Too many school-based approaches still centre on control: eye contact, quiet hands, forced compliance, and the suppression of stimming, protest, or joy. But Autistic advocates have been clear: these methods may produce short-term behavioural conformity, but they come at the cost of safety, trust, and long-term mental health. Compliance is not connection. Masking is not well-being.
Occupational therapist Fiona Quirk reflects on her own professional shift—away from coercive practices and toward strategies grounded in regulation, autonomy, and dignity. Drawing on over 30 years of experience and the lived expertise of Autistic people, she lays out a detailed, practical guide to transforming school culture. The article affirms what many families have known all along: if a child doesn’t feel safe, understood, and respected, they cannot learn.
This resource includes:
- Dozens of neurodiversity-affirming practices rooted in lived experience
- A clear rejection of compliance-based methods like PECS, hand-over-hand, planned ignoring, and social skills training
- Guidance on AAC, sensory supports, handwriting accommodations, interoception, and more
- Strategies for supporting Autistic students across intersections of race, gender, and disability
- A call to centre Autistic voices in every conversation about support, safety, and school policy
“When we know better, we do better.” This is the blueprint.
🡒 Read the full article on Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint
