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The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 required no exclusion from federally funded programs, including schools, due to a disability. This paved the way for children with disabilities to be in public school buildings and receive an education, including the appropriate assistive technology within their programs. This law eventually expanded into requiring access to electronics and information using technology (Dell, Newton,& Petroff, 2017, pp. 1-13).

Due to this law, individuals with disabilities, such as Sady, are given the right to access the school facilities and buildings. It also gives Sady, and individuals like her, access to websites and computer systems that are accessible and usable for educational purposes.

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Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975

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Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975

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The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1775 ensures that all children with disabilities have access to Free and Appropriate Education (FAPE). This means that all children with disabilities have special education/ related services that meet their individual and unique needs (S.6 (94th), 2004). This law opened the door for educators to provide their students with devices to help them learn. These supports would later become known as assistive technology. This law specifically set the stage for assistive technology to be made available for children with disabilities because of specified physical and mental disabilities, which helps to ensure special education services are provided to all who might need them. It also gave efforts to continue to give appropriate education by stating that individuals need to be in the least restrictive environment, meaning they should be with typically developing peers as much as possible. This allowed for future legislation to define assistive technology as a necessary way to allow students to learn in the least restrictive environment.

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 helped ensure that people like Sady could still receive special education services, even if their disability is only physical. By requiring the least restrictive environment, this law allows people like Sady to have the right to be in the classroom as much as possible with their typically developing peers. It also helps people like Sady because it gives parents the right to have a say and help fight for their children to receive the best education possible with the administration's help.

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Technology Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1988

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Technology Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1988

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The Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1988, or Tech Act of 1988, provided funding for states to develop training programs designed to meet the needs related to assistive technology for individuals with disabilities. This is one of the first acts to define assistive technology ("Technology related assistance," 2006).

Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1988 provides further assistance by breaking down precisely what assistive technology is and how to adapt it to help make it more accessible and known. The funding from this law helped to give educators and administration knowledge on how to use and teach with assistive technology, making learning more accessible to people like Sady.

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Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, is a civil rights legislation that tries to prevent discrimination based on disability. This law protects public places such as schools, jobs, transportation, and communication services regardless of federal funding. While assistive technology is not explicitly mentioned, it falls under the umbrella of "auxiliary aids and services," which has prompted many colleges to provide assistive devices as a reasonable accommodation. This is especially important when an individual goes on to college.
(Dell, Newton,& Petroff, 2017, pp. 1-13).

The Americans with Disabilities Act continued to improve the lives of individuals like Sady by providing more access to jobs, transportation, and college. This act makes it possible for Sady and others like her to get the assistive devices they may need to succeed in college.

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 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 

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 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 

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In 1990, an amendment was passed to change the name of this piece of legislation from the Education for All Handicapped Children Act to Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This change changed children into individuals and changed handicapped to disabilities. The Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1990 also defined assistive technology using clean and consistent language (Dell, Newton,& Petroff, 2017, pp. 1-13). Including a clear definition within the law increased access to assistive technology devices and services for children with disabilities in the public-school setting and beyond.

Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1990 helps individuals like Sady by changing the language used when talking about them. It can help make sure that the help continues once they are no longer a "child," as the legislation's name used to state.

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Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997

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Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997

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The individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1977 listed five unique factors an IEP team must consider. One of those factors was whether a child needs and requires any assistive technology devices or services. This law also defined every child’s right to a Free and Appropriate Public Education and, in doing so, stated that students would receive their assistive technology with no added cost (Dell, Newton,& Petroff, 2017, pp. 1-13).

In 1997, IDEA continued to help by adding that assistive technology needs to be assessed for every student receiving special education, making it more likely that people like Sady will be considered for assistive technology in their education. It also ensured that no extra cost would fall on the family and that these devices were made accessible no matter how expensive.

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 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 

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 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 

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IDEA 2004 excludes surgically implanted medical devices from the list of assistive technology devices. The law kept the requirement that assistive technology must be considered for every IEP. It also reiterates the importance of assistive technology in the education of children with disabilities by giving priority funding to the development and use of assistive technology devices and services that help provide an equal education and support the least restrictive environment for children with disabilities. Increased funding ensures access to assistive technology (Dell, Newton,& Petroff, 2017, pp. 1-13).

In 2004, IDEA continued by giving priority funding to assistive technology, making it easier to obtain the devices for people like Sady.

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Barriers schools experience in implementing the current federal statutes affording students with disabilities equal access to public schools

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Barriers schools experience in implementing the current federal statutes affording students with disabilities equal access to public schools

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One barrier schools experience in implementing the current federal statutes affording students with disabilities equal access to public schools is the lack of training and education for general education teachers. Since general education teachers do not have the most up-to-date or extensive knowledge on special education or assistive technology, it can reduce access to the least restrictive environment since those teachers may not be able to work smoothly with students with varying disabilities without the proper training on devices that are to be used.

When implementing current federal statutes affording students with disabilities, there needs to be proper training and coloration between the school and the caregiver. There is a special education parent liaison in many school districts, but that is not the case for all schools or districts. Without this support, this becomes a barrier for the teachers of children with disabilities.

Poor assessments are another barrier that schools might experience when implementing current federal statutes affording students with disabilities.

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(Dell, A. G., Newton, D. A., & Petroff, J. G. (2017). Introduction to Assistive Technology. In Assistive Technology in the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experiences of Students with Disabilities (3rd ed., pp. 1-13). Columbus, Ohio: Pearson.

S. 6 (94th): Education For All Handicapped Children Act. (2004). Retrieved June 13, 2022, from https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/94/s6/text

Technology Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act. (2006, August 11). Retrieved June 13, 2022, from https://www.naset.org/index.php?id=techassist2

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Future legislation could include the following to improve access to a free and appropriate public education for students with disabilities...

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Future legislation could include the following to improve access to a free and appropriate public education for students with disabilities...

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Current legislation states that assistive technology should be considered for every student, but it does not say that each child is entitled to the assistive technology. This wording can create a situation that could prevent a student from receiving the assistive technology because they are not entitled to it. The laws state that assistive technology needs to be considered. Future legislation could improve this by changing the wording to ensure that every student is entitled to assistive technology.

Another way that future legislation can help is by providing more education on assistive technology in the general education classrooms and their teachers. While special education teachers receive some training and knowledge on assistive technology, general education teachers do not, which can impede access to the least restrictive environment.

Another area that would benefit from future legislation is students who are not receiving special education services but could benefit from assistive technology. The current legislation only states that assistive technology needs to be considered when dealing with an IEP, excluding students who do not have or require an IEP or just have a 504. In future legislation, it would help to add that all students can access assistive technology, regardless of whether they are receiving special education services.