ASAN commends Congress for its reintroduction of the Keeping All Students Safe Act (KASSA). KASSA would ban almost all kinds of restraint and all kinds of seclusion across all 50 states, and would require school districts to collect data to prevent further use of these harmful practices. We urge Congress to move swiftly to pass this long-overdue legislation.
Restraint and seclusion are incredibly traumatic practices, and can kill or injure students on whom they are used. They are disproportionately used on students with disabilities and students of color. Restraint and seclusion are part of the systematic marginalization and removal of children of color, children with disabilities, and especially children of color with disabilities from school. This is also called the ‘school-to-prison pipeline.’ Ending the use of restraint and seclusion would save lives, prevent abuse, and make our schools safer and more equitable. You can read more about how KASSA would do this in our earlier statements.
We thank Congress for taking the first steps towards ending the violent, traumatic victimization of students with disabilities in our nation’s public schools — but our community needs this law to pass in order to actually protect students in our communities. The bill that would become KASSA was first introduced in 2009, over a decade ago. Since then, it has repeatedly stalled after being introduced in Congress after Congress, while students with disabilities and students of color continue to be subjected to these violent practices. We call upon Congress to work quickly and pass the Keeping All Students Safe Act, and to finally ensure that all students can participate in school without life-threatening restraint and seclusion. It is long past time for this violence to end.
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network seeks to advance the principles of the disability rights movement with regard to autism. ASAN believes that the goal of autism advocacy should be a world in which autistic people enjoy equal access, rights, and opportunities. We work to empower autistic people across the world to take control of our own lives and the future of our common community, and seek to organize the autistic community to ensure our voices are heard in the national conversation about us. Nothing About Us, Without Us!