Past La Conner resident advocates for special needs students

Karl Olson gave up hunting and sports a quarter-century ago in favor of distance walking.

The former La Conner resident has for an even longer time been tracking steps taken to protect the rights and improve the quality of life for members of the developmentally disabled community.

All too often, said Olson, a member of La Conner High School’s class of 1988, progress has been measured in baby steps.

Olson believes that despite passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act and related state and federal legislation, more can and should be done on behalf of those with special needs.

Olson is an advocate for increased funding for public education in general and special education specifically, as well as free and appropriate education for special needs students beyond high school graduation.

“Disability doesn’t stop at graduation,” Olson explains, “so, therefore, the ADA of 1990 must be corrected to assist our students if they desire to continue with their academic dreams.

“I believe a goal is a dream,” he adds, “and that all persons should have the right to pursue that dream – disability or not.”

Olson, who lived in La Conner until the late 1980s, told the Weekly News that special needs students deserve well-funded and committed support staff at the college and university levels.

“There are no programs other than basic ADA accommodations in colleges,” he said. “Many students need that one-to-one personal paraprofessional in college as they had in high school.”

Olson knows of what he speaks.

During the 2011-12 school year, he was a paraeducator at Argosy University in southern California assigned to assist a student who qualified for assistance under the ADA. That student enjoyed academic success despite her challenges.

Olson, a certified special education paraeducator, has clocked a plethora of continuing education hours addressing disability issues.

“My push now,” he said, “is for FACE – Free Appropriate College Education – for special needs students. We have FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education) now, but we work so hard to get K-12 special education students though, but then, what’s next?

“We need FACE set up at colleges and universities to keep the momentum up,” Olson said. “It’s not fair to end support at high school graduation. We should have a FAPE to FACE handoff to a college or university so the students can continue.”

Olson has reached out to lawmakers, including U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, for support on the FACE initiative. He hopes to hear from them soon.

“Special needs families,” he explained, “are in hard times now more than ever.”

Olson said it takes a team effort to meet the needs of students enrolled in special programs. He saw such teamwork in action while growing up in La Conner. He said his late mother, Nancy Olson, worked in teacher Gary Rothenbuhler’s basic skills class alongside Diane Vendiola and Beverly Peters.

“Every special needs student,” he stressed to the Weekly News, “deserves a Nancy Olson waiting for them at college or a ­university.”