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speak up about this issue and become an advocate. and speak about it constantly to the point you are being heard.  and as always this quote is a good one for this and that is
The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it - Walt Disney

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Advocate for your kids inside and outside of your classroom.

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Advocate for disability justice through rallies, conferences, and social media platforms. Show that you care for all your students!

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start in your own classroom. making sure your students have the justice they deserve and being able to serve them and teach them in a healthy setting.

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To continue education Justice throughout the state, local, and national level we need to continue fighting the fight. By getting involved, speaking out, and taking action, we can make a difference as aspiring educators.

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Creating more interconnected classrooms, where students are able to interact together & more financial support for more aids to be able to create those spaces. Also, more classes geared specifically towards being accessible for special education students where they arnt asked to behave like general education students.

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State/Federal: Make it a law to have all students in the same class and normalize allowing the students to be together. With more knowledge the stigma around this idea can start to go away.

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Putting funding back into schools!!!

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Use funding that is available to bring in the supplies we need in classrooms. Advocate for our students at all levels.

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Something we can do inside and outside the classroom is to educate our peers on the disability community. Another way at the state level is to make sure to vote for delegates who advocate for students with disabilities and make their needs a priority.

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Advocate for our students we don’t have yet, and participate in protests and funding regarding the issues. Be vocal about issues when you’re in the classroom now and in the future, both to your corresponding teacher and higher ups.

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Through our topic we will have a greater aid in achieving education justice by helping us build better and lasting relationships and that we will be there when we all need each other.

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Students are ready to take on the real world and be a positive change to their community!

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A fair and just Education for every single person. that we as students who are planning on going into the teacher field in the first place.

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Education is achieved when the teachers are providing a path for every child to succeed and they are growing academically.

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In a perfect world, inclusion is clearly represented, and students get access to a fair education that best represents their needs. Stereotypes are often common with students in accordance with their specific learning disabilities. When the stigma is broken, Education will be fixed.

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Every student has the resources they need to succeed and reach their goals. They also are supported by teachers and school staff. They have a safe space and are not worried about something happening to them. Students are praised for their successes even if they are small.

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It is achieved when all students have equal opportunities and are being supported by the adults in their lives. Giving each student the support specific to their individual needs that will help them achieve their goals.

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Students will leave schools feeling like they can do anything.

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There is a want to learn, there is a need to get help and support. Students feel comfortable asking for help, but also confident enough to be on their own.

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Students getting all the resources they need without barriers and teachers being accepting, knowledgeable, and supportive of all students.

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For me, education is achieved when all students are mentally, physically, and socially healthy, and past that - students who turn into adults who want to learn more about anything, from hard labor like welding to neuro surgery to anthropology and on

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It allows us to level the playing field for everyone in our classroom and not just the ones who may struggle. It is important that we allow every student the opportunity to shine in all areas and make our classrooms a welcoming place.

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Can help build stronger school communities to tackle more justice issues in education.

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Disability Justice and educational Justice go hand in hand. If we do not stand up for educational rights, how can we fight for disability rights? To have a fair school system all parts of the system should and do interact together. In order to receive a fair and balanced education, Justice in all parts is crucial.

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Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere. If the students with disabilities population is suffering due to school injustices, then education as a whole is unjust.

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Education justice, to me, means equitable education for all our students. Students with disabilities are just another group that needs more support reaching that equitable education goal, thus should be a focus of ours as leaders.

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As teachers, we’re always going to have a student with a disability in our classroom.  We cannot achieve educational justice while excluding our students with disabilities. Disability justice helps pave the way towards equality and better educational resources for all students.

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With more knowledge on the subject students and schools can begin to remove negative connotations around special education students and better support all students.

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This helps bring equity and equality to all students. There is a lack of funding and resources to special education classes. So, fighting for this helps close that gap.

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When we are able to fully and justly serve our special education students, the education of all of our students' education will be elevated from that inherent diversity, from the teachers that know more strategies, and to equity for all of the children in our schools.

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Ed Roberts was among those top activists. He was the first student who used a wheelchair to attend the University of California, Berkeley. Because there were no accessible dormitories, he lived in Cowell, the campus hospital. He inspired the blueprint for the first Center for Independent Living. There are now 403 C.I.L.s that are run by and for people with disabilities who live independently of nursing homes and other institutions.

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Ed Roberts was among those top activists. He was the first student who used a wheelchair to attend the University of California, Berkeley. Because there were no accessible dormitories, he lived in Cowell, the campus hospital. He inspired the blueprint for the first Center for Independent Living. There are now 403 C.I.L.s that are run by and for people with disabilities who live independently of nursing homes and other institutions.

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Schools need funding to be able give teachers adequate resources and have the proper amount of teachers to successfully support all students needs.

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You can never fully know the background of which these students come from, which is why it’s important to advocate and guide them with the resources we are given.

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It’s important to remember that we are fighting for all students in these situations and we need to best suit their needs in every way possible.

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Provide a safe, inclusive, safe space for students despite a specific learning disability, culture, sexual orientation, race, gender etc. It is up to us to make a change, others who are not educated on the topic of education and disabilities should not have a say.

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How do we advocate to make disability justice a part of social justice within education, so that students with disabilities do not feel left out during the fight for educational justice?

-Alexa

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College students and aspiring educators can rally together and advocate for students with special needs

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Special ed classrooms need extra support through more teachers, aids, one on one help and more, but many school districts dont allocate the funds appropriately in order to meet the needs of these students

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States and districts need to accept Medicaid funding for special education services in their schools. This will put money back in schools to be spent on things that the government does not offer aid for!

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how can a small group like this bring justice to the special education in schools?

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What are various ways you can advocate for students with disabilities?

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Disability justice can work alongside racial justice parties to fight for equality across the nation.

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https://rethinkingschools.org/articles/the-story-of-one-unions-journey-toward-disability-justice/

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Expanding Our Beliefs and Demands for Inclusive Education

By Emma Fialka-Feldman

Illustrator: Micah Bazant

I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit. In the early 1990s, my family fought to have my brother Micah, who had been labeled with an intellectual disability with needs similar to those with Down syndrome, included in the general education classroom with supports.

My parents are college-educated, speak English, and raised my brother and me with middle-class economic stability. We are white. These privileges meant that my parents could choose where to send my brother to school; they could take time off work without fear of losing their jobs to attend the hundreds of meetings; they could understand the meetings in English (although they didn't necessarily understand the special education jargon). They didn't have to wait months for translation services. They "spoke" the language of school - knowing who to contact when there were challenges and then demanding, year after year, that the school do better.

My family also held the unwavering belief that school would not simply be about providing access to independent life skills, coin counting, and specialized discrete trials. Micah wouldn't go to school to become less disabled. Micah would go to school so that he could reach his full potential. Learning and developing would be a lifelong process. Micah deserved to learn alongside his neighbors and friends with and without disabilities.

Although Micah was successfully included in his K-12 experience, it was often despite the local district. It was only years earlier that students like my brother had been completely denied access to their local public school. They were kept in institutions (or none at all) that believed in a medical model that prioritized compliance and low expectations over learning and community. With the passage of Public Law 94-142 in 1975, students with disabilities were finally guaranteed a free appropriate public education. Laws alone do not guarantee access, but they begin to open doors.

My brother, now 36 years old, is considered part of the "ADA Generation." These are the young people who have come of age since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, which is the most comprehensive disability-focused civil rights and antidiscrimination legislation in our country's history. The ADA passed because of the highly intersectional and radical decades-long organizing of disabled activists, and, at times, in partnership with parents and caregivers of disabled children who were fighting for their child to belong in their neighborhood and community.

The values that guided the passage of the ADA intersect with the inclusive education movement that demands people with disabilities not simply be allowed to go to a segregated school (based on disability), but that the structures and policies in our communities be accessible and barrier free.

The values that guided the passage of the ADA intersect with the inclusive education movement that demands people with disabilities not simply be allowed to go to a segregated school (based on disability), but that the structures and policies in our communities be accessible and barrier free.

Although the full impact of the ADA continues to be seen (and fought for), it led to broader implications for Micah during and after school. There are things he can't do - he can't read in the formal sense, write more than his name, count mixed change, or drive a car. Because of the deep belief that education was a lifelong process, his learning did not get delineated into skills. High expectations allowed for his passions to be nurtured and in turn an interdependent community of support was built. He now works as a teaching assistant at Syracuse University training future teachers.

