Michael E. Robinson, Sr. hopes harassment will clear his name (part 5)

According to “A Pocket Manual for Advocates: Information and Resources for Lay Advocates” by Janie Bowman and Debbie Sorrells, advocates are advised, “Be clear about what you can and cannot do. Lay advocates can assist, support and draft paperwork if requested by the parent. Never create documentation on your own or provide a recommendation. Generally, families expect you to know the law. However, you aren’t an attorney and can be sued if you act like one, so know your limits, provide legal resources, and refer the family to an attorney for legal advice.”

It was also interesting to note that the manual regarded the use of phrases such as those below to be unprofessional:

• I’ve battled with this school district before
• We’ll go get them!
• Let’s trap the teacher.
• We can play the same game
• We’ll boot them out the door!
• We’ll let them have it!
• I’ll punch them out!

“If your sole purpose is to ridicule, embarrass, entrap, or find ways to get the school staff in trouble, then you need to ask yourself whether you are fueling an agenda that’s based on previous, personal experiences you had with schools, or are you there to help the child?”

It is interesting to note because Mr. Robinson has used at least four of those exact phrases above in numerous communications to listserv groups and other areas online when soliciting “cases” for his Office of Advocacy organization.

As regards to his claim that he is a lobbyist: a Freedom of Information Act request has been made to attempt once again to get a lobbyist registration identification number to verify his claim. Prior attempts to search databases for this number had been made prior to the original article but have not proved fruitful. He has never given his registration ID # to anyone that has come forward so far, except to Mrs. Reyes-Radulski who also refuses to share it.

Mrs. Reyes-Radulski asked me what I would do if she had provided such proof to me in a private Facebook message. I had not responded because it was during the comment battle and didn’t feel it warranted a response at that time. She had written it obviously upset. But I will answer here.

Mrs. Reyes-Radulski, if such proof existed of any of Mr. Robinson’s claims, and was provided to me, I would write an article publishing such proof. Yes, I would detail each bit of information in much the same way I have previously for each of his claims. I am speaking out to you in the hopes you will cease in your smear efforts against me so that I can inform my attorney tomorrow that you have stopped the aggressive actions. I also wanted you to understand my motives here.

I am a reporter. Whatever you may think of me personally is beside the point. I interviewed Mr. Robinson through several email exchanges in regards to his involvement with a case. I quoted him. I believed his claims even though I had suspicions of certain other claims of his. After publishing that interview, more than one person (yes, more than the individual in Hawaii that was quoted in part 5 of the previous article) came forward and contacted me regarding past dealings.

Prior to going public and exposing Mr. Robinson’s claim, I had contacted numerous advocates in the autism community asking for information about Mr. Robinson. None of the information I received back was positive. I was forwarded email conversations that took place on listserv groups (a public area) where when questioned about his lobbying registration, his racecar driver history (Nascar or otherwise), an update on a case he reportedly had been working on, and so on, he either disappeared from the group permanently, became belligerent, or disappeared for a couple of weeks and come back when the “heat” seemed to have dissipated.

And no, I could not contact anyone that has been his clients because 1) he never gave a list of that information and 2) he claims FERPA protection. Of course, FERPA is a real law and is for a good reason! However, happy parents satisfied with services rendered will give permission to use their name and phone number as a reference. Mr. Robinson has never provided such references to anyone, to my knowledge. He explains his lack of references due to FERPA but as explained, there is a way around that in order to verify credentials.

Based on this information, I began digging into Mr. Robinson’s credentials as he was involving himself directly with a case I had become involved in. I worked in tandem with a group of individuals so we could quickly find some answers as to avoid a problem in the case we had been working so hard on.

When we could not find any information verifying his claims of involvement with any cases (and attempts to ask him for client names and numbers went ignored or he responded belligerently), this is when I decided to go public as a lesson had been learned.

The lesson learned was that parents need to be educated when choosing who they let advocate on their behalf and what actions those advocates take are considered legal and appropriate. It was not about “attacking” Mr. Robinson in any way. Indeed, I requested that not be done and the comments left initially reflected that my readers and supporters did as requested. They commented on the contents of the article as a matter of style or mechanics of writing.

It was not until others entered the fray and began lambasting me personally that anyone did anything that could be construed as an “attack” on Mr. Robinson. I also want to make clear to Mrs. Reyes-Radulski that this is also not an attack on her either. My statements are reporting facts of events as they occurred to me and to inform her of my intention of reporting such facts.

Emotions get the best of us at various times. I would hope that Mrs. Reyes-Radulski and Mr. Robinson recognizes that I acted in my capacity as a reporter to help educate parents that it is important to question anyone who makes claims that they can make things happen in this arena.

These parents are vulnerable, stressed, and scared. They are also angry at being taken advantage of by the schools in some cases. Parents are also angry at abuse their child has suffered in some cases. They do not need the added stress of anyone, good intentioned or not, involving themselves in matters that the person has no business involving himself or herself in. That is the message this time as it was last time.

In closing, there were many things that I did not include in the original report on Mr. Robinson because they could not be substantiated. The only claims that I reported (quoting more than just one source) were ones that were verified by third-party sources. There is official documentation to prove that and will be shared while maintaining the identity of those involved to protect them from the harassment campaign that has been waged against me.

Please subscribe to this column by clicking the button above for future articles to come, including an informative interview with a Lay Advocate about the things Lay Advocates can help parents with, what they can’t help with, and what questions parents can ask to verify the credentials of the advocate and what credentials an advocate traditionally has.

Part 1 2 3 4 5
 

An update