Tiburon school aims to address disabilities bias

Starting this week, staff and students at Del Mar Middle School in Tiburon are tackling the latest frontier in discrimination: “ableism.”

Like sexism, racism and ageism, ableism is a way of thinking that reflects bias against a minority — in this case, people with some kind of physical, emotional or mental disability — by making those in that group feel less valued.

“Ableism is the theory or the mindset that people with disabilities are less than those without,” said Sam Drazin, executive director and founder of the Sacramento nonprofit Changing Perspectives. “So, it’s essentially social prejudice or discrimination.”

Drazin spent several hours on Tuesday with Del Mar staffers to set up a shared language around disabilities and to explain how he will work with students, staff and the curriculum to counter ableism over the school year.

In addition, he introduced a new way of thinking about neurodiversity, or the idea that every person’s brain processes information in a slightly different way.

“It’s like fingerprints,” Drazin said. “Just like our fingerprints are all unique, our brains are unique as well.”

Del Mar, which is in the Reed Union School District, received a $30,000 grant from the Marin nonprofit Dedication to Special Education for Drazin to visit the school 15 times in the coming months to promote inclusive thinking.

“We encourage our community to see special education not as a place, but as services students receive to support them in their educational journey,” said Maggie Root, a board member of Dedication to Special Education. “Our hope is that through this grant and other inclusion initiatives, students with disabilities may feel a deeper sense of belonging in Marin public schools.”

Drazin is also continuing work he started last year at the Mill Valley School District and the Sausalito Marin City School District. Erin Conklin, director of student support services at the Mill Valley district, said Drazin’s work at Mill Valley Middle School was so effective that the district is expanding the Changing Perspectives training to its elementary schools.

“Working with Sam Drazin at Mill Valley Middle School last year was a valuable experience that supported our district initiatives in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging,” Conklin said.

“As a school system, we are looking forward to building our capacity in regard to inclusive practices and creating a sense of belonging for all of our students,” Conklin said.

Drazin said he introduced the program last year at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academy elementary school in Sausalito. He is expanding the program in that district this year to the middle school in Marin City.

Changing Perspectives also has contracts with other school districts around the county, he said. Those include Novato Unified School District and San Rafael City Schools, he said.

According to Brian Lynch, the Reed Union student services director, Del Mar, with approximately 350 students, has about 40 with an individual educational plan, or IEP, to receive special instruction. Another 10 or so students at Del Mar might have a disability that does not require a full-fledged IEP, but still merits some special attention or awareness from staff or students, Lynch said.

Those conditions could include, for example, dyslexia, autism or attention deficit disorder. Those students could receive more informal support to feel a sense of belonging and being welcomed into the school community, he said.

“You might have a student with dyslexia who needs to listen to a book on tape, because of any reading challenges they might have,”  Lynch said. That and similar adaptations can be embraced or normalized so that they are seen as part of the overall landscape, rather than an isolating abnormality.

Del Mar principal Chad Stuart said he looks forward to expanding the school’s inclusivity focus.

“While we have already had a focus on equity and inclusion, I am excited that we are provided the opportunity to dive event deeper in providing a nurturing, inclusive environment where diversity is celebrated and all students have the resources they need,” Stuart said.

For Drazin, discrimination against people with disabilities is more subtle and pervasive than even racism, sexism or ageism because it can overlap with other biases.

“One of the things we forget is that people with disabilities are really the largest minority in the world,” Drazin added. “Individuals with disabilities cross all of those other marginalized groups — but disabilities get pushed under the rug.”