Although there were incredible teachers and paraprofessionals along the way who nurtured my brother, developed strong family-school partnerships, and sought out resources to expand their professional expertise, my parents often felt like they were fighting simply for his right to grow in his neighborhood school so that he, like all children, could reach their potential. I wonder what our family's journey would have been like if our local teacher's union had said, "We believe in inclusion. We want it to work for all kids in our district. We will fight with you."

Inadequate Inclusion
Overwhelming national research concludes that, when implemented with adequate supports for students and teachers, inclusive classrooms are academically beneficial for students with - and without - disabilities. Inclusive classrooms are generally defined as classrooms in which natural proportions of students with and without disabilities receive supports, accommodations, and modifications to make progress on both Individualized Education Plan (IEP) goals and grade-level standards within the general education setting. Ideally, inclusive classrooms use flexible staffing models where adults use varied co-teaching practices (including station teaching where children rotate among independent, teacher-led, and student-led experiences) and flexible spaces that include opportunities for students to receive 1:1, small group, and whole group instruction. In particular, inclusion ensures that students with disabilities are held to high standards and given access to more opportunities. Inclusive education is not about finding the perfect curriculum, but a deep belief that all children, especially children with disabilities, can achieve at high levels.

In 2013, I became an inclusion teacher in Boston Public Schools (BPS), the same year the district began more systematically increasing the number of inclusive classrooms. However, when I started teaching, BPS inclusive classrooms had one teacher with multiple licenses (e.g., special education and elementary licenses) and one paraprofessional for 20 students. These classrooms had a particular number of students (up to five) with significant support needs (e.g., a student with Down syndrome) in the same classroom with students without significant support needs (i.e., students without a special education plan, students with fewer special education support needs, a student defined as a language learner).

In this model, many classrooms designated as "inclusion classrooms" rely on incredibly inadequate supports. A single often triple-certified teacher (a teacher with their content, special education, and English learner licenses) is responsible for both special education and general education supports: designing lesson plans, modifying the curriculum, conducting the special education assessments, writing the reports, and ensuring all students receive the interventions and supports they need. A job that is often held by multiple, licensed educators is the responsibility of one adult, leaving many paraprofessionals, teachers, and support staff feeling inadequate and ill-prepared - and making learning and teaching incredibly challenging.

As a new inclusion teacher, I struggled with the structural conditions that significantly limited the effectiveness of inclusion. I worried that what families and educators were witnessing would negatively impact their beliefs about the possibility of inclusion. To me, inclusion is not about simply putting students in the same space but about how we answer these questions:

Do students with disabilities and without disabilities have the support they need to grow academically and socially?

Do adults have the supports they need to meet students' needs?

Is the inclusion classroom promoting high expectations and a belief in what is possible?

As I connected with educators across the district and heard stories about inclusion in their classrooms, I also began to question racial inequities. According to the National Council on Disability in 2018, students of color with disabilities are less likely to be in inclusive classrooms than white students. When the location of a school district is factored in, these statistics widen dramatically. These statistics were on loud display in Boston.

As a new inclusion teacher in BPS, I quickly became agitated at the injustices and racism at play among policies around inclusion. Then I learned about the Inclusion Committee, run by and for members in the Boston Teachers Union (BTU), and joined with enthusiasm. I thought back to my brother's story and realized this was historic. Teachers, yes teachers, were fighting for inclusion that supports children growing into their full potential. This committee's initial work helped me, as a young teacher, to realize that unions could be leaders in the fight for inclusive education.

BTU Inclusion Committee
Unions have a mixed history when it comes to racial and social justice, despite their deep commitment to defending the rights of the working class. For example, instead of uniting with the just demands for racial desegregation of schools in Boston, in the 1970s the union took a more narrow approach that put the value of a negotiated contract over the aspirations of the historically underserved communities of color.

In recent years, however, the BTU, along with other teacher unions in Los Angeles and Chicago, have moved from a mostly service-driven union, focusing on enhancing and protecting wages and benefits, to social justice unions, where fighting for the schools our students, families, and communities deserve is matched with the learning and teaching conditions our members deserve. Instead of demanding the closure of inclusion classrooms to protect union members working in these conditions, the BTU Inclusion Committee was formed in 2013 to fight for better inclusion. To the union this meant students with and without disabilities learning in the same classroom with the adult supports required to make inclusion effective - no longer relying simply on multi-license teachers to provide all the special education services.

When I joined the BTU Inclusion Committee in 2017, I connected with union members who had already been engaged in the committee's work to discuss inclusive practices across the city. They had already created surveys to document the teaching and learning conditions across varied inclusive classrooms to try to understand what made the inclusion rollout challenging. They also had created pamphlets to help families navigate the system and learn how to advocate for special education services (e.g., speech, occupational therapy, specialized reading programs). It was clear inclusion wasn't done right but it wasn't clear what role the union would take in this besides addressing grievances that emerged in individual schools.

Inclusion Done Right
In 2018, with the advocacy, data collection, and work of the committee, the BTU made "inclusion done right" a central component of its upcoming contract negotiation with BPS. The union's specific demand was to stop triple-certifying teachers as a cost-saving measure and instead put two teachers in each inclusion classroom to meet student needs.

BTU's two-teacher demand was expensive. I didn't know if we would win it. During contract negotiations, I marched with our union members carrying signs that said "Our students deserve . . . inclusion done right. Our students deserve . . . co-teaching." Testimonies during school committee hearings were filled with the challenges of when inclusion was done wrong and beautiful stories about the possibilities created for kids when their needs were met with adequate teaching supports.

Often special education victories have been individual-family fights for the school/placement a family believes their child is entitled to by law. This was true in my brother's story. Inclusion in Boston, our union was saying, would not be left up to who had resources and privilege; inclusion done right would be the expectation for all kids, especially students of color and others often excluded.

When the district and union settled the 2018-2021 contract in June 2019, it was clear there was no sweeping victory for inclusion. But there were some significant victories around inclusion that showed we were building momentum. For example, students who received English learner services must receive this support from a teacher other than their triple-certified classroom teacher. Students who had resource room minutes in their IEP (students who have disabilities but not significant support needs) must also have their minutes met from a teacher other than their classroom teacher. In addition, a more comprehensive inclusion working group was convened, bringing various stakeholders (parents, teachers, school leaders) together to discuss what inclusion should look like in our district.

Our BTU "Inclusion Done Right" committee and campaign also worked to build coalitions with more union members, families, and community organizers. We continued negotiation with the district and with national inclusion leaders. Instead of advocating only for co-teaching, our demands evolved. Inclusive education and schools that work for all are not about a one-size-fits-all model. Students require that we be creative, flexible, and responsive. We explored additional ways to fight for inclusive education beyond a two-teacher model.

Union President Jessica Tang pledged that we would carry on our fight for "inclusion done right." When school began in the fall of 2019, the BTU launched a campaign that brought together scores of BTU members around the new demands: "More Educators NOT More Licenses" and "Fighting for the Services Our Students Deserve."

Building Alliances
Part of coalition building was creating a common vision for inclusive schools. In fall 2019, participants at "Inclusion Awareness" events held at more than 20 schools across the district talked together about what was working in their inclusion classrooms, what was not working, and what it would take for educators to feel that they could meet the needs of all the students in their school.

At my elementary school, we brought together families and staff to discuss what kinds of classrooms we wanted. Overwhelmingly, families who did not have a child with a disability said, "I want my child to be around kids with disabilities." This statement is radical. For so long, the narrative has been families do not want disabled students in their child's classroom; the false fear that being with disabled kids lowers the rigor of the classroom. After the meeting, I called my parents and cried. I thought about how hard my parents had fought to have my brother feel valued in his school. Here I was with other parents who said they wanted disabled kids in their child's classroom.

Overwhelmingly, families who did not have a child with a disability said, "I want my child to be around kids with disabilities." This statement is radical. For so long, the narrative has been families do not want disabled students in their child's classroom; the false fear that being with disabled kids lowers the rigor of the classroom.

Our "Inclusion Done Right" campaign also held strategic meetings throughout the fall and winter of 2019 and 2020, to continue discussing our campaign's strategy and direction. I rushed into the first meeting late from school expecting to see our small but mighty group of 10 members in our union hall. Instead, I found empty pizza boxes, no empty seats, and more than 75 people. The mobilization was building.

