On Thursday, June 22, 12-year-old Sophia Burrell will be going to Cultus Lake with her Grade 6 classmates from West Langley Elementary to play at the water park.

It almost didn’t happen for the special needs student from Langley’s Walnut Grove neighbourhood, who has autism, albinism, impaired vision, and epilepsy.

Just a few days before the long-planned trip was about to happen, Sophia’s mother, Leah, said she was informed Sophia couldn’t go, and told it was a “WorkSafe issue,” having to do with workplace safety regulations.

Both parents, who will be working that day and could not accompany Sophia, had offered to pay their respite worker to go with her, but the offer was turned down.

Sophia, who loves swimming and water parks, was “shattered, devastated” by the news, Leah recalled.

“She’s obsessed with water slides,” Leah explained.

“She’s a great swimmer.”

The decision was changed after Leah went public about Sophia’s exclusion, and the issue was taken up online by Tamara Taggart, a former television journalist and activist for children with disabilities.

“Imagine if Sophia was your child,” Taggart posted, calling the decision to exclude “cruel.”.

“Imagine if you were Sophia. We live in a society where we talk about inclusion but we accept exclusion.”

Lots of supportive messages for Sophia, I asked the dad who sent me this note if I could share. ☺️
Both of his daughters were Sophia’s “big buddy” over the years + both are furious. Dad says we must all be united in stopping discrimination + bullying. #bced #bcpoli #SD35 pic.twitter.com/yT7H3MbXCc

— Tamara Taggart (@tamarataggart) June 19, 2023

Leah credits the resulting publicity and pressure with changing the decision, adding the district has yet to explain or apologize.

“They can’t take back the hurt they caused,” Leah commented.

It was actually the second time something like this has happened to her daughter, Leah told the Langley Advance Times.

Sophia would have been left out of a previous trip to Playland at the PNE earlier in the month , if her parents hadn’t objected.

Sophia did get to go, and from all accounts, the trip went well, Leah told the Langley Advance Times.

After that, the mom said, “I was assured she would be going on all trips in the future.”

In both instances, Leah noted the trip had been planned well in advance, but the decision to exclude Sophia came just a few days before the kids would have gone.

“It could have been cleared up months ago,” Leah maintained.

Leah said the district still hasn’t explained its decision, other than to continue to say it was a “WorkSafe” matter.

Joanne Abshire, Communications Manager for the Langley School District, released a statement saying the district was “committed to ensuring all students have equitable access to learning opportunities, including field trips.”

It said the district and school “have developed a plan with accommodations and additional staff provided to ensure all students can attend and have their needs met.”

“All students in grade 6 and grade 7 at West Langley Elementary will be able to attend this field trip on Thursday. The District has communicated this information to the family. The district has communicated this plan with a representative from the venue.”

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