Striving to remove barriers that prevent us from building Vibrant, Diverse, Inclusive, Accessible Communities!
Fifty years after Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)—born in 1975 as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act—the takeaway isn’t nostalgia, it’s the need for enforcement. Students with Disabilities are still owed full access to public schools, learning alongside peers with services delivered as rights, not favors. As Rep. Lateefah Simon warns, “Our civil rights are not up for negotiations.” Mark the milestone with action that honors 50 years of the disabilities education act.
The article is explicit: stop treating access as a medical problem. The medical model pathologizes the child; the social model fixes the environment. Center the social model of disability: provide communication access, inclusive instruction, and barrier-free classrooms so students can learn.
Oversight is non-negotiable because racism and ableism show up in data. The US Department of Education (ED) must keep civil-rights enforcement and IDEA monitoring that confront Significant Disproportionality in Special Education, end segregation and discipline abuse aimed at Black disabled students, and use funding leverage to force correction.
Families shouldn’t have to fight alone. Jordyn Zimmerman didn’t receive augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) on an iPad—required under IDEA and the Americans with Disabilities Act—until she was 18; once communication was provided, inclusion followed. Parent advocate Samantha Phillis calls Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) “protection for these kids,” even as schools try to walk them back and Medicaid cuts threaten her daughter’s school nurse. The path forward is policy that centers Removing Barriers: fully fund the promised federal 40%, guarantee assistive technology, Accessible Materials, and specially designed instruction, and keep federal enforcement strong.
Read the Full Article: This Disability Education Law Turned 50 Today. Disability Advocates Want More..
By: Julia Métraux