We designed the strategic meetings to be accessible. The union provided interpretation services, childcare, and food. We were able to bring in families that represented the diversity of voices within our district. Just like at my school's inclusion awareness event, there were also families who did not have a child with a disability and teachers who did not work directly with students with disabilities.

We also formed alliances, through meetings and many conversations, with members of the Boston Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SpedPac). SpedPac is a federally mandated support that every school district must support in organizing, and our alliance helped us put parents and students with disabilities at the center of this work. Roxi Harvey, parent leader of Boston SpedPac, recalled: "Our families need their voices to be heard and valued. Many of our families have experienced being devalued during school team meetings and their children have not experienced success . . . We have home data to share . . . It is important for everyone to know that when inclusion is done right, all children receive a challenging curriculum and studies show they have higher self-concepts."

We listened to families' stories. Then we listened to rehearsed testimonies to help people feel more confident sharing their stories publicly. Testimonies included parents from local justice groups and a parent from one of Boston's predominantly Spanish-speaking neighborhoods who demanded, through a Spanish-English interpreter, that her daughter, who doesn't have an IEP, receive a great education by ensuring that classrooms have adequate support to teach children with and without disabilities.

Cross-school teams also hosted their local city councilors for a meet-and-greet to discuss inclusion in our city.

To keep our demand loud during the 2019-2020 school year, we also made a commitment to be at meetings of the Boston School Committee, the mayor-appointed body that oversees the decisions made by BPS. For the first school committee meeting in 2020 we dressed in red, together more than 100 people strong. Families and teachers again shared powerful testimonies.

Inclusion and Black Lives Matter
Then the pandemic hit. Inclusion done right became a stronger rallying cry as we figured out how to support our students, families, and communities during a pandemic. We held our campaign meeting on Zoom in the first weeks during the school closure. More than 60 people attended - including families. We centered the immediate needs of families who were frustrated by the lack and inconsistency of special education services being delivered. Small breakout rooms paired union members with families. We listened.

At our last union membership meeting of the 2020 school year, a group of members quickly collaborated to construct a resolution in the wake of racial justice uprisings after the murder of George Floyd. Titled "Building an Anti-Racist Union" the resolution called for the removal of cops in our schools, the inclusion of ethnic studies curriculum, making the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action part of the job description of building reps, keeping a union Truth and Reconciliation Committee to address racism that has persisted in the union for generations and healing, and creating a statement about the Inclusion Done Right campaign. It stated:

THEREFORE, the Boston Teachers Union will continue its Inclusion Done Right campaign that has found that Boston Public School students of color are disproportionately placed in segregated settings and overrepresented in our special education system. Inclusion Done Right demands that students of color, particularly African American males, deserve high-quality inclusive schools that include multiple staff, rather than multiple-licensed teachers. All students, but especially those with disabilities, deserve teachers [who] are trained and experienced in de-escalation techniques to access curriculum in the least-restrictive setting possible.

With more than 400 members virtually signing on for the meeting, the resolution passed and now helps guide our anti-racist work, as a union and as educators in our schools. BTU member Natalia Cuadra-Saez said, "When BTU members voted to pass the Resolution for Building an Anti-Racist Union it felt like a historic moment. To me it's part of a historic shift that is happening within the labor movement. More and more unions and rank-and-file members are embracing a social justice unionism model. We're acknowledging as union members that our goal is not just to fight for economic justice, but also for racial justice and social justice as a whole. To include demands from the Inclusion Done Right campaign is part of that acknowledgement. Inclusion Done Right is a civil rights issue. Inclusion Done Right is a racial justice issue. And if we want to build an anti-racist union we know that we can't just use buzzwords or wear a sticker. We need bold demands that tackle the systemic inequalities our members, students, and families deal with on a daily basis. Inclusion Done Right is one of those bold demands."

BTU member Chantei Alves said, "When rank-and-file members came together to write the resolution, in the midst of multiple pandemics that were disproportionately affecting Black and Brown communities, I [as a Black BTU member] felt seen, heard, and valued by my colleagues and union leadership. As a Black inclusion teacher guiding Black and Brown students with learning challenges at the young ages of 4 and 5, including the Inclusion Done Right campaign was just as significant because equitable and high-quality instruction and services for our students and families, as well as consistent support for special education teachers, specifically addresses one of the most racist and segregated structures within the education system."

At the final school committee hearing of the 2020 school year, Tang presented a report the union wrote documenting how racial justice work intersects with the Inclusion Done Right campaign, which calls out the inequities in our district: White students are two times less likely to be placed in segregated special education spaces (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's District Review Report, released in March 2020). In the district's solidarity statement of Black Lives Matter, we were highlighting how ensuring equitable inclusion is an essential part of Black Lives Matter in BPS.

Toward Disability Justice
Throughout the campaign, union members have had to identify their fears and intentionally support each other. Teachers named fears about administration's retaliation around pushing back against district policies at IEP meetings. Paraprofessionals named fears about job security if they spoke up about poor working and teaching conditions in a classroom. Families named fears about the impact their activism might have on their own children's educational journeys.

As we move forward, I hope we can center disabled people and disability justice in our work. Disability justice is designed around principles including intersectionality, leadership of those most impacted, commitment to cross-movement organizing, sustainability, interdependence (not independence), collective access, and collective liberation. Ultimately, disability justice in schools challenges us to move beyond "fitting in," as happened with the initial rollout of inclusion in Boston, to recognizing how our communities and schools must be radically transformed. "Fitting in" means we just place disabled people in inherently ableist spaces. Inclusive education done right means that our schools evolve to meet the needs of all, especially those who have been most marginalized by the system.

As we move forward, I hope we can center disabled people and disability justice in our work. Disability justice is designed around principles including intersectionality, leadership of those most impacted, commitment to cross-movement organizing, sustainability, interdependence (not independence), collective access, and collective liberation.

We need a national network of union members who are committed to broadening their fight for inclusive schools. We have the opportunity to actively undo the racial and social inequities that our schools replicate. Across the nation, 83 percent of students with intellectual disabilities are left out of inclusive settings; among these, students of color with disabilities are disproportionately excluded. We must work to center the demands and stories of those with disabilities and families of color. Our campaign must continue to engage in these difficult conversations and help us all learn that inclusive schools must be for all kids, not just those with privileges. Ultimately, this is a transformative fight for all of us - union members, other adults working at schools, children, families, and our schools.

Resources
National Council on Disability. Feb. 7, 2018. IDEA Series: The Segregation of Students with Disabilities. ncd.gov/sites/default/files/NCD_Segregation-SWD_508.pdf.

Berne, Patty. June 9, 2015. "Disability Justice - a Working Draft by Patty Berne." Sins Invalid. www.sinsinvalid.org/blog/disability-justice-a-working-draft-by-patty-berne.

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. "Boston Public Schools District Review Report 2020."

Resolution for Building an Anti-Racist Union passed by the Boston Teachers Union on June 10, 2020. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GhrLqiiAjDACqJJeSoTONM9K0JO2nw5XWgHuthO9Gjs/edit.

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The Story of One Union's Journey Toward Disability Justice

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By Emma Fialka-Feldman Illustrator: Micah Bazant I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit. In the early 1990s, my family fought to have my brother Micah, who had been labeled with an intellectual disability with needs similar to those with Down syndrome, included in the general education classroom with supports.

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https://code.as.ucsb.edu/what-is-disability-justice/

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During the 2020-2021 school year, CODE worked to implement the principles of "disability justice" into our new leadership structure. Our Commission has shifted away from treating disability as a single-issue concern, and towards a vision where we hope to engage in cross-movement solidarity in our community-building and self-advocacy efforts.

Learn more from Sophia's discussion of the 10 principles of Disability Justice by Sins Invalid:

"A Disability Justice framework understands that all bodies are unique and essential, that all bodies have strengths and needs that must be met." Patty Berne

In 2005, disabled activists of color Patty Berne, Mia Mingus, and Stacey Milbern launched the framework of "disability justice." They did this to expand upon the "disability rights" movement, which established civil rights for people with disabilities.

