For too many neurodivergent children, school is a place where they should have an equal opportunity to succeed, yet many students and their families continue to face discrimination in schools.

Although the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was designed to protect students with disabilities, gaps in its implementation have created a system that too often fails the very students it was meant to serve, and is in great need of reform. Part of my mission as an advocate for neurodivergent students, is to give a voice to these families.

An example of one of the many issues we face, involves sensory overwhelm.

The cafeteria, for example, is a noisy, brightly lit place with strong smells that can be a sensory nightmare for neurodivergent people. Sensory overwhelm is an actual and very real painful experience, and we force these students to tolerate the intolerable.

Sensory processing disorders (SPDs) can be described as difficulty detecting, modulating, interpreting, and/or responding to sensory experiences. A physiological response of pain can be triggered, as well as the fight or flight response and activation of adrenaline.

This issue is very close to my heart because I have witnessed first hand what these students go through. I want to speak for these students when no one else will. It is also close to my heart because I was diagnosed with sensory processing disorder when I was three years old, along with my autism.

Through extensive early intervention, I am able to tolerate much more than I could as a young child. Today, when I go to a lunchroom, I feel a bit of anxiety because of the crowds, noise levels, and chaos. And don’t get me started on the smells. I sometimes avoid getting foods I really want to get because of the large crowds of people congregating around the area and the amount of strong smells.

I had a friend in my old middle school who was so fearful of the cafeteria, that she actually felt like she could die; the feeling was intolerable.  My old school let her eat in a counseling office for a period of time, but they decided that for high school, she must eat in the cafeteria, and so they started forcing her to tolerate getting near the cafeteria. I watched as every day, school staff pushed her towards the lunchroom as she screamed out in terror.

I decided then and there that I had to do something to advocate for people like my friend. Can you imagine anyone else with a disability being told that they had to TOLERATE something that causes them pain and terror??

I decided to take a stand as they were forcing my friend against her will to go to the cafeteria. I said to the school officials, “I don’t think that this is right; you can’t do this.” They told me that I could get in trouble for interfering, but I spoke up anyway because her rights were being violated. I could picture something like this happening to me because of my sensory processing disorder.

That is why I began advocating for a sensory friendly lunchroom bill at Kentucky Youth Advocates. Several schools around the country have implemented safe sensory areas for their students at very little cost.  This is just one of many of the issues that I advocate for.

We all need to stand together and educate one another about what is happening to neurodivergent students in schools. We need to understand that a student who can’t make eye contact isn’t being disrespectful; they are communicating in their own way. We need the awareness to see that a student who is stimming is just trying to regulate themselves.

We need to realize that all autistic students need to be protected from bullying, and they deserve fair access to an education under the law. We can’t wait any longer to stand up, speak out, and advocate for it.

"Until every neurodivergent child feels safe, understood, and included, my voice will never stop speaking for those who need one."

-Ella