special keys needed to use the elevator.

She wrote a letter detailing her concerns and sent it to her principal Lance McDonald and Sean Nosek, the superintendent at the Abbotsford School District.

“Reviewing our school for accessibility has never been more relevant to me and it is sad to say that Robert Bateman would not get a passing grade,” she wrote.

Days later, Mr. McDonald met with Ms. De Meyer and promised to order more elevator keys, but he insisted the school was up to the accessibility code.

Around the same time, Ms. De Meyer started work on a painting as her final project for the art activism course. Her piece portrays a girl in a wheelchair at the bottom of a set of stairs, gazing up at her classroom, which is inaccessible to her. The stairs bear the words: “There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs.”

In the statement that accompanied the painting – a requirement of the class – Ms. De Meyer shared her personal experience and expressed hope that the school and the district would make changes to ensure they lived up to their pledge for student success, equity and inclusion.

A week before the art show, which was taking place on June 15, Ms. De Meyer’s teacher asked her if she would like to speak at the event.

But the day before the exhibit, Ms. De Meyer said her teacher informed her the school administration had insisted on modifying her speech to avoid anything that could portray the school in a negative light.

Ms. De Meyer then received the school’s revised version of her speech.

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In her original, Ms. De Meyer wrote: “I turned to the lessons we learned in our class and wrote a letter to our principal, Mr. McDonald, and the superintendent, Mr. Nosek, about the lack of accessibility and the barriers I was facing at Robert Bateman. I also researched the accessibility code and wrote another letter detailing areas we could improve.”

However, the edited version reads: “I turned to the lessons we learned in our class and wrote to people in positions who can assist with possible changes in the future, knowing that there are many things to consider. I also researched the accessibility code and learned a lot about the ways the government is trying to help remove barriers.”

Ms. De Meyer was stunned.

“It felt really bad to get this speech. It’s farther from the truth,” she said.

Just moments before she was scheduled to speak in front of a crowd of more than 100 people, including the city’s mayor, she was once again pulled aside by her teacher and told that the administrators insisted on altering her artistic statement as well. If she didn’t agree, the booklet containing all students’ contributions would be withheld.

Ms. De Meyer teared up. She said she didn’t want to risk her classmates’ work, so she let the revised version, which largely removed references to her personal experiences and her plea for improvements in accessibility, cover her original statement.

There was no response to e-mails from The Globe and Mail to the principle and superintendent. But the school district issued a media release on June 28 in which Mr. Nosek said administrators are investigating the circumstances surrounding the censorship of Ms. De Meyer’s speech.

“We understand that this action may have silenced an important student voice and caused frustration. In the Abbotsford School District, we value student voice as a fundamental pillar of public education. This situation is a critical reminder of our commitment to transparency, and moving forward, we will ensure all student voices are respected and heard,” he said.

In the same media release, Mr. McDonald offered an apology on behalf of the school for the frustration and disappointment this has caused. The release said school administrators and teachers are “committed to learning from this experience to ensure all students feel fully seen, heard and empowered as advocates in this course and throughout our school.”

Shirley Wilson, chair of the Abbotsford Board of Education, said in the media release that steps are being taken to rectify the accessibility issues Ms. De Meyer raised.

Ms. De Meyer, who’s now enrolled at the University of the Fraser Valley, is looking ahead to postsecondary studies. Her experience arising from the art activism class, she said, reinforced an earlier career choice.

She wants to become a lawyer.