While the disability rights movement did have "many successes in advancing a philosophy of independent living and opening possibilities for people with disabilities," by only considering "ableism" as a single issue, the lives of sick and disabled people of color (SDQTPOC) were "invisibilized." This means that the voices, perspectives, and contributions of SDQTPOC were often erased.

So, while some people in the disability community can achieve rights and access through a legal or rights-based framework, this privilege is not always available to all members of the disability community, specifically SDQTPOC.

"We understand that all bodies are caught in these bindings of ability, race, gender, sexuality, class, nation state and imperialism, and that we cannot separate them" Patty Berne

The disability justice framework calls attention to the ways that ableism is linked to multiple other systems of oppression. This centers on the needs and voices of "disabled people of color, immigrants with disabilities, queers with disabilities, trans and gender non-conforming people with disabilities, people with disabilities who are houseless, people with disabilities who are incarcerated, people with disabilities who have had their ancestral lands stolen, amongst others."

To help guide activists in forming a broad-based popular movement, where ableism can be dismantled alongside other systems of oppression, the activists and artists of Sins Invalid developed the "10 Principles of Disability Justice."

1. Intersectionality

2. Leadership of Those Most Impacted

3. Anti-Capitalist Politics

4. Commitment to Cross-Movement Organizing

5. Recognizing Wholeness

6. Sustainability

7. Commitment to Cross-Disability Solidarity

8. Interdependence

9. Collective Access

10. Collective Liberation

Click the following link to learn more about each of these principles, and how they apply to CODE: The 10 Principles of Disability Justice
This page was adapted from "Disability Justice - a working draft by Patty Berne."

To read the full essay, click the following link: https://www.sinsinvalid.org/blog/disability-justice-a-working-draft-by-patty-berne

If you're interested in engaging in Disability Justice praxis (the act of engaging, applying, exercising, realizing, or practicing ideas), see our Accessibility Guides page.

Related Online Educational Resources

Lydia X. Z. Brown's Autistic Hoya primer, a webpage that consolidates links to various topics related to disability justice

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha's "Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice" book, which they narrate on Audible. The organization Radical In Progress has curated a free online study guide summarizing the same book

The Disability Visibility Project, which produced a podcast hosted by Alice Wong, "featuring conversations on politics, culture, and media with disabled people"

Also, consider purchasing the recently released Second Edition of Skin, Tooth, and Bone: The Basis of Movement is Our People, a Disability Justice Primer, found here: https://www.sinsinvalid.org/disability-justice-primer

Disability in Arts and EDUCATION Disability Justice PRAXIS
https://journal.fi/rae/article/view/125083 Intersections: Disability & Environmental Justice: A collaborative working group presented by the Environmental Justice Alliance (EJA) and CODE (February 2022)
THE SOCIAL MODEL OF DISABILITY AND BODY POLITICS
The New Yorker: When the World Isn't Designed for Our Bodies, written by Katy Waldman The New Yorker: Who Is "Worthy"? Deaf-Blind People Fear That Doctors Won't Save Them from the Coronavirus, written by Robin Wright

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During the 2020-2021 school year, CODE worked to implement the principles of "disability justice" into our new leadership structure. Our Commission has shifted away from treating disability as a single-issue concern, and towards a vision where we hope to engage in cross-movement solidarity in our community-building and self-advocacy efforts.

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https://whyy.org/segments/how-a-therapy-once-seen-as-a-victory-for-autistic-kids-has-come-under-fire-as-abuse/

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https://rootedinrights.org/how-do-we-bring-social-justice-to-special-education-with-love/

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"What's the Matter?" [Child sobbing under his desk] "They said I killed the worms, but I swear I didn't kill the worms!" "Don't worry, I believe you." "[Sniff] But they're gonna tell the principal that I killed the worms!" "That's ok, because I will personally tell the principal that you did not kill the worms."
This was a conversation between me and a six-year-old child who I encountered in my first few weeks as a substitute teacher. The little boy had ADHD and likely struggled with feelings of being overwhelmed by his environment; moreover, he was rambunctious and had had some sort of altercation with other students in the class. The combination of these circumstances had overwhelmed him, and now he sat curled beneath his desk, crying. I had no idea what he was talking about, but whatever the situation was, it was clearly consuming his world. It was touching to see that once I'd reassured him, he calmed down. Later that day, he drew me a picture of the two of us holding hands beneath a rainbow.

Experiences like the one described above caused a critical shift in my perspective on how I could best improve the world. When I first began substitute teaching, I had been getting my feet wet in the burgeoning field of disability studies. As a person, I passionately concur with the Social Model of disability. The experiences I'd had growing up with a learning disorder taught me that the primary impediment to the well-being of disabled individuals is intolerance, not impairment. However, in the last few years, I've found that while the latter insight is brilliant, I have felt frustrated by the gnawing realization that the social model is a theory, not an intervention. Without a suitable application, my passion to help others felt lonely, ungrounded, and separate from the experience of love. In contrast, my work as a teacher represented the social model in practice.

As a person who grew up in Special Education, this realization was a bit of a retcon for me. From age eight until age seventeen, I had felt called to become a teacher. I loved people, I loved school, and I wanted to pass on the kindness of those teachers who treated me with respect and compassion. This all changed in high school, when I had to fight to take college preparatory courses and exams. Not completing these requirements could have kept me from attending college or even graduating, but the school didn't care. As personnel put it, I was "not otherwise qualified" to do such things, and providing accommodations was "unduly burdensome" for them. During that same time, the Massachusetts legislature acceded to the teachers union and lowered its Maximum Feasible Benefit standard for Special Education to FAPE. I was so disgusted by these dynamics that I pursued degrees in cultural studies and musicology instead. I reasoned that there was no point in teaching third graders that they could do anything they wanted to in life if the school system and society were going to make those decisions for them.

Hence, I poured my desire to help the disabled community into academic research. I studied and published research on the history of the disability rights movement as it pertained to aesthetics, music, the horror genre and bioethics. I started lecturing in disability studies and advocated against assisted suicide at as many legislative hearings as possible, because I didn't want other people to be manipulated by the same disempowerment that I'd experienced as a Special Education student. Nevertheless, I avoided engaging with Special Education directly, lest related resentment become my identity. Ironically, however, the topics that I did engage with made me intensely aware of horrible social dynamics that I couldn't fix, and all I had to fight them with was righteous indignation. I hated these dynamics.

During my time as a substitute teacher, however, I realized that I loved my students-I was never happier than when a three-year-old boy with autism reached out to touch the soft fleece on the sleeve of my jacket, or when I purchased a stuffed kitten for an emotionally disabled preschooler. During these times, I experienced the strong sense that I was applying social justice theory to my interactions with people who needed justice the most. Hence, the contrast between those experiences taught me an important lesson about the difference between social justice theory and love. Unlike the uncaring darkness that I wanted to fight as an activist, teaching elicited a sense of warmth that I wanted to participate in. I realized that by making each child's experience of learning safer, more inclusive and thereby richer, love had the potential to cut off social oppression at its root.

Click here to pitch a blog post to Rooted in Rights.

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How Do We Bring Social Justice to Special Education? With Love.

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"What's the Matter?" [Child sobbing under his desk] "They said I killed the worms, but I swear I didn't kill the worms!" "Don't worry, I believe you." "[Sniff] But they're gonna tell the principal that I killed the worms!" "That's ok, because I will personally tell the principal that you did not kill the worms." ...

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The disability civil rights movement has many distinct narratives, but the prevailing themes are of community, justice and equity.

[Image description: People seated in wheelchairs in front of an American flag. The stars on the flag form a symbol of a person in a wheelchair.] Demonstrators outside the Capitol in March 1990. Credit... Jeff Markowitz/Associated Press

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As with every other civil rights movement, the fight for disability rights is one that challenges negative attitudes and pushes back against oppression. But it is also more complex.

Often the movement has diverged into a constellation of single-issue groups that raise awareness of specific disabilities. It has also converged into cross-disability coalitions that increasingly include intersections of race, gender and sexual orientation.

Regardless, the prevailing demands of the movement are the same: justice, equal opportunities and reasonable accommodations.

Though it is difficult to distill modern disability history in one thread, here are a handful of moments that have stood out in the collective memories of disability advocates.

1940-70

The earliest disability law in the United States dates from pensions guaranteed for men wounded in the Revolutionary War.

