Last year, when sophomore Zach Sharp discovered that another student in his grade had a vision impairment like himself, he was overcome with a sense of kinship.

“I wasn’t happy that somebody else had a vision disability,” Zach said, “but thank God I’m not alone,” he said. “It’s not just me!”

“It’s a really amazing experience, to know, I’m not alone out there, and we’re hoping to bring more people together like that,” Zach said.

To increase awareness about Lab’s disabled students and provide a community for them, Zach and sophomore Jayne Crouthamel founded the Students With Disabilities Association.

The club plans to meet Thursdays at lunch.

They started the club because they felt that Lab’s disabled community should be able to come together in a more effective way.

“We’re also hoping to have a club be a place where people can come and talk about their experiences,” Zach said. “We aren’t alone in our struggles.”

Jayne especially strives to increase awareness about Lab’s disabled community with the club.

“We hope to create awareness to other students about people with disabilities,” Jayne said. “We are an overlooked group. People don’t really understand what the challenges are and we hope to bring awareness to that.”

Suzanne Baum, the faculty adviser, thinks about the club in the same way.

“They would like to make the school more aware of what it is like to be a student with a disability at Lab and help support each other,” Ms. Baum said.

— NICKY