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Education Advocacy. K-12. Disability. Human Rights Focused. External Complaint Systems. BC, Canada.

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Back in 2025!

Happy Holidays everyone! Happy New Year!

I am taking a break and I’ll be back in action 2025!

Author Kim BlockPosted on December 23, 2024December 29, 2024

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Previous Previous post: Understanding Systemic Change
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Welcome to Speaking UP BC (Canada)

What does it take to be an advocate?

To put it quite simply…

You need to look at the pile of horse shit in front of you, view it as fertilizer, and then get to work. Oh…and be willing to fall ass backwards into it.

To all of the other parents who also make the decision to step into the advocacy role, however big or small, I cherish you. No one can ever make a difference, truly alone. We walk this together, even when we are fighting our own battles. And, it certainly can feel like a battle sometimes in these strategically designed systems.

“If you think you are too small to make a difference, you haven’t spent the night with a mosquito.” African proverb quoted by the Dalai Lama

Disclaimer: On this website are some general tips that I have learnt along the way that I wish I knew before I started down the advocacy path. I offer these as suggestions for you to consider for your own advocacy efforts. As a disclaimer: please see this list as a Sunday brunch buffet of options and not a prescription of exact steps that you need to follow. I hope this information empowers parents when moving forward to reflect on their own values and make their own advocacy decisions. I know for myself, that when I move down a path that aligns with my values, I feel that much stronger.

“Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine.” ― Alan Turing

 

 

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parent.advocacy.tribunal.help

Human Rights. Education. K-12. Disability.

New Blog: The Flaw of Inclusion There is one par New Blog: The Flaw of Inclusion 

There is one part of “inclusion” that worries me.

You can be in a room with 100 people and feel utterly alone.

Depending on the type of disability you have, you may not meet someone with the same disability as you until you are an adult.

Just because you are in the same room with a bunch of people, doesn’t mean you feel like you belong there. That you are accepted. Hell…it doesn’t even mean you’ll be tolerated.

Growing up with other people who don’t have anything in common with you, at the core, and experience life differently… is bizarre. It’s like watching a movie.

People with rare diseases will travel halfway around the world just to be in the same space as someone else so they can talk about everything they are experiencing and have someone say the words “me too!”.

There is a reason humans have such a strong desire to be around other people who mirror similar elements to themselves. We feel seen. Understood. Real.

Inclusion as a concept is great. Fully support it.

However….

This is one flaw that I really don’t like.

#Disability #Inclusion #Advocacy #School #Education

https://www.speakingupbc.com/2025/05/13/the-flaw-in-inclusion/
Communicating and providing evidence of a diagnosi Communicating and providing evidence of a diagnosis is an important part of your child's protections under the Code. Having a diagnosis makes it very clear and doesn't give the district any wiggle room during the human rights process to claim that they didn't know the child had a protected characteristic. HOWEVER, even without a formal diagnosis doesn't mean you can't file a human rights complaint. (More on this later)
For today's post, I encourage you all to look at this case
Student (by Parent) v. School District, 2023 BCHRT 237
What sealed the deal for the parent in their case, was that they had their child's psychiatrist provide a written letter acknowledging her diagnosis in G.A.D and the parent gave this to the school for the child's file. The school couldn't claim hindsight and that they didn't know. 
If your child has a diagnosis of anxiety, you may also want to provide such documentation as you never know what may happen in the future. 
[13] In light of the Student’s barriers in advocating for herself, the adults in her life have had to take on a more proactive role. The Parent’s open and active communication has been critical to ensuring that the Student’s needs are recognized and met in school. Throughout the Student’s education, the Parent has let her schools know about her disabilities, and that she may require monitoring because she is unlikely to proactively seek the support she needs.
[14] There is no dispute that, due to the Parent’s advocacy, various individuals within the School District were aware of the Student’s diagnoses before and during the period of this complaint. For example, in the spring of grade 7, the Parent provided the elementary school with a note from the Student’s psychiatrist confirming that the Student had a “long-standing diagnosis of General Anxiety Disorder”. At the Parent’s request, this note was placed in the Student’s school file.
** This is a very important aspect as this ensures that a district has a duty to accommodate.
To read more....

https://www.speakingupbc.com/meaningful-inquiry-anxiety-self-advocacy-iep-transition-to-hs/
New Blog: "Life Begins at the Edge of your Comfort New Blog: "Life Begins at the Edge of your Comfort Zone" - Neale Donald Walsh
👇👇👇
https://www.speakingupbc.com/2025/05/08/life-begins-at-the-edge-of-your-comfort-zone/

#Advocacy
New Blog: Gears in Motion, Systemic Change. New B New Blog: Gears in Motion, Systemic Change.

New Blog: Gears in Motion Systemic Change 
It's been incredible watching everything that has been happening in education in the last month!

https://www.speakingupbc.com/2025/05/07/gears-in-motion-systemic-change/
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  • Home
  • About Me
  • Understanding the Duty to Accommodate
  • Education Law
  • Understanding Exclusion
  • Understanding Systemic Change
  • Human Rights Decisions (Cases)
    • Accepted Human Rights Complaints in Education
    • Adding yourself to your child’s human rights complaint
    • ADHD, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia (Timeliness Application)
    • ADHD, LD, GAD, Depression – Transition to high school, not following IEP, paying for private school
    • ADHD – Post Secondary
    • Anaphlyaxis, Severe Allergies
    • Anxiety, Meaningful Inquiry, Self-advocacy, IEP, Transition to HS
    • Application for Anonymization
    • Bullying
    • Child Care Cases
    • Dismissal Applications – How to Respond
    • Dismissal Applications & Timeliness Applications
    • Duty to consult
    • Duty to facilitate – responsibility of the parents/guardians
    • Exclusion – Accepting “reasonable” accommodations
    • Get No Anonymization, TRB Decisions = HRT Decision – NOPE!
    • Late filing – Timeliness of Complaint, Autism, Post-secondary
    • Learning Disability (Dyslexia)- costs of private school, and discrimination test
    • NO EA = HR Complaint, Anonymization
    • Parent advocacy (Conduct) -communication with the school
    • Reasonable Accommodations (ADHD, Dyslexia)
    • Responding to Dismissal Applications
    • School Exclusion
  • OIPC Orders in Education
  • Legal Blogs
  • Education Advocacy Options
    • Resolution Options in Education
    • Section 177
    • Section 11 – Appeal to Board of Education
    • Education Law
    • Advocacy
    • Silence
    • Professional Conduct Unit (Formerly BC Teacher’s Regulation Branch)
    • Freedom of Information Request
    • BC Ombudsperson
    • Ministry of Education
    • MLA
    • Human Rights Tribunal
    • Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner
    • Board of Education Meetings
    • Education Language
    • Commonly Used Acronyms in Supportive Education
  • Advocate Help Directory
  • Parent/Guardian Advocates in MEDIA
    • In the News/Human Rights Cases
    • Students Advocating
    • School Trauma
    • Parent/Guardian Podcasts
    • Parent/Guardian Blogs
  • Annual Reports
  • Important Resource Links
  • P.A.T.H (Parent. Advocacy. Tribunal. Help)
  • Videos
  • Contact
  • Yelp
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Email
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