"You tend to have a grateful nation that wants to figure out how to help them reincorporate themselves to society," said Heather Ansley, the associate executive director of government relations for Paralyzed Veterans of America.

By the 1940s, rubella and polio were on the rise, further raising awareness of disabilities.

Summer camps and rehabilitation centers were established to provide nurturing environments. In the 1960s and '70s, friendships were cultivated among a generation of people who would go on to become some of the foremost activists of the modern civil rights movement.

Ed Roberts was among those top activists. He was the first student who used a wheelchair to attend the University of California, Berkeley. Because there were no accessible dormitories, he lived in Cowell, the campus hospital. He inspired the blueprint for the first Center for Independent Living. There are now 403 C.I.L.s that are run by and for people with disabilities who live independently of nursing homes and other institutions.

1970-80

Portrayals of disabilities in the mainstream media have often been negative, said Adela Ruiz, a sociology professor at Monroe College. Take villain archetypes: Captain Hook was an amputee, Maleficent used a staff and the main character in the film "Joker" (2019) is depicted as a " mentally ill loner."

But there was also Ray Charles, who "played a big part of my growing up," said Leroy Moore Jr.

Mr. Moore noticed a lot of Black disabled musicians - Stevie Wonder, B.B. King, Robert Winters and many more - on album covers as he rummaged through his father's record collection. Today, he pushes for the representation of disabled musicians as a founder of Krip-Hop Nation.

"Sesame Street" also shed a positive light on disabled people.

"Linda Bove - who's a fabulous Deaf actor - was playing Linda, the librarian, but there are also other disabled folks and disability topics popping up in 'Sesame Street' across the 1970s," said Susan Burch, a professor who teaches critical disability studies at Middlebury College in Vermont. "That was a big darn deal!"

1972

In 1972, the conditions at the Willowbrook State School, an institution on Staten Island in New York City, set off national outrage when the journalist Geraldo Rivera shared harrowing footage in the documentary "Willowbrook: The Last Great Disgrace."

"It was like a badly run kennel for humans," Mr. Rivera said while giving a speech in April 2010. "It was something that shook me to my core."

Institutionalization and false treatments had been in practice for decades, including at the Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians in Canton, S.D., which closed in 1933.

"It wasn't like, 'Oh, this is the place where we're going to treat mental illness,'" said Jen Deerinwater, founding executive director of Crushing Colonialism and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. "It was, 'We're going to round up a bunch of Natives and throw them in this asylum and just traumatize them.'"

A video that surfaced in 2012 showed the staff of the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, Mass., using electric shock on Andre McCollins, an autistic resident, 31 times over seven hours because he would not remove his jacket.

"They started with other forms of what they call 'aversive punishment,' like slapping people, pinching them; tying them down for hours at a time, subjecting them to forcible inhalation of ammonia," said Lydia X. Z. Brown, an autistic advocate and attorney who maintains an archive of the center's abuses.

The Food and Drug Administration announced a ban on the center's shock devices earlier this year, but it has not gone into effect, evidence that an era of deinstitutionalization is far from over.

1975

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (now the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act), enacted in 1975, required federally funded public schools to provide equal access to education and one free meal a day to children with disabilities.

The law was passed after parents filed a number of lawsuits that referred to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling.

Legislators have also used the education law as a model for other disability laws.

"If you don't have an education, we can't get you to get a job; we can't have you participate in society. If you don't have transportation, you can't get back and forth to your job," said Pat Wright, a disability rights activist who co-founded the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund. "So each one of those things that nondisabled kids take for granted become the linchpin of people with disabilities' lives."

1977

On April 5, 1977, demonstrators marched outside government buildings in San Francisco and several other cities across the nation. Their demand: Sign the regulations enforcing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This provision, which had been modeled after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibited recipients of federal aid from discriminating against anyone with a disability. The federal Department of Health, Education and Welfare had been tasked with writing the regulations and implementing Section 504, but it still had not been enacted four years later.

The San Francisco contingent of more than 100 people entered H.E.W.'s offices and stayed for weeks.

"It was kind of like a crescendo," said Judy Heumann, who led the demonstration. "Like, 'if we leave, we'll never get back in.'"

About two dozen of the demonstrators were chosen to make their case in Washington, where they found success - the regulations were signed on April 28, 1977. It's now considered a precursor to the A.D.A.

1978

On July 5, 1978, a group of 19 people gathered at one of the busiest intersections in Denver, at Colfax Avenue and Broadway, got out of their wheelchairs and lay down to stop traffic. Their goal was to protest the inaccessibility of the city's public transit system.

The group had been pushing the city to install wheelchair lifts, and when a new fleet of buses was released without them, they were angry. The protest ultimately led to the creation of the Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (now the American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today), in 1983, which quickly expanded with chapters all around the country. The group then pushed for transportation provisions to be added to the A.D.A.

1982

In 1982, the parents of a baby with Down syndrome in Bloomington, Ind., were advised by doctors to decline surgery to treat the baby's blocked esophagus. Disability rights activists tried to intervene, but Baby Doe, as he came to be known, starved to death before legal action could be taken.

Dr. C. Everett Koop, the surgeon general of the United States at the time, said the boy was denied food and water not because the treatment was unreasonably risky, but because the baby was intellectually disabled, a decision he did not agree with.

In 1983, another case surfaced on Long Island that came to be known as Baby Jane Doe. The baby was born with an open spinal column; her parents opted against surgery, even though it could have prolonged her life.

The Reagan administration called for the creation of "Baby Doe squads" in which government officials, including child-protective service agents, went to hospitals to inspect reports of discrimination of newborns with illnesses.

"At a time of maximum stress for parents, the squads descended on hospitals and interfered with the roles of parents, physicians, infant care review committees, hospitals and state authorities," James H. Sammons, the executive vice president of the American Medical Association, wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post in 1985.

The issues raised by both cases ultimately led to the 1984 passage of the Baby Doe Amendment to the Child Abuse Law, which established guidelines for treating newborns with illnesses.

1988

On March 6, 1988, Gallaudet University in Washington, a liberal arts college for Deaf people, appointed a president who was not Deaf.

The university had, in fact, never had a Deaf president. This set off a student protest that came to be known as Deaf President Now.

It was an important moment in Deaf civil rights history because it "in some ways, led to contestations over what it means to be deaf and questions of belonging within deaf spaces," Dr. Octavian Robinson, a historian and disability studies scholar, wrote in an email.

After several days, the university named I. King Jordan its first Deaf president.

1990

In the months before the A.D.A. was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush on July 26, 1990, it was stalled in Congress.

"All the i's have been dotted and all the t's have been crossed," Rep. Major R. Owens, a primary backer of the A.D.A., said of the law at the time. "There have been enough negotiations - delay is the real enemy."

On March 12, hundreds of demonstrators on the National Mall abandoned their wheelchairs and crutches and began crawling up the marble steps to the west Capitol entrance. The Capitol Crawl, as the event came to be known, underscored the injustices of inaccessibility that the A.D.A.'s "reasonable accommodations" clause was intended to fix.

Many of the protesters were arrested, including Anita Cameron, who said she had been arrested 139 times in her fight for disability rights.

"I think on that day and at that time, more people learned about disability discrimination and equal opportunity than we can imagine," said Lex Frieden, a disability policy expert who helped shape the A.D.A.

1993

In 1993, Jim Sinclair, one of the founders of Autism Network International, spoke at the International Conference on Autism in Toronto, focusing on a sentiment that was often expressed by parents of autistic children - a sense of "loss" upon learning their child wasn't "normal."

"You didn't lose a child to autism," said Jim, who prefers not to use gendered pronouns or honorifics. "You lost a child because the child you waited for never came into existence. That isn't the fault of the autistic child who does exist, and it shouldn't be our burden."

"Grieve if you must, for your own lost dreams," Jim added. "But don't mourn for us. We are alive. We are real. And we're here waiting for you."

The speech became a foundation for what has become known as the neurodiversity movement, a belief that cognitive differences are part of normal variations of human behavior.

"Neurodiversity affirms that everyone deserves to be accepted and included for who they are," Sharon daVanport, the founding executive director of the Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, wrote in an email.

1996

In the 1990s, debates surrounding assisted suicide and Dr. Jack Kevorkian's campaign to assist terminally ill people to end their lives unfurled on the national stage.

