Sometime in the past week was the tenth anniversary of my first attempt at running away from home. I was just as much an adult ten years ago as I am today. The difference is that ten years ago it was legal to hit me, vanish my relationships, and sequester me from society. I look…
Reposted from Free Youth Now with permission from the author. Youth mental health is a public health crisis. Reports have found that teen suicides are increasing at an alarming pace, outstripping all other age groups. Suicide death rates among young people have increased rapidly in the past decade – becoming the second-most common cause of death…
Every day that I have the presence of mind to remember it, I am so grateful and so excited and so relieved to be a legal adult. I can associate with whoever I like, with no fear that I will bond with them only to be barred from seeing them later. I can read any…
NYRA-Twin Cities has been in operation for several years now. Amy O’Connell, President, has been leading the group for almost half a decade. Amy’s passion for youth rights came from her own experience dealing with adults. She was largely bullied in middle school and found that adults made the problem worse. She became involved in…
Jordan Riak, founder of Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education (PTAVE) and long-time ally of NYRA in the campaign against corporal punishment died this week. Jordan Riak has devoted his life to stopping corporal punishment since 1974. He was a major force opposing the brutal practice both in the United States and in Australia,…
In his book, Teen 2.0, psychologist Robert Epstein gives an account of the medical profession’s complicity in the movement to marginalize young people: “In short, my own colleagues have long played and continue to play a leading role in the maintenance of the artificial extension of childhood. They have pathologized socially induced behavior and…
Can’t attend the upcoming rally in Washington, DC against corporal punishment in our schools? You can still share your views. During the second day of the event, NYRA Executive Director Bill Bystricky will join other activists in reading comments submitted from across America. If you have a personal experience with corporal punishment in school, send…
The most basic right people of any age have is the right to physical safety, the right not to be harmed or touched against your will. Yet there are public schools in America where students are routinely hit by the very authority figures entrusted to keep them safe. Even in 2012, corporal punishment is still…
This is part of the Youth Rights 101 series. Please check out Youth Rights 101: Introduction for the rest of the series and more information. Alcohol is dangerous! Why lower the drinking age? Do you actually want kids drinking?! Lowering the drinking age is not about wanting anyone to be drinking nor ignoring any possible…
Two months ago, NYRA petitioned against Obama’s Health and Human Services Agency discriminating against teenagers trying to get emergency contraceptives. It’s great to see the administration now taking a position for college students, at least, enjoying equal access to birth control. Beginning in 2013, most health plans will be required to cover contraceptives, including the…
