15-year-old Niko Boskovic entered and won a writing contest sponsored by a national fraternal organization and judged by his local North Portland’s Peninsula Odd Fellows Lodge. Winning the contest meant that his local lodge needed to fundraise money to send Niko and another winner to New York City for a 10-day United Nations Pilgrimage for Youth. This was all very exciting, especially for Niko, who is on the autism spectrum and communicates using a letter board. The Oregonian interviewed Nico and his mother who say that something strange took place between being accepted for having won this contest and what happened a couple of weeks later.
The contest winners, 300 kids from across the world, will gather in New York City to participate in the annual United Nations Pilgrimage for Youth for 10 days. As a winner, Niko received an email from Charles Cloud, the Odd Fellows jurisdictional chairman for Oregon. The email asked all delegates to email him their essays, application form and delegate registration form.
A week later, Niko's mother, Loreta, wrote to Cloud: My son Niko Boskovic was selected as a recipient of the UN pilgrimage. As you may be aware, he is on the autism spectrum, and I will be traveling with him to support his communication on a letterboard.
Niko’s mother stopped hearing back from Cloud and then when she finally got him on the phone he reportedly told her the trip for Niko wasn’t a “done deal.” A little while later Loreta was informed that the UNEPY, Inc. Board’s decision was that he couldn’t go because they did not allow chaperones. According to Loreta, she was subsequently told that they didn’t have the staff or knowledge to handle someone with a disability. Holy crap! Odd Fellow lodges around Oregon banded together to fix this injustice and were refunded their money with nothing further for Niko and his hard work.
After the national organization rescinded the offer, Boskovic said, she called Renninger. If they believed they needed extra help with Niko, she said, she was willing to come on the trip to be with him, ready to pay $1,600 out of her pocket.,
"He told me he was fully aware of who I was," Boskovic said. "He told me he was under instructions not to talk with me. We haven't received anything in writing explaining why Niko isn't allowed to go on the trip. The local lodge has been a huge support."
Niko and his family have contacted a disability rights group as they believe, and if what they say is true their “belief” is clearly a fact, that this situation is a prime example of discrimination against someone with a disability. You can watch Niko’s storyon how he learned to show the world that he had something to say, and let me tell you this … he’s worth 100 of every one of those people who made this grotesque decision.