The discourse led to the founding of the disability rights group Not Dead Yet.

Tucked into the polarizing conversation was an assumption that people "don't want to be disabled, that they feel that being disabled is undignified," said Ms. Cameron, the director of minority outreach for Not Dead Yet. "And as a person with disabilities, I totally resent that."

Many advocates link assisted suicide to the eugenics movements of the 1800s - which pushed for "undesirable" traits to be bred out of the gene pool - and the Buck v. Bell decision, which allowed doctors to sterilize "mental defectives" without their consent because, as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. famously wrote, "three generations of imbeciles are enough." The ruling still stands.

"It comes back to that fundamental belief that some people are actually more valuable than other people," Ms. Burch said, "and that's core to how ableism functions."

1999

This Supreme Court ruling played a major role in categorizing mental illness as a disability under the A.D.A.

The case involved Lois Curtis and Elaine Wilson, two women with mental and intellectual disabilities who had been treated in Georgia hospitals but were held in institutions for years, caught in a bureaucratic limbo as they waited for placements in community-based facilities.

The case against Tommy Olmstead, who was the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Human Resources, was filed in 1995 and made its way up to the Supreme Court. In 1999, the court ruled that unjustified segregation of people with disabilities constituted discrimination that violated the A.D.A.

2004

Disability pride parades are now held in several cities around the nation, challenging society's stigma of disability while celebrating disabilities as a form of diversity. The first such parade was held in 1990 in Massachusetts, but the events became more regular after Chicago held its first parade in 2004.

"My fibromyalgia-slow-cane-using body is not something I'm going to hate," said Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, the author of "Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice." "I'm not just this symbol of brokenness - I'm a place of power."

But some who are still in the throes of advocacy have found pride to be a complicated term to embrace because there is more work to be done.

"Pride is tricky," said Eli Clare, a writer and activist who was the Chicago parade's grand marshal in 2010. "Pride often only comes to us after we have some community and after we have some politicized framework around who we are."

2006

In 2006, the National Federation of the Blind filed a class-action suit against Target Corporation saying that the company's website was not accessible.

"Is sexism OK online? Is racism OK online?" asked Haben Girma, a disability rights lawyer who works closely with technology and policy. "Most people would answer with an immediate no. I want our society to get to the point where if one asks, 'Is ableism OK online?' the answer is an immediate no."

The court held that the A.D.A. applies to websites that have a connection to a physical place of public accommodation, and that Target must modify its website.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, as social distancing and remote work have made the internet indispensable, tech accessibility has become even more critical.

"Schools, health agencies, and hospitals have been posting videos without captions," Ms. Girma said. "Images with critical health information, figures and charts, lack image descriptions for blind people."

Disability was overlooked in news reports of the deaths of Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray and many others, said Cyrée Jarelle Johnson, a Black disabled poet and librarian. Instead the term "underlying conditions" was used to refer to depression, asthma and high blood pressure - "a euphemism that is bent to make people feel like they're not murdering disabled people."

Mx. Deerinwater, of Crushing Colonialism, pointed out an even more stark statistic.

"The C.D.C. actually says that Native people have the highest rates per capita of police brutality," Mx. Deerinwater said. "I want to say that 'per capita' piece is always crucial when we talk about any issue related to Natives because we're a little less than 2 percent of the U.S. population."

Confrontations with the police present a real concern for people like Vilissa Thompson, a social worker and the founder of the blog Ramp Your Voice!

"I'm someone who's hard of hearing and if I cannot hear a command that's given to me by law enforcement, that can make me appear to be noncompliant," she said.

2020

Throughout the disability rights movement, the merging of communities has been the driving force behind major changes.

Organizations like the Harriet Tubman Collective and Sins Invalid have created space for art and collective liberation.

"Disability justice is about political organizing and legal change and all of that," Ms. Piepzna-Samarasinha said, "but it's also about creating communities where we can be all of ourselves without shame, and with joy."

In 2016, the #CripTheVote Twitter campaign was created by Alice Wong, the founder of the Disability Visibility Project; Andrew Pulrang, a contributing writer for Forbes.com; and Gregg Beratan, the director of advocacy at the Center for Disability Rights.

In the past four years, they have organized 64 Twitter chats or live-tweets of events, which are all archived.

"As with most branches of disability culture," Mr. Pulrang said, "it also helps disabled people discover that they are not alone, and that their experiences are usually not unique or strange."

People of color and L.G.B.T.Q. voices have asserted themselves in the movement, raising awareness with hashtags like #DisabilityTooWhite.

"To me, disability justice means that we're taking into account people of color, and people that are marginalized within the disability community," said Mr. Moore, the founder of Krip-Hop Nation, adding, "we're taking these principles and really living by them, not only in organizations but in our own lives."

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'Nothing About Us Without Us': 16 Moments in the Fight for Disability Rights (Published 2020)

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The disability civil rights movement has many distinct narratives, but the prevailing themes are of community, justice and equity. As with every other civil rights movement, the fight for disability rights is one that challenges negative attitudes and pushes back against oppression. But it is also more complex.

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https://commonslibrary.org/disability-justice-links/

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https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/iep.html

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What's an IEP?

Students who need extra help and support in school may be eligible for special education services in the form of anindividualized education program (IEP). This program is offered free of charge to families of kids in public schools and outlines the goals and any support services that may be needed for a child to succeed in school.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) says that parents and guardians of students with disabilities or special health care needs are important members of their child's education team. They should work with educators to develop a plan that helps kids succeed in school.

Understanding how to get and use these services will help your child be as successful as possible in school.

Who Needs an IEP?

Students who are eligible for special education services need an IEP. While there are many reasons that students could be eligible, some common conditions include:

How Are Services Offered?

In most cases, the services and goals outlined in an IEP can be offered in a general school environment. This can be done in the regular classroom (for example, a reading teacher helps a small group of children who need extra help while the other kids in the class work with the regular teacher.) The small group serves students with similar needs who are brought together for help.

Every effort is made to help kids learn alongside their peers who do not have disabilities. But sometimes the level of support needed can't be met in a general classroom, so students are educated in a specialized learning classroom that is more appropriate for their needs. These classes have fewer students per teacher and allow for more one-on-one instruction. The teacher usually has training in helping kids with special educational needs. Students spend most of their day in a small group classroom and join the regular classes whenever possible - for example lunch, gym, or the arts.

What's the Referral and Evaluation Process?

The referral process begins when a teacher, parent, or doctor is concerned that a child may be having trouble in the classroom, and the teacher notifies the school counselor or psychologist.

The first step is to gather specific information about the student's progress or academic problems. This may be done through:

a conference with parents

a conference with the student

watching the student in class to assess performance (attention, behavior, work completion, tests, classwork, homework, etc.)

This information helps school officials decide the best next step. Sometimes new classroom strategies are all that's needed to help a child become more successful. If this doesn't work, the child will get an educational assessment, which can find a specific learning disability or other health impairment.

Note: The presence of a disability doesn't automatically guarantee a child will get services. To be eligible, the disability must affect how the child does at school. To decide on a child's eligibility, a team of professionals will consider their observations, as well as how the child does on standardized tests and daily work such as tests, quizzes, classwork, and homework.

Who's On the Team?

As a guardian, you can decide whether to have your child assessed. If you choose to do so, you'll be asked to sign a permission form that will detail who is involved in the process and the types of tests they use. These tests might include measures of specific school skills, such as reading and math or developmental skills, like speech and language.

The professionals on the evaluation team can include:

When the team finishes the assessment, a comprehensive evaluation report is developed. This report includes an educational classification and outlines the skills and support the child will need.

You can review this report before an IEP is developed. If there is something that you don't agree with, work together with the team to come up with a plan that best meets your child's needs.

How Is an IEP Developed?

The next step is an IEP meeting with you and the team to decide what will go into the IEP. A regular teacher should also attend this meeting to offer suggestions for how the plan can help your child progress through the standard education curriculum.

At the meeting, the team will discuss your child's educational needs - as described in the evaluation report - and develop specific, measurable short-term and yearly goals for each of those needs. You can take an active role in developing the goals and determining which skills or areas will receive the most attention.

The cover page of the IEP outlines the support services your child will get and how often they will be provided (for example, occupational therapy twice a week). Support services might include:

Services might also include transportation, test help or modifications, participation in special programs, and the inclusion of transition planning beginning at age 14.

