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The student news site of Carlmont High School in Belmont, California.

Scot Scoop News

The student news site of Carlmont High School in Belmont, California.

Scot Scoop News

The student news site of Carlmont High School in Belmont, California.

Scot Scoop News

Anai Thomas

Anai Thomas, Staff Writer

Anai Thomas (Class of 2028) is a sophomore at Carlmont and a staff writer for Scot Scoop. Outside of writing, she enjoys rowing, baking all kinds of things, and sleeping. She also hopes to pursue a career in medicine in her future.

All content by Anai Thomas
A figure clutches their head beneath a storm cloud, with red lightning bolts striking around them, as a distressed heart glows in their chest, portraying the battles waged inside bodies that appear calm on the outside. The trembling posture and swirling lines capture the hidden weight of dysautonomia, where every step is negotiated. “Most people want to feel better, and they want to function, they want to live a normal life, and they want to interact with their peers or live a life that they lived before they got sick,” said Dr. Svetlana Blitshteyn, a neurologist specialising in autonomic disorders and the founder and director of Dysautonomia Clinic.

A body that turns on itself

Anai Thomas, Staff Writer April 1, 2026

Her heart is a drum she can’t control, pounding against the cage of her ribs as if it’s trying to escape. The air around her thickens. The light bends. The world begins to slip through her fingers....

A group of students, including one using a wheelchair, stand hand-in-hand atop a cracking bridge labeled “IDEA,” illustrating the fragile connection between students with disabilities and the education they are guaranteed under federal law. As funding cuts and policy shifts widen the gap beneath them, advocates warn that decades of progress in inclusive learning could fracture. “It's not an optional law, and should be embraced and enforced without needing an oversight agency,” said Sandra McElwee in an email, chief dream facilitator at Empower Person-Centered Planning and mother of a son with Down syndrome.

Funding cuts and policy shifts put IDEA at risk

Anai Thomas, Staff Writer November 16, 2025

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the federal law that serves and protects students with disabilities, once recognized as the basis of inclusive learning, now faces an uncertain future. IDEA...

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