Category: Story
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My AASR Story: Chantelle Hyde
When I think back to about five years ago now, around the time that I first learned of my daughter’s traumatic seclusion incident at school from another parent, I was in a state of shock. After running into one frustrating and upsetting experience after another with the school and district, and even in reviewing provincial education policies,…
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My AASR Story: Trisha Thompson
As a teacher and a parent, I have witnessed firsthand the need for change in our schools. The things I have seen in my workplaces and in schools my child has attended have really strengthened my drive to decolonize. Decolonization requires a commitment to creation just as much as a commitment to resistance and dismantling.
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My AASR Story: Dr. Arielle Silverman
I have been blind since birth and have been involved with blindness advocacy for the past 20 years. In 2014, I obtained my Ph.D. in social psychology because I wanted to use social science research to make life better for blind people. Eventually, though, I realized that people with all types of disabilities have common…
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My AASR Story: Sarah Johnston-Waugh
I became involved with AASR in 2023 after my son, who was eight at the time, had been subjected to numerous restraints in his special education class. Someone had mentioned the Alliance to me in a comment on a Facebook post, and I sent a message to Guy Stephens. Within a couple of hours, he…
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My AASR Story: Karen Bures
Meeting Guy Stephens, the founder and Executive Director of Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint (AASR), provided a lifeline during an incredibly challenging phase in my career. Despite successfully eliminating the use of restraint and seclusion in the behavior program I was teaching, I encountered significant resistance to a systemic shift and faced intense targeted retaliation…
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My AASR Story: Val Luther
I first came across the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint through a post shared by Dr. Mona Delahooke online. I had just devoured her book Beyond Behaviors and was eager to continue learning from her on social media. I purchased the book in hopes of finding new ways to support and advocate for my neurodivergent…
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What My File Didn’t Say
When my caregivers harmed me, I felt like parts of me were dying. At the same time, something was growing inside of me, preparing to break down walls. I’m glad I have survived my exposure to the system despite the permanent damage it did to me. I am one of the lucky ones. I want…
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Finding My Place in the World
In the intricate fabric of who I am, there’s no room for the notion of laziness. Anyone who’s crossed paths with me would never toss around that label or anything hinting at idleness. Opinions about me are a mixed bag—from silky-straight locks to sheep-like tendrils, from being a chatterbox to moments of quiet reflection. Kindness…
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Seclusion Prevented My Son from Reaching His Potential
Every child deserves to be treated with dignity and deserves to be safe regardless of their race, socio-economic status, or cognitive/physical abilities. All children need love and kindness to thrive in the world. Abraham Maslow created the following hierarchy of needs in his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation.” In order to move up…
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The Lost Years of “Treatment”
My experience in the troubled teen industry began when I was 12 years old and was unnecessarily sent to rehab. There, I was regularly interrogated and pressured into admitting to drug use and forced to identify as an “addict.” Despite knowing that I didn’t belong there initially, with everyone around me telling me otherwise and…