If the team recommends several services, the amount of time they take in the child's school schedule can seem overwhelming. To ease that load, a professional may talk with your child's teacher to come up with strategies that help but won't offer hands-on instruction. For example, an occupational therapist may suggest accommodations for a child with fine-motor problems that affect handwriting, and the classroom teacher would incorporate these suggestions into the handwriting lessons taught to the entire class.

Other services can be delivered right in the classroom, so the child's day isn't interrupted by therapy. The child who has trouble with handwriting might work one-on-one with an occupational therapist while everyone else practices their handwriting skills. When deciding how and where services are offered, the child's comfort and dignity should be a top priority.

Your child's IEP should be reviewed annually to update goals and make sure your child is getting the support that's needed. However, IEPs can be changed at any time on an as-needed basis. If you think your child needs more, fewer, or different services, you can request a meeting and bring the team together to discuss your concerns.

What Are My Legal Rights?

Guidelines (sometimes called procedural safeguards) outline your rights as a parent to control what happens to your child throughout the IEP process. For example, timelines ensure that the development of an IEP moves from referral to providing services as quickly as possible. When your child is referred, ask about this timeline and get a copy of your parents' rights.

The parents' rights also describe how you can proceed if you disagree with any part of the evaluation report or the IEP - mediation and hearings are some options. You can get information about low-cost or free legal representation from the school district or through early intervention programs.

Attorneys and paid advocates familiar with the IEP process will provide representation if you need it. You also may invite anyone who knows or works with your child whose input you feel would be helpful to join the IEP team. Federally supported programs in each state support parent-to-parent information and training activities for parents of children with special needs. The Parent Training and Information Projects conduct workshops, publish newsletters, and answer questions by phone or by mail about parent-to-parent activities.

What Else Should I Know?

Parents have the right to choose where their kids will be educated. This choice includes public or private elementary schools and secondary schools, including religious schools. It also includes charter schools and home schools.

But parents should know that the rights of children with disabilities who are placed in private elementary schools and secondary schools are not the same as children with disabilities who are enrolled in public schools.

Two major differences that parents, teachers, school staff, private school representatives, and kids need to know about are:

1. Children with disabilities who are placed by their parents in private schools may not get the same services they would get in a public school.

2. Not all kids with disabilities placed by their parents in private schools will get services.

The IEP process is complex, but it's also an effective way to address how your child learns. If you have concerns, be sure to ask about the evaluation findings or the goals recommended by your child's IEP team. You know your child best and should play a central role in creating a learning plan tailored to their specific needs.

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individuals with disabilities education act

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Some kids may be eligible for individualized education programs in public schools, free of charge. Understanding how to access these services can help you be an effective advocate for your child.

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https://disabilityjustice.org/right-to-education/

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Dan Stewart Discusses Education Rights for Students with Disabilities
The Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities is pleased to announce an interview with a leading expert on Special Education (view all).
Dan Stewart currently serves as the Legal Director of the Minnesota Disability Law Center (MDLC). Before joining MDLC, Dan practiced with a private law firm and with the state Department of Education. He also founded the University of Minnesota Law School's Special Education clinic. In addition to being an attorney, Dan has a Master's degree in education administration, and a PhD in social work. In this video, Dan answers questions about Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), Section 504 and behavioral supports, as well as eligibility criteria and updates to special education law. He provides outreach and training sessions to a wide variety of national, regional and local audiences.

Brown v. Board of Education
Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote:

We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal...

This decision provided the constitutional foundation for parents of children with disabilities and disability rights activists to press for equal educational opportunities for all children, including those with developmental and other disabilities.

Extending Brown to Children with Disabilities

P.A.R.C. v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 334 F. Supp. 279 (E.D. PA 1972)

In 1954, early in his tenure as Executive Director of the then-named National Association for Retarded Children, Dr. Gunnar Dybwad called attention to the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education. He suggested that the case had enormous possibilities for children with disabilities as well. [ ADA Legacy Project]

In 1971, Thomas K. Gilhool, the attorney who represented the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children (P.A.R.C.), relied on Brown in his class action suit filed on behalf of 14 children with developmental disabilities who had been denied access to public education in Pennsylvania, under a state law that specifically allowed schools to exclude children who had not reached a "mental age of five years" by the time they should be enrolling in first grade. The plaintiffs argued that this exclusion violated their rights under both the Equal Protection clause and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

In connection with a Consent Agreement approved by the Court a three-judge panel of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the Court enjoined Pennsylvania from denying any child up to age 21 admission to a public school program "appropriate to his learning capacities", or from having his educational status changed without first being notified of and given the opportunity for a due process hearing.
The Consent Agreement stated:

Expert testimony in this action indicates that all mentally retarded persons are capable of benefiting from a program of education and training... It is the Commonwealth's obligation to place each mentally retarded child in a free, public program of education and training appropriate to the child's capacity.

It also said:

Placement in a regular school is preferable to placement in a special school class is preferable to placement in any other type of program of education and training.

Mills expanded the impact of the P.A.R.C. case beyond children with developmental disabilities. The Mills class action lawsuit was brought in 1972, the same year as the P.A.R.C. case, on behalf of seven school-age children who had been denied placement in a public educational program for substantial periods of time because of alleged mental, behavioral, physical or emotional disabilities. The plaintiffs sought an injunction on the grounds that they had been denied their constitutional right to Due Process.

The District of Columbia government and school system conceded that it had the legal "duty to provide a publicly supported education to each resident of the District of Columbia who is capable of benefiting from such instruction" but argued that it was impossible to do so because they lacked the necessary financial resources. The Court held that no child could be denied a public education because of "mental, behavioral, physical or emotional handicaps or deficiencies." The Court further noted that defendants' failure to provide such an education could not be excused by the claim of insufficient funds, stating:

If sufficient funds are not available to finance all of the services and programs that are needed and desirable in the system, then the available funds must be expended equitably in such a manner that no child is entirely excluded from a publicly supported education consistent with his needs and ability to benefit therefrom. The inadequacies of the District of Columbia Public School System, whether occasioned by insufficient funding or administrative inefficiency, certainly cannot be permitted to bear more heavily on the "exceptional" or handicapped child than on the normal child.

Subsequent developments in Special Education Law

Twenty-seven federal court cases followed the P.A.R.C. and Mills decisions, leading to the pressure of federal laws guaranteeing a public education for all children. In 1975, the Education for all Handicapped Children Act, now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), codified the right to a free, appropriate public education for all students, including those with severe disabilities. IDEA requires all public schools accepting federal funds to provide equal access to education to children with physical and mental disabilities. It also requires that each child have an "individualized education program" (IEP) that is implemented in the "least restrictive environment" possible. However, the meaning of "appropriate" education is an ongoing source of controversy and litigation. Under IDEA, states are required to develop plans with the following components:

Provision of "full education opportunities" to all;

Due process safeguards to aid parents in challenging many decisions regarding the education of their children;

A guarantee that children with disabilities will be educated to the fullest extent possible;

Procedures to assure that tests and other materials used to evaluate a child's special needs are not culturally or racially biased; and

Evaluation of all of the state's children with special needs.

From the United States Department of Justice, January 9, 2020
Justice Department Settles with School to Protect the Rights of Children with Disabilities from Unnecessary Reliance on Classroom Exclusion and Restraint
Anova Center for Education, a private school in California, provides elementary and secondary education services to children with autism. Following a complaint and allegations by a parent that her 10 year old son had been prone restrained 77 times over several months, the US Department of Justice conducted an investigation and compliance review, and substantiated the allegations. Even though parents and local schools provided Anova Center with resources about individual supports and interventions to address behavior issues, Anova Center refused to utilize those resources.

