The Sorrell family finally started taking down the Christmas decorations at their Mississauga, Ont., home this past weekend.
The Sorrell family finally started taking down the Christmas decorations at their Mississauga, Ont., home this past weekend.
The story behind why the family has kept their tree, banister lights and even a few presents out this late in the year begins in Nicaragua in the 1980s.
WITHOUT A SOUND
Nicolas Sorrell, who is now 30, was born in the Central American country and when he was seven or eight, his father was kidnapped by a rebel group and was presumed killed.
When his mother later lashed out at the rebel groups for taking her husband, soldiers came to her home and, after she hid Nicolas in the basement under some tables, killed her using hand grenades.
The explosions in his home severely damaged Nicolas' hearing and he was eventually placed in an orphanage.
Scott Sorrell, who was in Nicaragua in the 1980s with a delegation of teachers, saw Nicolas in the orphanage and recognized that the boy had a hearing impediment.
Since no one else at the orphanage knew sign language, Scott decided to stay an extra two weeks at the orphanage to help Nicolas work on communicating.
Even though Nicolas faced a number of challenges communicating with humans, Scott noticed he had a natural connection with animals such as dogs, who would come running whenever Nicolas whistled.
"I realized at a very early stage that Nick had this ability to communicate quite effectively with animals," Scott said.
Two weeks of working together turned into six years and Scott eventually adopted Nicolas and brought him to Canada.
He now wears special hearing aids, can communicate through sign language and can read lips.
About 10 years ago, Nicolas told Scott, who now interprets for his son, that he wanted to ride horses and he and Scott went to a barn near their home.
They worked out a deal with a trainer there where Nicolas would ride under the trainer's instruction with Scott acting as an interpreter through signing.
Five years later, Nicolas was working at a horse ranch in the Edmonton area, an experience Scott said "solidified the young man's love for horses and other animals."
"When there were horses that were quite wild and aggressive and bucking, Nick was the go-to person that they would turn to for advice or they'd ask Nick to help break in the horse and he was just fearless," Scott said, adding Nicolas ended up buying a horse that he brought back to Ontario.
This was the beginning, Scott said, of Nicolas' dream of becoming a jockey and making a life at the racetrack.
CHASING THE DREAM
Scott and Nicolas knew challenges were in store for them because of his hearing impediment and they spoke to representatives of Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto who told them that if Nicolas ever wants to work on a track, he'd have to enrol in a jockey program at Olds College, Scott said.
"It just seems to be the place where he needed to be if that's his future."
Nicolas first applied to the school's "horse care and flat racing horse exercising program" in 2011, Scott said, but was not accepted due to safety concerns about his hearing.
In the summer of 2012, Scott emailed the college and asked the school to reconsider Nicolas' application since he felt their concerns weren't justified.
"I just didn't think that was a good assessment to judge him solely on his hearing without meeting him and not knowing the level of his hearing," he said.
The college responded, Scott said, with an invitation for Nicolas to reapply and the school pledged to focus on Nicolas' skills and ability.
Nicolas sent in videos of himself riding and carrying out various exercises with a horse, along with reference letters from people in the horse industry, and the school interviewed him over Skype.
By November of 2012, it seemed Nicolas was on his way towards realizing his dream as the college sent him an acceptance letter and, Scott said, the school expressed excitement at welcoming the first person with a hearing impairment into the jockey program.
It was an "amazing night" for the Sorrell family and Nicolas in particular.
"He actually was dancing all over my room. He was shouting to all his brothers and was just really excited that he was heading off to college," Scott said.
Nicolas' first semester was to start in January of this year.
But roughly a month after accepting Nicolas' application, the college contacted the family and told them Horse Racing Alberta (HRA), the body that governs horse racing in this province, had expressed concerns relating to insurance coverage in that Nicolas' hearing impairment could be a safety risk for himself, instructors and other people in his program.
"I could tell the college was quite, not nervous, but just unsure which direction to go," Scott said.
