Every parent’s worst nightmare is discovering that the people you trust to care for your child have done the exact opposite. For one mom, that nightmare became real when she learned the truth about what had been happening to her disabled daughter at school, and it didn’t come to light immediately.
This woman has a disabled daughter who is wheelchair-bound and non-verbal, but she is still completely in tune with all the things going on in her life.
Her daughter attends school, since she wants her to have a regular life, stimulation, and friends. But throughout one school year, her daughter became depressed out of nowhere.
She visited her daughter’s school multiple times in an effort to get to the bottom of what was going on, but everything seemed to be going well.
Her daughter was outside enjoying recess, completing activities, or spending time with her peers whenever she dropped by to check in, so she figured the issue had to be an emotional or medical one.
When the school year ended and summer break began, her daughter puzzlingly became herself again, without a valid reason.
“Then, while shopping for supplies for the new school year, we ran into the teacher’s aide from last year. After we talked for a few minutes, she became upset and said that she needed to tell something,” she explained.
“She said she couldn’t live with herself if she stayed quiet. Our daughter had been left in the corner of the classroom all day, wheelchair brakes locked, so she couldn’t move. She wasn’t allowed to join the other kids for art, music, or group work.”
“During recess, she was pushed outside only sometimes, and when she was, she was left alone by the wall. The teacher hid all of this from us. Whenever she saw us coming, she rushed our daughter into the middle of whatever activity was happening to make it look like she was being included.”
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As the teacher’s aide came clean, she was overcome with emotion. This mom stood in front of her, listening while shaking in fury.
She couldn’t believe that her daughter was neglected and abused under her nose, and she wasn’t the wiser to what was really going on.
She wasted no time pulling her daughter out of that school and enrolling her in a different one. She mentioned to the whole administrative team at her daughter’s new school what had happened to make her switch.
She also threatened to hold the new school accountable if they dared to let her daughter go through something so terrible again.
“Our daughter’s new teacher had tears in her eyes as I explained what had been done. She promised to protect and include our daughter every day, and she kept her word. She’s still a friend to us to this day,” she continued.
“What still haunts me is this: If I hadn’t had resources, connections, and a loud enough voice, the system would have buried this. Families without resources get steamrolled. It happens every day. And it nearly happened to us.”
I just feel so sad that the teacher’s aide didn’t say something sooner or sound the alarm when it could have made a difference.
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By Bre Avery Zacharski
Hi, I'm Bre, Chip Chick's CEO! I have a degree in Textile/Surface Design from The Fashion Institute of Technology, and... More about Bre Avery Zacharski
