Your child has legal rights. You are their advocate. This section gives you the framework to act on those rights — to identify what the school is required to do, recognise when it has failed, and move forward with that knowledge.

Schools have a legal duty to accommodate students with disabilities, learning differences, medical conditions, mental health needs, developmental differences, trauma histories, or any condition that affects their ability to access education. That duty belongs to them. The burden of meeting it is theirs. Your job is to hold them to it.

What conditions trigger the duty to accommodate?

There are many diagnoses that trigger the duty to accommodate, such as:

Diagnostic categories

Autism, ADHD, learning disabilities (dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia), intellectual disabilities, developmental delays, speech and language disorders, auditory processing disorder, sensory processing differences, epilepsy and seizure disorders, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), genetic conditions, Tourette syndrome.

Mental health

Anxiety disorders, depression, OCD, PTSD and complex trauma, selective mutism, school refusal and school avoidance, eating disorders, mood disorders, psychosis.

Medical conditions

Diabetes, asthma, allergies (anaphylaxis risk), chronic pain conditions, chronic fatigue, autoimmune conditions, cancer and post-treatment effects, heart conditions, Crohn’s disease, colitis, GI disorders, migraines, Long COVID.

Physical and sensory

Deaf and hard of hearing, blind and low vision, mobility impairments, chronic illness requiring frequent absences, fatigue-related conditions.

Situational and emerging

Family crisis affecting school functioning, undiagnosed but suspected conditions, children awaiting assessment, giftedness with co-occurring needs (twice-exceptional / 2e), trauma responses affecting school functioning, grief affecting school functioning.

Your child does not need a formal diagnosis with one of the above. If your child’s needs are known — or ought to be known — to the school, the duty applies.

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Understanding accommodation failures

Most accommodation failures follow a recognisable pattern. Here is the framework for naming what happened.

Discrimination

Your child was treated differently because of their disability, and that treatment caused harm. You do not need a formal diagnosis to be discriminated against.

Examples:

• Your child was sent home early because the school said it couldn’t manage their behaviour, while non-disabled students with similar behaviour received in-school consequences
• Your child was excluded from a field trip because staff said they couldn’t provide support, while other students attended without question
• Your child was moved to a different classroom or program without your consent because of disability-related needs
• Your child was suspended for behaviours directly connected to their disability
• Your child was placed on a reduced schedule while non-disabled peers attended full days

The legal question: Was your child treated differently because of their disability? Did this different treatment limit their access to education?

Reasonable justification

Schools can only deny accommodation if providing it would cause undue hardship. Undue hardship is a high bar. Inconvenience, cost, or difficulty are not enough.

Claims that do not meet the bar:

• “We don’t have the staff” (without evidence of genuine recruitment efforts)
• “It would be disruptive to other students” (without evidence of actual disruption)
• “We’ve never done it that way” (not a justification)
• “The budget doesn’t allow for it” (districts have legal obligations regardless of budget preferences)
• “Other parents might complain” (not relevant)

What might be undue hardship:

• A requested accommodation would pose genuine safety risks that cannot be mitigated
• The accommodation would fundamentally alter the nature of the educational program (rare)
• The cost would be so extreme it would compromise the district’s ability to serve other students (very rare, and must be documented)

The legal question: Has the school actually demonstrated undue hardship with evidence, or are they simply asserting it?

Meaningful inquiry

Schools must gather enough information to understand your child’s needs before making decisions. They cannot guess. They cannot assume. They must ask.

Examples of failure:

• The school made decisions about your child’s placement or schedule without requesting or reviewing their assessment
• The school ignored recommendations from your child’s doctors, psychologists, or therapists
• The school refused to conduct assessments that would clarify your child’s needs
• Staff made assumptions about your child’s capabilities based on their diagnosis rather than their individual profile
• The school implemented a safety plan or behaviour plan without consulting the professionals who know your child

The legal question: Did the school gather sufficient information to understand your child’s actual needs, or did they act on assumptions?

Duty to consult

Schools must consult with you — the parent or guardian — as part of the accommodation process. Consultation means genuine dialogue, not notification after decisions are made.

Examples of failure:

• The school told you about schedule changes rather than discussing them with you first
• You were presented with a plan and asked to sign it, with no opportunity for input
• Your concerns were heard but not addressed or incorporated
• Meetings were scheduled at times you couldn’t attend, then decisions were made without you
• You asked for specific accommodations and received no response, or a response that didn’t engage with your request
• The school consulted with you once and then stopped, even as circumstances changed

The legal question: Were you meaningfully consulted throughout the accommodation process, or were you informed of decisions after the fact?

Duty to facilitate

Schools must actively work to make accommodation happen. They cannot place the burden on you to solve their problems. They cannot wait for you to propose solutions.

Examples of failure:

• The school identified that your child needed support but did not arrange it
• You were told to find and pay for services the school should provide
• The school acknowledged your child’s needs but took no action for weeks or months
• Staff said they were “working on it” but nothing changed
• The school expected you to attend daily to provide support they should be providing
• The IEP listed accommodations that were never implemented

The legal question: Did the school take active steps to implement accommodation, or did they leave the burden on your family?

Pulling it together

Most accommodation failures involve several of these elements at once. A typical pattern: the school fails to conduct a meaningful inquiry into your child’s needs; without adequate information, they make decisions that discriminate; they do not consult you before implementing those decisions; they do not facilitate alternatives; and when challenged, they claim reasonable justification without evidence.

When you describe your situation to a tribunal, lawyer, or advocate, identifying which duties were breached — and how — strengthens your complaint considerably.

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Before you file

Not every situation requires a formal complaint immediately. Complaints are for situations where you have communicated your concern clearly, given the school a genuine opportunity to respond, and still have no resolution.

Reasonable effort does not mean endless effort. It does not mean waiting until you have exhausted yourself. It means you raised the issue, stated what you needed, gave a deadline, followed up once, and still got nothing workable.

You have made reasonable effort if you have:

• Raised the issue verbally or in writing with your child’s teacher, support staff, or administrator
• Stated clearly what response or action you expected
• Given a reasonable timeframe for that response (a few days for routine matters, shorter for urgent safety concerns)
• Followed up when the timeframe passed without response, restating your expectation and giving a brief final window — one additional day is enough
• Still received no response, an inadequate response, or a response that did not address the problem

This might look like:

“I’m writing to request that Maya’s sensory breaks be reinstated as outlined in her IEP. Please confirm by Friday that this will happen.”

Then, if Friday passes:

“I expected a response today and have not received one. If I don’t hear from you by end of day Monday, I will escalate this concern to the principal.”

One additional day removes any suggestion that you did not give the school fair warning. It costs you very little. It matters significantly if you later file a complaint.

You do not need to:

• Attend dozens of meetings before you have standing to complain
• Wait months or years for improvement that never comes
• Exhaust every level of informal conversation before escalating
• Maintain a calm and grateful tone while your child is being harmed
• Accept partial measures that do not actually address the problem

If you have communicated clearly, set a reasonable deadline, followed up once, and still have no resolution — you have grounds to escalate. The threshold is lower than most families assume. Schools often benefit from families believing they must try harder and wait longer before they have earned the right to complain.