K12 complaints

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wellbeing and capacity

When the work of advocacy is affecting your health, your family’s stability, or your ability to keep going. This includes parental burnout, physiological harm, the cumulative cost of sustained advocacy, and the strategic decisions about what to take on and what to let go.

You might be trying too hard

When something is not working at school, the implicit instruction is to try harder — more meetings, more documentation, more patience, more trust. That instruction is rarely spoken, but it shapes nearly every conversation. Over time, that expectation becomes its own pressure. Families are asked, directly or indirectly, to keep engaging in the same ways […]

Toxic positivity and harm masking in school processes

Toxic positivity in school processes occurs when serious harm is described using reassuring, neutral, or optimistic language that reduces urgency and obscures impact. Parents may report distress, fear, exclusion, or unmet needs, while the school responds with phrases like “things are going well” or “we’re seeing progress.” This framing does not deny harm outright. Instead, […]

Wellbeing and the family unit: what your home is, and what it is not

There is a pattern most families of disabled children come to recognise, usually later than they would like. The school day ends, the child comes home, and the family discovers that what has been returned to them is not a child but a depleted version of one. Homework is impossible. Chores are impossible. Conversation is […]

A collection of posts including lived experience, deeper analysis, and practical ideas for navigating specific issues.