He said he suggested pushing the racetrack component of the program "out of the equation" for Nicolas so that instructors at the college could assess his skills in other areas and then deal with the HRA's concerns later.
On Dec. 23, however, the college informed Scott that Nicolas' admission was revoked.
The school, he said, had carried out a risk assessment of the facility where Nicolas was to take instruction to determine if Nicolas would be a danger to himself, the horses and other people in the program based on his disability.
Based on that assessment, Scott said, the college stated it could not continue with the admission.
Scott said he was "shocked and devastated two days before Christmas" and told the college he had worked with Nicolas in barns for 10 years, signing with other trainers, and there were no accidents.
"And then the other part, the risk assessment, the concern there was, it was done without Nicolas being present."
The college wouldn't change its mind, however, and Scott decided he couldn't tell Nicolas the college had once again refused to give him a spot in the program.
"It's two days before Christmas, I have everything wrapped up for Nick for the program. I had to make a tough decision where I could not tell him. I could not drop that bomb onto my family at that point."
After the holidays passed and four days before Nicolas was to fly out to Alberta, Scott took a day off work and broke the news to his son.
"He was heartbroken. He was devastated. He felt ashamed of himself. He felt that he had done something wrong," Scott said. "He felt embarrassed that he had told everyone he was leaving and had worked hard. I think at that point, he felt the deafness, he felt the disability as something negative as opposed to we've always taught him to feel his abilities and what he could do."
In early January, the family contacted a lawyer for advice and it was at that point that the family decided they wouldn't take the Christmas decorations down until Nicolas was in the program.
"A strange but symbolic gesture to Nick that we were behind him," Scott said.
The family was advised to approach the media and file a human rights complaint.
THE TURNAROUND
After Nicolas' story generated some media attention in Ontario, the college contacted the family again and stated it could deliver the jockey program without the racetrack component that had worried the HRA and Nicolas was invited to come to the school for an assessment, Scott said.
"He told me that 'I told you so'," Scott said. "His belief in Olds College and the program never waivered. Mine might have, but his never did."
Last month, Nicolas, Scott, Nicolas' hearing dog named Coco, a horse trainer from Mississauga who has worked with Nicolas and a representative of Alberta's Deaf and Hard of Hearing Society came to the college for three days.
During that time, Nicolas showed college staff how he could communicate properly with others through eye contact and short words while on a horse.
"I think for them to have the face-to-face with Nick was really crucial for them and for Nick," Scott said.
On the third day of the visit, the school offered Nicolas a spot in a modified, nine-week version of the jockey training program where, upon completion, he'll receive a certificate.
Nicolas was "ecstatic" Scott said, and after a two-year-long roller coaster journey, Nicolas started classes at the college on June 17.
Neither Jordan Cleland, the college's vice-president of advancement, nor HRA's executive director, Shirley McClellan, would speak about Nicolas' case due to privacy legislation.
Cleland did say safety is the number one consideration for the college when looking at applications of people with disabilities or impairments.
He added the school has maintained a good relationship with the Sorrell family throughout the process despite the media attention the case attracted.
"We've worked in good faith with this family, specifically the father," Cleland said. "For no other reason than it was the right thing to do to continue working with them and finding a way to make things work or not.
"There's no animus between the student's father and us."
McClellan said anyone wanting to become a jockey or work on a racetrack has to be licensed and part of the licensing process may include the need for medical proof, including vision and hearing tests, that an applicant is "able to safely perform the normal functions of the occupation for which the application is made."
"If they go through those tests and they can (provide that proof), they pass that part of the licence," she said.
Nicolas will stay in residence at the college with his assistance dog Coco and Scott said the chance for one-to-one instruction at the college will likely open doors for Nicolas.
The more skills he acquires and this chance for him to prove he can safely ride horses will hopefully convince the HRA to allow Nicolas to compete on Alberta racetracks once he finishes school.
"At the very least it will put them in a position where they're going to have to put something on paper as to a reason why they're denying him that. That will kind of give us our next direction."
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