Hard to forget...: Why I hate bleach

Like many parents, I picked Lauren up from elementary school every day. This day was different... Lauren was standing outside with her teacher. She was wearing a different shirt than she wore to school that day.

Use of "aversive techniques" was common in those days. Students in Lauren's class wore necklaces with tokens they earned for good behavior.

Lauren often put her tokens in her mouth. In order to stop Lauren from putting the tokens in her mouth, her teacher sprayed "vinegar" on the the tokens. A spray bottle of vinegar was readily available because it was used to spray in the mouth of another student when he screamed. A spray bottle of bleach was also available for cleaning....

The teacher picked up the wrong bottle and sprayed the tokens around Lauren's

 neck with the bleach bottle!! The "what if" possibilities are mind-boggling.We decided not to take legal action and opted to work toward change. Years were spent working with the school board to discontinue these practices. Attending meetings became a way of life for us.
Teachers, assistants and therapists considered us to be the "parents from hell".  We were met with stares and refusals to work with Lauren.
Years later, Lauren had a meltdown in the laundry room of her apartment. Details of the event remain sketchy. But, somehow bleach was spilled on her 
pants and caused a 
"burn" on her leg. 
Elementary school nightmares returned....not pretty.

Keeping it real,

Donna