- challenging medical record subpeonas that are vague, overbroad or not relevant enough to the issue or likely to lead to discovery of admissable evidence
- initiating targeted open records requests to review district's historical performance
- how to write a solid complaint limited in scope to increase chances of a 'win'
DIY due process resources for parents going
pro se for two main reasons (1) money, can't afford representation (2) too few attorneys versed well enough in 504/ADA, education law, and food allergy as it relates to equal access and FAPE
- Wrightslaw Surviving Due Process and allergy page
- Dorene Philpot's DIY Due Process e-book
Retaliation from SD as a whole or singular official from SD through bogus CPS reports, truancy, charges of "Munchausen by Proxy" or medical abuse as retaliation for invoking civil rights protections or filing an administrative complaint on behalf of a child with LTFA.
Dealing with the label of Food Allergy Mom or Disability Mom with regard to credibility, institutional sexism, ignorance, prejudice, perceptions.
- Sandra Boudrou-Romano, M.D., The Allergist Mom
We would review an allergen avoidance sheet with the family, explaining the importance of reading food labels, and discuss an emergency health-care plan, teaching the families how to recognize and treat an allergic reaction. We provided them with a short list of support services and asked them to follow up in one year. It was a good system, at least as far as I knew.
After we reviewed the perfunctory literature, I got my one-year send-off and then, I panicked. I wanted our allergist to come back in the room. I had so many questions left to ask. But I was an allergist, so how could I have so many questions? I only knew one thing – that I needed more time with her. I felt alone and anxious.
As a fellow, I’d never quite understood it when parents cried at the end of our appointments. The diagnosis and treatment was a matter of fact. You avoid the food and you avoid the reaction. But now, on the other side, I understood. It was about: how in the world you were going to avoid the food and what on Earth would happen if you didn’t.
I walked out of the office saddened that, previous to this appointment, I had not really known what food allergy families go through and devastated that I had to learn it like this. It felt like I was like starting over, both personally and professionally.
- Michael Pistiner, M.D.
As a parent of a child with a nut allergy, Pistiner empathized with parents who have to educate their peers even as they're trying to protect their children. It can be difficult to pass on that responsibility to others, he added.
"I'm trying to teach my mom how to use an EpiPen and read labels, and she's not taking me seriously, and I'm a pediatric allergist," he said. "Imagine if I'm a school teacher, imagine if I'm a stay-at-home mom. Now who's going to take me seriously? It's a really hard position to be in."
- Wrightslaw From Emotions to Advocacy Never go in as a lone female because the deck of perception is stacked against a woman. (Proper cite later)