Nevada Mother Discovers Her Son With Autism Was Excluded From School Yearbook: 'It Broke My Heart'

When buying the yearbook of the technical school in Las Vegas (Nevada) where her son with special needs studied, Mariela Azarpira says she noticed that something important was missing: the name and photo of the young man, and those of ten other students with learning disabilities in her class.

"It honestly broke my heart," he said in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "I went page by page," he added, "not even a photo; not even a recognition."

Her son, Samir Azarpir, 22, is a senior at Northwest Career and Technical Academy (NCTA), and his family looked forward to seeing him in the book with the other students. But it wasn't in any of its 186 pages.

Azarpira said the school "messed with the wrong mama bear" and took her case to local newscasts. "He doesn't even mention them. It's like they don't exist," Azarpira told local channel 8NewsNow. "It's like for them it didn't matter, it wasn't important to recognize them."

The school district explained in a statement that the school yearbook has historically included students in grades nine through twelfth. "The school is reviewing the yearbook design for the coming years to consider incorporating members of the school community enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs on campus," he said.

Samir suffered from hydrocephalus at birth, a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain, and was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. He finished high school thanks to an adapted curriculum in Los Angeles, California, in 2019.

When her family moved to Nevada in 2021, she entered NCTA technical school as part of special training from the Career Employment Focus Program (PACE), a federally funded initiative that helps young adults with special needs transition into the job market. His special class consists of about 10 students.

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"They're 22 years old, that's right," Azarpira told local television. And he complained that the school "did nothing to leave a memory of that, for me, for us."

Azarpira said Samir, the youngest of her five children, is sociable, lovable and loved in his family. During his studies, he and his classmates had a good bond with the staff, brought coffee to the teachers and participated in other activities related to the institution. He thinks they could have at least devoted half a page to them.

"They need to be included. They matter too," he demanded.

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In an email to Azapira, the school's principal, Laura Willis, apologized and proposed reimbursing Azarpira for the cost of the yearbook, $90, which the woman refused.

"I don't want my money back. I want them to include all children because it's so important. Because if the school includes them, all parents are going to learn," she told 8NewsNow.

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The principal also explained to Azarpira that they have never included PACE students in their yearbooks since the program began, but that will change in the future. "It's unfortunate that we haven't been able to represent everything they do and bring to our campus," Willis wrote, according to the email shared by the woman to local media. "There are no excuses, just human error," he added.

Azarpira is suspicious that this is a "human error" since PACE students were never included in previous editions of the yearbook.

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Two education activists, Lori and Sig Rogich, expressed outrage in a statement issued Saturday condemning the "callous indifference to students with special needs that seems to permeate the district."

Both called for an investigation by the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, which is responsible for safeguarding students' rights under federal law protecting people with disabilities.

"The picture that stands out is one in which students with special needs were intentionally set aside and hidden," Lori Rogich said in the statement. "These students work hard to get an education and are part of our community. The district's indifference to its existence is simply difficult to comprehend."