Having a child with special abilities brings unique joys and struggles; especially when the said child doesn’t speak and is wheelchair bound which is the case for a lot of our CDKL5 families. We want you to have as many resources as possible.

If your child was discriminated against by a business or school

Know your rights! First, you must decide if the interaction was indeed discrimination. The National Association for Family Child Care is a good resource to determine if discrimination took place. Disability discrimination is tricky as it can be direct or indirect.

Once it has been determined that discrimination has taken place you may call The National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-(800) 4-A-CHILD if you feel that is necessary.

Discussing discrimination with both your special abilities child and other children is important and necessary. Children are often the only witnesses to such abuses. THIS is a great guide from the American Psychological Association about how to discuss those difficult topics with the youngsters.

For those of you that live in the United States, visit www.ada.com for a solid understanding of the US’s guidelines on disability discrimination. It might also be helpful to get familiar with your state’s attitude toward disability discrimination in advance of a situation taking place. Most nations have a version of this and understanding your governing body’s legal definitions and rights will go a long way. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems provides an International Language Guide on Disability.

If you’ve gone through all of these steps and feel either direct or indirect discrimination has taken place reach out to the Office of Civil Rights to help bring your school district into compliance please read this PDF and follow the instructions from the PDF:

How to File a Complaint

Complainants wishing to file a complaint may do so by:
Mail or Facsimile: Complainants may mail or send by facsimile a letter or use the OCR’s Discrimination Complaint Form available from one of OCR’s enforcement offices (see the list of OCR’s offices in this brochure). In your correspondence, please include:

• The complainant’s name, address and, if possible (although not required), a telephone number where the complainant may be reached during business hours;
• Information about the person(s) or class of persons injured by the alleged discriminatory act(s) (names of the injured person(s) are not required);
• The name and location of the institution that committed the alleged discriminatory act(s); and
A description of the alleged discriminatory act(s) in sufficient detail to enable OCR to understand what occurred, when it occurred, and the basis for the alleged discrimination (race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age or the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act).

E-mail: Complainants may file a complaint using the following e-mail address: ocr@ed.gov. Use the same procedures as above.
Online: Complainants may le a complaint with OCR using OCR’s electronic complaint form at the following website: http://www.ed.gov/about/of ces/list/ocr/complaintintro. html.

For those without current e-mail accounts, Internet access may be freely available from your local public library, and free e-mail accounts are available from several large providers.

We share this information to hopefully make your lives easier, but it is our sincerest wish that you and your family never need the information because discrimination stays far away!