Absence

In a disability justice framework, absence refers not only to a student’s physical non-attendance at school, but to the conditions that make presence unsafe, inaccessible, or harmful. Absence may occur when families keep children home because the school environment fails to meet their needs—emotionally, physically, or psychologically—even when the child is technically “able” to attend.

This includes situations where students experience anxiety, somatic symptoms (such as stomachaches or headaches), or distress because their disabilities are unsupported, accommodations are denied, or safety plans are inadequate. In these cases, absence is not a lack of engagement or parental neglect; it is a protective response to systemic barriers, unmet obligations, and institutional failure. Parents—often mothers—become de facto risk assessors, weighing attendance against the likelihood of harm.

From a disability justice lens, absence is therefore a signal, not a violation. It points to exclusion, misallocation of support, or environments that prioritize compliance over care. Treating absence as an individual problem obscures the structural causes that drive families away from school buildings and shifts responsibility away from institutions that are legally and ethically required to provide safe, inclusive education. Addressing absence, then, requires changing school conditions—not disciplining families for refusing to expose their children to harm.