Self-Advocacy for Students in School

I have put this blog under my IEP category because this is a topic that parents deal with a lot during their IEP meetings. Teachers expect students to self-advocate during IEP meetings. Which can be really hard for kids, under that kind of pressure. They are also very eager to put self-advocacy into IEPs. I often wonder if they think this takes them off the hook, and they are less responsible for implementation. Even outside of IEP meetings, this topic of self-advocacy comes up a lot. The expectations are sometimes unrealistic, and they are creating new problems.

Self-advocacy isn’t easy, especially in an education setting, which is very authoritative, and kids are expected to fall in line.

Certain elements need to be in place to help nurture self-advocacy.

1. The student on some level needs to be accepting of their disability AND be willing to talk about it.

2. They have to be able to identify when they need help.

3. They need to identify what they need help with and have the language/a way to express it.

4. They need a trusted adult who has proved their willingness to listen to them over time.

5. They need to feel heard.

6. They need to feel that this trusted adult will believe them when they say they need help.

7. This needs to be repeated enough times and be predictable enough for the self-advocate to feel comfortable and safe to advocate for their needs.

School staff may say…..

Well _____________ happened, but if XXXX advocated for himself, this wouldn’t have happened.

The reality of the School Environment

Children, since they enter school, are socialized to believe they MUST follow authority, or something really bad is going to happen. They think they will be disappointing all the adults in their lives, and kids deep down just want to make their loved ones love them.

All they want to do is to make the adults (especially their parents but also their teachers) in their lives happy so that they will feel worthy and good about themselves. We need to look at their situation through the lens of a child.

Learning self-advocacy can take a lifetime. Adults have a hard time advocating. We need to have realistic expectations for our children. Especially when they are navigating an oppressive system, based on hierarchy and control. They live in this environment 5 days a week; we don’t. Many times, kids are expressing themselves and their needs, only to end up not being believed.

Children and teens need a safe adult to go to in schools. Someone that they know will help them when they need it. Finding that person and building that relationship can be key. If it’s not the teacher, could it be the counsellor, the case manager, the head teacher, the VP, or another teacher?

BC Human Rights Tribunal – Advocacy

We have a human rights decision on our side.

It’s easy for schools to make us think our kids share responsibility or are responsible for all of it.

Educators may have to be informed of how self-advocacy expectations have been defined by the BC Human Rights Tribunal. In Student by Parent v. School District BCHRT 237.

Remember the power of the Human Rights Code.

[90]           Generally, it is the obligation of the person seeking accommodation to bring forward the relevant facts: Central Okanagan School District No. 23 v. Renaud, 1992 CanLII 81 (SCC), [1992] 2 SCR 970. This can be challenging for children, and especially challenging for children with invisible disabilities. I agree with the Parent that children who require accommodation in their school are in a different situation than adults seeking accommodation. Though they have a role to play in the process, that role will be age and ability-specific, and the burden cannot be on a child to identify and bring forward the facts necessary for their accommodation.

We Learn. They Learn.

Advocacy will always be a part of your child’s life. There will never be a time when they will not be advocating for their own needs. Ask anyone with a disability, doesn’t matter their age, and they will still be advocating for their disability-related needs.

You are modelling what advocacy looks like. When they see you advocate, they learn from you how to do it, but they also learn that they are valued enough and that they are worth the effort. A lot of the advocacy that we do they will never know about. But we often reassure them that we are talking with the school and we are advocating for them.

My kids took notice of my efforts more than I realized. It teaches them to its okay to take up space. You are worth it.

I do have to say, it is very cool to watch your children self-advocate as they grow over the years and become adults. They are always watching and learning. Children have their own timing for things. My children grew into this at different times, and they are still growing as young adults. Of course. Self-advocacy skills never stop. They evolve and grow as we grow.

There are advocacy trainings you can take. Inclusion BC, Family Support Institute and the BC PAC have advertised for advocacy development workshops, along with disability specific orgnaizations, at various times of the year.

The name of the game is learning.

We learn. They learn.

Advocacy is Context Specific

As a self-advocate, I would say my advocacy is very context-specific. My approaches vary depending on who I am talking to, in what environment and situation I am in, and even my own capacity at that moment. I don’t have a memorized statement that I just play over on repeat in situations.

The environment of the education system is a very unique environment, and I tell people, this is a different kind of chess game you are in. It requires a specific skill set and a very specific process. Learning the “rules” of the game in education advocacy will help you greatly.

Internal School Advocacy
External Complaint Avenues
5 Rules on How to be Untouchable
Liability in Education
Understanding Systemic Change

BC Human Rights Tribunal Complaint Process – The Blame Game

Do not be surprised that if you file a human rights complaint, the response from the lawyers will be blaming your child for not self-advocating, and that is why the school district is not responsible for their accommodations.

It is a common chess move they make. So, just a heads up.

They will also blame you.

However…..”Parental conduct or lack of parental authority cannot be used as a justification for not meeting an exceptional student’s needs“

We do have case decisions on our side, too – regarding fierce advocacy or lack of it.

We can have respectful conversations and advocate fiercely at the exact same time. It’s not one or the other. Both parties have the expectation to collaborate in good faith as part of the accommodation process. At the same time, our advocacy conduct cannot be used against our child to deny them an equitable education.

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L.B. v. Toronto District School Board, 2015 HRTO 1622

[77]        The Interim Decision sets out my reasons for issuing an order with respect to the first two points, as follows:

(a)      School boards have an obligation under the Code to accommodate their students with disabilities to the point of undue hardship, regardless of whether the students are receiving any medical treatment in the community or not;

(b)      School boards cannot order or demand of parents to place their children into residential psychiatric treatment programs and cannot deny or withhold accommodations to the point of undue hardship on the grounds that the student should be in such a program. While I have no evidence to show that this was the case here, that does not alter the principle;

(c)      School boards have an obligation under the Education Act to provide appropriate special education placements, programs and services to their exceptional students. Parental conduct or lack of parental authority cannot be used as a justification for not meeting an exceptional student’s needs; and

(d)      I agree with the decision in R.B. v. Keewatin-Patricia District School Board, (R.B./Keewatin) 2013 HRTO 1436, an HRTO decision cited by both parties in this case, at para 265, that a parent’s “fierce advocacy” for his or her child must not and cannot prevent a school board from accommodating the child’s needs to the point of undue hardship.