Oregonian: Tom Hallman: A Portland boy who won a prestigious trip told he can't go
KGW: Portland teen with autism disqualified from national contest
Portland teen, Niko Boskovic, won an essay contest sponsored by the local Odd Fellows Lodge. His essay was on the history of Ukraine. The prize for his contest winning essay was to be a trip to New York City along with 300 other youths from around the world to participate in the annual United Nations Pilgrimage for Youth for 10 days. But then the The U.N. program's board of directors disqualified him because of his autism.
Because of his autism his Mother was going to travel with him and raised the money for her trip independently. Excited about the trip she sent an email to the Odd Fellows jurisdictional chairman Charles Cloud.
My son Niko Boskovic was selected as a recipient of the UN pilgrimage. As you may be aware, he is on the autism spectrum, and I will be traveling with him to support his communication on a letterboard.
When she did not hear back from Cloud, she sent a second email.
If you wouldn't mind confirming receipt of this email, it would be greatly appreciated.
Cloud finally replied, but it was not the reply Loreta was expecting. She was told that it was not a done deal. That the The U.N. program's board of directors was reviewing his application, and would make a decision. In March the verdict came down. Chaperones were not allowed on the tour, and they don't have the staff and knowledge to be accountable for someone with a disability. They disqualified him and canceled the delegate’s participation in the event. To be fair Cloud has been working hard to try and get the national Old Fellows to reverse their decision, but to date, to no avail.
Another set back for Niko who has overcome multiple road blocks.
He was a normal child until the age of three when his language skills stopped developing. He was diagnosed with autism. His Mother, Loreta, fought the shool board to get him enrolled in the public school system. But a teacher told his parents she didn't want their son in class because she didn't have the energy to deal with the disruptions [Oregonian]. The pulled him from public school and were home teaching him. Living close to the University of Portland, they engaged students majoring in psychology who could receive class credit for working with Niko.
It was at this point that they discovered letter boards.
Letter boards allow people with autism to communicate with the rest of the world. And Niko excelled at it. Though this new medium he was able to voice his desire to attend school. Evaluators discovered that Niko seemed talented and gifted and he was enrolled at Trillium Charter School. Since than he has grown in his social skills. Here is a video of him being asked to the prom in 2016.
He is in deed a talented writer, so I am not surprised he won the essay contest.
Here an article from Niko’s World Press page about why he attended the womens March. Remember, he is fifteen years old...
SOMETHING I SHOULD GET OFF MY CHEST: INITIALLY, I THOUGHT TRUMP WAS AMUSING. HE WAS THIS MANIACAL, TINY-HANDED EGOCENTRIC FOOL WHO WAS IN IT AS SOME SORT OF DARE THAT HE COULDN’T GET OUT OF. THEN HE WON THE ELECTION, HARDLY, AS A MATTER OF FACT, WITHOUT A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF THE DISABILITY COMMUNITY. THE MINI-TYRANT WON, LEAVING MILLIONS FEELING HOPELESS.
THAT IS WHY I WANTED TO MARCH. VERY LITTLE ATTENTION WAS GIVEN TO THE DISABILITY COMMUNITY DURING THE ELECTION, AND WE ARE NOW FACING THE BIGGEST THREAT TO OUR FREEDOM AS WE KNOW IT. WE NEED TO BE TELLING OUR STORIES OVER AND OVER SO THAT WE ARE NOT FORGOTTEN.
YOU ONLY SEEM TO THINK OF OUR RIGHTS WHEN YOU READ SOMETHING IN THE PAPER OR READ ABOUT IT IN YOUR NEWSFEED. NOTHING WOULD PROTECT US BETTER THAN NON-DISABLED PEOPLE SEEING OUR VALUE AND CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY. WHAT WOULD SAVE US FROM TRUMP’S HISTORICAL DISDAIN WOULD BE IF PEOPLE BELIEVED IN INCLUSION AND INSISTED THAT PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES WERE VALUED MEMBERS OF THEIR COMMUNITY. YOU CAN KEEP OUR RIGHTS INTACT FOR THE NEXT FOUR YEARS.
= WHY I MARCH TODAY =
TO MAKE PEOPLE SEE US.
TO MAKE US VISIBLE.
TO MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD.
TO MAKE THE WORLD A KINDER PLACE.
TO SHOW THAT WE WILL NOT TAKE SHIT FOR BEING DIFFERENT.
image of people dressed warmly in the cold rain holding protest signs MARCHING ALONGSIDE MY MOM AND MY SISTER WAS THE BEST WAY TO SHOW MY SUPPORT FOR THE WOMEN WHO HAVE MADE ME THE MAN I AM BECOMING. HOW THEY HAVE CHANGED MY LIFE, STOPPING AT NOTHING TO GET WHAT I NEED! NOW THAT I HAVE A VOICE, I CAN TELL THEM HOW MUCH I LOVE THEM. SOMEDAY SOON I WILL BE MORE INDEPENDENT, AND I WILL TOW THEM BEHIND *ME* FOR A CHANGE. UNTIL THAT DAY, WE WORK FOR *ALL* OUR RIGHTS AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
The Disability Rights Oregon is also getting involved, but to date the national organization has not back down. The the local lodge filed a complaint, demanding to know why Niko had been rejected.
“We got no reply back except for a check refunding the money that we had paid for him,” said Scheer. “We're not going to allow them to discriminate like this.” [KGW]