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10 Conn. Pub. Int. L.J. 323 (2010-2011)
Restraining the Use of Restraints for Students with Disabilities: An Empirical Analysis of the Case Law

handle is hein.journals/cpilj10 and id is 337 raw text is: Restraining the Use of Restraints for Students with Disabilities: An Empirical Analysis of the Case Law PERRY A. ZIRKEL AND CAITLIN A. LYONS' I. INTRODUCTION Schools' use of restraints with students with disabilities is a subject of national concern. News stories across the country report the horrors of abuses of restraints, such as strapping students with disabilities to chairs with duct tape and bungee cords and using tape to tie them to other furniture.' Disability advocacy websites on the Internet further fuel this public perception. For example, the National Disability Rights Network report includes various stories, such as the case of a teacher restraining a child with a disability by holding him down, after he told her he could not breathe, until he died.2 This National Disability Rights Network report lists the consequences to children such as oxygen deprivation, muscle injuries, broken necks, shoulder and other joint dislocations, and blunt head traumas.3 What makes these stories even more alarming is that the typical target of restraints is a vulnerable population, students who, due to their disability, may not be able to communicate their injuries or report the incident. These shocking reports of restraints, including incidents of students restrained face down to the floor for up to hours at a time, have garnered increasing attention from not only educators and the general public but also t Perry A. Zirkel is a university professor of Education and Law at Lehigh University. Caitlin A. Lyons is the middle school coordinator of Lehigh University's Centennial School. I Danny Hakim, A Disabled Boy's Death, and a System in Disarray, N.Y. TIMES, June 5, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/nyregion/boys-death-highlights-crisis-in-homes-for- disabled.html?_r=l &hp; Tom Infield, $5 Million Settlement in Alleged Abuse of Autistic Students, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, May 29, 2010, http://docs.newsbank.com/s/InfoWeb/aggdocs/NewsBank/ 1300366D30FODEA0/ODICCBOEABC8FD75?pmulti=PHIB&s lang-en-US; Jennifer Haberkorn, GAO Details Abuse Cases in Schools, WASH. TIMES, May 20, 2009, http://www.washingtontimes. com/news/2009/may/20/gao-details-abuse-cases-in-schools/; Emmallee Abel, Mom Says Teacher Tied Up Her Child, COURTHOUSE NEWS, May 4, 2009, http://www.courthousenews.com/ 2010/05/04/26945.htm; Robert Frahm, Parents Criticize Restraints In Schools: At Hearing, They Seek Changes in State Law, HARTFORD COURANT, Dec. 16, 2006, at Al; Maria Glod & Michael Birnbaum, Report Prompts Call for Rules on Restraining Students, WASH. POST, May 21, 2009, at B4/. 2 NATIONAL DISABILITY RIGHTS NETWORK, SCHOOL IS NOT SUPPOSED TO HURT: INVESTIGATIVE REPORT ON ABUSIVE RESTRAINT AND SECLUSION IN SCHOOLS 14 (2009), available at http://www. napas.org/images/Documents/Resources/Publications/Reports/SR-Report2009.pdf. For a more recent advocacy report, see THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE SEVERELY HANDICAPPED, THE COST OF WAITING (2011), available at http://tash.org/the-cost-of-waiting/. Id. at 13-14.

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