A ProPublica reporter who investigated schools across the nation for physically restraining and secluding students with disabilities was awarded the Katherine Schneider Journalism Award for Excellence in Reporting on Disability by the Walter Cronkite School on Monday.
Katherine Schneider presented Heather Vogell with the award for her piece “Violent and Legal,” which investigates the case of Carson Luke, who has autism and was 10 years old during her research in 2011. He can speak but has difficulty communicating — a source of extreme frustration, Vogell said.
Luke had moved to Virginia and, while attending a school for students with disabilities, had episodes that resulted in him throwing objects at people. Vogell said that when he would have these episodes, the staff members would take him to a dirty cinderblock room with a fan. Luke was sensitive to the sound of the fan and the school would threaten to turn on the fan if he failed to calm down.
One day when he was having an episode, staff members shoved him into the room and quickly shut the door behind him, but he reached out and was slammed between the door and the wall. His hand and his foot were broken and he incurred a deep, open wound. The school failed to call the hospital, first calling his mother, who took him into emergency surgery. Vogell said that as a result of this incident, Luke did not sleep through the night for the next three years.
Tim McGuire, the moderator for the event and Frank Russell Chair for the Business of Journalism at the Cronkite School, said he was impressed with Vogell’s empathy for the teachers.
“You do an incredible job, I think, of not imputing motive,” McGuire said to Vogell. “The fan thing really bothered me, that there was a threat — ‘If you don’t shut up, we’ll use the fan.’ … At that point, it seemed like they had crossed a very serious line.”
Before giving Vogell the award, Schneider told the audience she was pleased that subtitles and a sign-language interpreter had been added to the awards ceremony. She added that this brings it closer to her goal, telling the crowd that the reporting is “nothing about us, without us.”
Schneider said the National Center on Disability and Journalism, headquartered at the Cronkite School, has a website that is a “treasure trove,” including information from credible sources to language tips on how to accurately advocate for disabled students.
“Too often we think this kind of coverage is superficial, and too often we feel that it is inaccurate or even offensive,” said Kristin Gilger, associate dean of the Cronkite School.
According to Gilger, the role of the award is to raise the reporters’ bar for reporting on disability issues.
“It’s an incredible vehicle not just for recognizing the stories but, more importantly, for elevating the incredibly complicated and difficult issues that they tackle,” Vogell said. “And the award gives them an extra light after publication. … Every story from every family is just heartbreaking. Some of these parents didn’t even know that these things were happening.”
Contact the reporter at Conall.Casey-Waid@asu.edu.
