Autistic teen influenced a NYC education decision

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About 100 parents, teachers, students, and advocates lined up last week at a virtual meeting to try and convince New York City's Panel for Educational Policy to vote their way on a controversial contract. At issue: whether the city should pay to test preschool students this spring for admission into the city's gifted programs.

During nearly six hours of public testimony, one young speaker made an outsized impression, helping inspire at least one member of the panel to vote "no," sealing the contract's rejection by a single vote.

The speaker was Lucas Healy, a 13-year-old eighth grader from Brooklyn who has autism and is enrolled in the city's District 75, which serves students with disabilities who have complex needs. The son of a parent activist, Lucas has begun to find his own voice in the city's rough-and-tumble landscape of education politics, and people in power seem to be listening.

‘The main thing we need is a chance to be heard and seen," he said at the meeting, after waiting about an hour for his turn to make a two-minute speech.

The admissions test is often blamed for driving stark racial segregation in gifted classrooms, which also enroll strikingly few students with disabilities and those who are learning English as a new language. (This year, there were also concerns about the safety of the test, which is given in person, as COVID-19 cases in the city remain high.) Lucas looked into the camera from his living room couch, and urged panel members to reject the testing contract, saying the exams "don't reflect what we know."

If we need support because our brains process information in a different way, please give us the support," he said, taking deep breaths to calm himself.

Panel member Gary Linnen said the hours of public testimony had convinced him to change his mind and vote it down. Linnen pointed to the outpouring of opposition from local communities, and also cited Lucas's testimony.

“What really resonated was when Lucas Healy literally said, 'Please see me,'" Linnen said. "The fact that you have a young individual in a D75 school who is constantly overlooked because he does not fit the profile, we're doing a disservice."

Lucas is a budding activist following in the footsteps of his mother, Paullette Healy, who has been a fierce advocate for children with disabilities ever since Lucas was diagnosed with autism when he was 3. He didn't start putting together complete sentences until around third grade. Now he calls autism his "superpower." He loves the comic character Captain America, and in school, science and math are his favorite subjects.

Over the years, Lucas has tagged along with his mother to countless late night meetings and politician's offices as she fought for policies to benefit the about 200,000 students in New York City who have disabilities. About 24,000 of these children are enrolled in District 75 programs, often referred to as D75. Lucas only started to show interest in activism himself after attending his first protest this summer — a rally to convince the mayor to keep schools all-remote amid COVID-19's continued grip on the city.

Lucas and his mom made signs together for the demonstration, and as Healy readied to leave for it, Lucas asked if he could join. He ended up giving an impromptu speech to a crowd in Lower Manhattan, and since then has marched for Black Lives Matter and testified at a City Council education committee hearing, where he was met with a round of applause by the chair, Brooklyn Council member Mark Treyger.

For last week's panel meeting, Lucas's mom helped him type out his testimony. (He had started writing it by hand but soon got tired.) He redirected the panel's attention to all the ways students needed help during the pandemic, from accessing the internet to extra time to complete assignments for students who are still learning to speak English.