Journalist – Historian – Speaker
Explosive new report of abuse from the Massachusetts Disability Law Center. UPDATE: You can see the whole report here. 1. The Cult of Compliance (from Boston Globe): The investigation uncovered a school culture in which aggressive discipline of students had become ingrained, Eichner said. Many students suffered injuries, including scratches and bruises, and one student was …
This is a video of a school bus driver attacking a child with disabilities. It’s hard to watch, but worth watching for the following reasons (and maybe more): The other kids are standing up for their classmate, telling the bus driver he can’t do it. One child was holding the cell phone that caught this …
Ever since watching the terrible video of a student being pulled from her desk and thrown to the ground, I’ve been waiting to learn how disability intersected with this case. I assumed it would, because the data shows that the two groups most vulnerable to violence at the hands of school authorities are people of …
In Kentucky, from the NYT: The A.C.L.U. released what it called a “disturbing video” showing the boy, who it said weighs about 52 pounds, crying as the resource officer handcuffed his arms at the biceps behind his back. In the video, the officer tells the boy, “You don’t get to swing at me like that.”The …
There is a standard horrible argument out there that people with low IQ are protected from trauma because they don’t understand what happened to them. It’s used in sexual assault cases (read here if you must. It’s upsetting) sometimes and must be confronted at every turn. It’s been on my mind as part of a …
A few days ago over on my Facebook page I shared the story of the school district that took away a blind child’s cane and replaced it with a “pool noodle.” The cane technically belongs to the school district, and when the bus attendant reported that he was waving it in the air and potentially …
My son rides the regular school bus, a step that we decided on this year. The system has been supportive. Nico’s aide meets us at the bus stop and facilitates the ride. On the rare days when he takes the bus home, she’s there (she has to take the bus anyway to get back to …