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A wake-up call on the use and abuse of restraints against disabled children in public schools
Over 100,000 students are restrained and secluded in locked rooms throughout US public schools; the overwhelming majority are students with disabilities. Despite pleas from parents, disability rights organizations, and at least seventeen state Attorneys General, Congress has refused to pass laws to protect these students from the horrors of harmful restraint and seclusion practices. In No Restraint, Charles Bell argues that seclusion and restraint are so harmful and traumatic that they provoke night terrors, a profound aversion to school, and self-harm in children. Students reported being subjected to aggressive restraint tactics that left bruises on their arms and legs, dragged into seclusion rooms that resemble solitary confinement cells in prisons, and locked inside.
Featuring extensive interviews, ranging across fifteen states, with parents of Black and white children with disabilities as well as university teacher education program directors, Bell explores how parents of children with disabilities perceive the impact of school seclusion and restraint on their families and investigates how the training school officials receive contributes to the misuse of these practices. Among parents, the trauma associated with their child’s restraint and seclusion in school led to physical and mental health challenges, as well as long-term job loss as they advocated for their children. Additionally, as parents challenged harmful restraint and seclusion practices in legal proceedings, school officials often retaliated by filing claims with child protective services, targeting spouses employed within the district, and involving law enforcement.
A deeply moving and timely work, No Restraint exposes how schools function as structurally violent anti-disability institutions. This book will encourage school officials and policymakers to rethink harmful disciplinary strategies and craft stronger policy guidelines that protect children from these practices.
"At a moment when conversations about autism and neurodiversity are gaining traction, this book reveals the dangerous intersection of race, behavior, and ability. This intersection places all children at risk, especially those already marginalized. No Restraint provides a novel account of how systemic racism and anti-disability practices intersect regarding education and sanctions, producing a carceral logic that is cloaked in palatable euphemisms like ‘time out,’ which function more like solitary confinement. This book is more than a social science study with policy prescriptions; it's a reflection of our collective failure to protect those we claim to care about the most."
"Through rigorous research and keen insight, Bell has crafted a compelling case for why we need to be talking more about restraint and seclusion in K-12 schools. Relying on parents’ accounts of their children’s experiences, Bell shows the deep harms to children, parents, and families caused by these practices, how we ended up here, and how we can chart a more just path forward. This book offers a challenge for researchers, guidance for educators and policymakers, and solidarity for parents."
"No Restraint is not just a book—it is a necessary reckoning. Drawing directly from the lived experiences of families, Bell exposes how seclusion and restraint function as institutionalized violence against disabled children, particularly Black children, in America’s schools. This work validates what parents have been saying for decades: these practices are traumatic, dehumanizing, and legally indefensible. Bell makes clear that the harm does not end with the child—it reverberates through families, livelihoods, and entire communities. No Restraint is essential reading for educators, policymakers, advocates, and anyone committed to dismantling systems that punish disability instead of supporting it."
"No Restraint is a powerful and deeply impactful book that exposes the profound trauma and lifelong harm caused by the use of physical restraint and seclusion on disabled children in our schools. Through painstaking interviews with fifty parents across multiple states, Bell brings forward stories of children left bruised, terrified, and emotionally shattered by practices that never should have been considered 'behavior support.' This book should be a wake-up call to every parent, educator, and policymaker in the country, and a catalyst for national legislation to dramatically reduce, and ultimately eliminate, these dangerous practices. As the founder of the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint, this book will stay with me for a long time and is one that everyone who cares about children, disability justice, and the school-to-prison pipeline needs to read."
"No Restraint is an illuminating and deeply horrifying exposé of the tragic experiences of youth subjected to restraint and seclusion in America’s schools. Bell’s book has provided essential context for me, as a pediatrician, to better understand the experiences of my patients with disabilities—tactics such as isolation, humiliation, and seclusion—that are both traumatizing and retraumatizing. Through heartbreaking narratives and rigorous research, Bell brings to light the pervasive ableism embedded in our educational systems and the devastating impact it has on children and their families. This book is a critical resource for policymakers, health providers, educators, and advocates alike. It demands urgent action to end harmful practices and reimagine schools as places of safety, inclusion and care. No Restraint is not just a call to awareness but a rallying cry for justice, humanity and dignity for our youngest and most vulnerable."
Charles Bell is Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice Sciences at Illinois State University. He is the author of Suspended: Punishment, Violence, and the Failure of School Safety, which was a finalist for the 2021 C. Wright Mills Book Award.