Organizing a public campaign

Plan a public-facing campaign to draw attention to systemic issues and demand accountability.

When systems fail quietly—behind meeting room doors and policy language—families are told to keep their concerns private. To follow the process. To wait patiently. To trust that someone is listening. But when weeks become years, when exclusion becomes normalized, and when the harm goes unacknowledged—visibility becomes protection.

Organizing a public campaign is a way to take the conversation out of closed loops and into shared space. It’s how we shift from isolated experience to public awareness—and from private distress to collective power.

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How to use this strategy

Start by identifying the core issue you want to make visible. It might be:

• Failure to implement IEP goals
• Denial of accommodations across a school or district
• A pattern of exclusion affecting disabled or neurodivergent students
• Gaps between written policy and lived reality

Then choose your format and tools:

• A blog, letter, or personal essay
• A social media thread or hashtag campaign
• A website or open letter inviting community sign-on
• A public petition or call for investigation
• A coordinated email or phone campaign to trustees or the Ministry

Document your experience, but also point to the pattern. You’re not just telling your story—you’re showing how your story isn’t the only one.

“We followed every process. We filled out every form. And our child is still being excluded. We are making this public now—not because we want to, but because no one responded when it was private.”

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Link individual harm to systemic failure

Use the campaign to show not just what happened, but what it means:

• Who was harmed?
• What was promised and not delivered?
• What rights were violated?
• What changes are needed—and who’s responsible for making them?

You can back up your public campaign with:

• Excerpts from policy or tribunal rulings
• Screenshots of email exchanges (anonymized if needed)
• Statements from other families who have experienced the same
• Calls to action (e.g. write to this official, sign this letter, attend this meeting)

Public campaigns don’t have to be large to be effective. They just have to be true. And they have to make the system visible to people who’ve been trained not to look.

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What to watch out for

Once you go public, you may face pushback.
Not just from the system—but sometimes from people who don’t want to believe it’s this bad. You may be called dramatic, angry, inappropriate. You may be told you’re harming your own cause.

But your child has already been harmed. And you’re no longer willing to let that harm stay invisible.

You don’t owe the system your silence.
You don’t owe professionals your composure.
You don’t owe the public a version of your story that protects institutions at the expense of truth.

Be strategic. Be safe. Be supported. But be seen.

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You are allowed to make it public

You are allowed to say:

“This happened to my child, and it is still happening to others.”

You are allowed to name the school.
You are allowed to name the harm.
You are allowed to hold the system accountable where others can hear you.

Because no matter how personal this feels—it is political.
And the more people who know, the harder it becomes for them to pretend they didn’t.

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