On January 9, 2020, a three year Settlement Agreement was entered into to resolve the allegations. The terms of the Agreement addressed 11 specific areas related to the adoption and implementation of nondiscrimination policies and procedures regarding behavioral supports and interventions for children with disabilities that affect behavior, all subject to review and approval by the US Department of Justice. Regular monitoring reports are also required for the duration of the Settlement Agreement.
https://www.ada.gov/anova_sa.html From the Georgia Advocacy Office, The Center for Public Representation, The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, The Arc, DLA Piper LLP, and The Goodmark Firm, October 11, 2017 Parents and Advocates Sue State of Georgia Over Separate and Unequal Education for Thousands of Students with Disabilities
In July 2015, the United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, completed a multi-year investigation of the Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support (GNETS). The GNETS Program dates back to 1976. The investigation found "systemic unnecessary reliance on the segregated GNETS Program across the State of Georgia...." Both in terms of operation and administration of the GNETS Program, Georgia was found to be in violation of Title II of the ADA - unnecessary segregation, unnecessary reliance on segregated settings for students with behavioral disabilities, and inequality of educational opportunities for students with disabilities. The Department concluded that relevant policies, practices, and services could be modified, and the majority of students could receive services in more integrated settings.
Georgia-GNETS-students-BED-7-2015-DOJ-Letter

The investigation culminated in a class action lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, alleging discrimination against "thousands of public school students with disabilities by providing them with a separate and unequal education" and diverting them to the GNETS Program. The extent of the conditions found in the GNETS Program is presented in a summary of the Complaint. While the GNETS Program was originally intended to be a "placement of last resort," it has become a "dumping ground" for students that local school districts don't want to have to serve.

GeorgiaNETS-Complaint-Summary_-FINAL-10-10-17
Georgia-NETS-ClassAction-Press-Release-10-10-17
From The Gazette, June 7, 2017 Iowa City schools must fix use of seclusion, state says
In a 35 page report issued last week, the Iowa Department of Education responded to a complaint filed on December 21, 2016 regarding the broad use of seclusion rooms and without the parents' knowledge. The complaint also noted that "black students were disproportionately put into Iowa City seclusion rooms" during the 2013-14 school year.

Thomas Mayes, a state Education Department complaint officer, reviewed 455 seclusion reports involving 64 Iowa City students and visited two Iowa City school with seclusion rooms. The district has 90 days to review its policies, practices and procedures relating to restraint and seclusion with changes made within 180 days.
http://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/education/k-12-education/iowa-city-schools-must-fix-use-of-seclusion-state-says-20170606
In the Supreme Court of the United States
Stacy Fry, Et Vir, As Next Friends of Minor E.F., Petitioners v. Napoleon Community Schools, Et Al, 580 U.S. ____(2017)
On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
The scope of the exhaustion requirement under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is at issue here. The Court held that "... exhaustion is not necessary when the gravamen of the plaintiff's suit is something other than the denial of the IDEA's core guarantee - what the Act calls a "free and appropriate public education."

The Court discussed at length both portions of IDEA's exhaustion requirement, §1415(l) and the reach of that requirement. In this case, a five year old kindergarten student, enrolled at Ezra Eby Elementary School, had a trained service dog as recommended by her pediatrician. The School refused the parents' request to have the service dog with their daughter in the classroom. The parents ultimately removed her from school and began homeschooling.

They then filed a complaint with the US Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) charging that the school's exclusion of their daughter's service dog violated her rights under Title II of the ADA and §504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The OCR found the school in violation; the school eventually relented. The parents, concerned about their daughter's return to Ezr Eby, found a different public school in a different district where their daughter was well received with her service dog. The then filed suit in Federal District Court.

The District Court granted the school district's motion to dismiss on the basis that the exhaustion requirement had not been met. The Sixth Circuit affirmed. The US Supreme Court granted cert and vacated the Sixth Circuit's decision.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/15-497_p8k0.pdf
From EdSource, March 19, 2017 Two-decade old legal battle over special education oversight nears resolution, brings major changes
Achievement levels for students with disabilities in California are among the lowest in the United States. A 1996 class action lawsuit, brought by eight special education students alleging "erratic or nonexistent special education services" and poor oversight by the California Department of Education, led to a corrective action plan. That plan required that California "...reform its dysfunctional state level monitoring system."

The California Department of Education has blocked changes since the plan was issued in 2014 by the US District Court of Northern California. The Department has now decided to cease the legal challenges and follow the correction action plan. The plan includes staff training, student assessments, creation of individual Education Programs (IEPs), and the integration of students with disabilities in regular classrooms.
https://edsource.org/2017/two-decade-old-legal-battle-over-special-education-oversight-nears-resolution-brings-major-changes/576675
Endrew R., a Minor, By and Through His Parents and Next Friends, Joseph F. and Jennifer F., Petitioner v. Douglas County School District Re-1
On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (580 U.S. ____(2017), March 22, 2017

Thirty-five years ago, in Board of Dd. of Hendrick Hudson Central School Dist., Westchester Cty. V. Rowley . 458 U.S. 176 (1982), the United States Supreme Court established a substantive right to a "free and appropriate public education " for certain children with disabilities but declined to create a single standard for determining when children with disabilities are receiving sufficient educational benefits to satisfy IDEA requirements.

That Court rejected an "equal opportunity standard," because FAPE was too complex and considered such a standard as "entirely unworkable," requiring "impossible measurements and comparisons" that a Court could not make.

The Court today has revisited the Rowley decision, vacated the judgment of the Tenth Circuit, and remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with its holding. The Administrative Law Judge and both lower courts rested on and continued to abide by the language in Rowley that instruction and services for children wth disabilities must confer "some" educational benefit so children make "some" progress, and the IEP is adequate if the benefit is "merely ...more than de minimus."

The Court clearly departs from Rowley -

"[W]e find little significance in the [ Rowley] Court's language concerning the requirement that States provide instruction calculated to 'confer some educational benefit'...and the statement that the Act did not 'guarantee any particular level of education' simply reflects the unobjectional proposition that the IDEA cannot and does not promise 'any particular [educational] outcome... No law could do that - for any child.

A child's educational program should be 'appropriately ambitious' just as advancement from grade to grade is considered appropriately ambitious for children with out disabilities...The IDEA demands more."
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/15-827_0pm1.pdf
From the United States Department of Education, December 7, 2017
Questions and Answers (Q&A) on U.S. Supreme Court Case Decision Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District Re-1
The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) has released a Question and Answer (Q&A) document for parents and other stakeholders about the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous decision in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District on the implementation of IDEA.

Endrew clarifies the "free appropriate public education (FAPE) standard and its scope for determining whether a student's IEP is "reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child's circumstances." Prior to Endrew, courts relied on the "merely more than de minimus" standard that grew out the 1982 Rowley decision. Because a particular test for establishing "educational benefit" was not identified in Rowley, courts applied different standards and school districts only had to show a more than minor or trivial educational benefit to meet its FAPE obligations.The Endrew Court has now clearly rejected that standard. Rowley is no longer good law. All children, regardless of disability, age or current placement should have the chance to make educational progress and meet challenging objectives.

U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear a Douglas County School District Case (Colorado) regarding a "free and appropriate public education" (FAPE) in the 2016-2017 session.
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Decision, August 25, 2016
The United States Supreme Court has granted a writ of certiorari in a case regarding the educational benefit standard a school must meet to satisfy the "free and appropriate public education" (FAPE) requirement pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The Court has not addressed this issue since the 1982 Board of Education v. Rowley decision that affirmed access to the classroom but not the quality of education. http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/15-827-opinion-below.pdf

Special Education Resources and References
Videos and Multimedia Resources Parallels in Time: A Place to Learn Partners in Education Online Curriculum How the PARC Case Began: Video Interview with Gunnar Dybwad The Right to Education: Video Interview with Gunnar Dybwad The Role of the Courts: Video Interview with Gunnar Dybwad The PARC Case: Audio presentation by Tom Gilhool, Lead Plaintiff Attorney Articles and Other Secondary Sources
ADA Legacy Project: The Right to Education Based on Brown v. Board of Education

" Access to Justice: The Impact of Federal Courts on Disability Rights. " The Federal Lawyer, December 2012.

Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens (PARC) v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

United States Courts: History of Brown v. Board of Education
Legal Resources and References

Opinions:
District Court (1971): 334 F.Supp. 1257
District Court (1972): 343 F.Supp. 279 (1972)
Wrightslaw

1. ^BROWN et al. v.BOARD OF EDUCATION OF TOPEKA, SHAWNEE COUNTY, KAN., et al., 74 S.Ct. 686, 692 (1955)

2. ^Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 334 F.Supp. 1257, 1259 (E.D. Pa 1971).

3. ^Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 343 F.Supp. 279, 307 (E.D. Pa 1972).

4. ^Mills v. Board of Education, 348 F.Supp. 866, 871 (DC Dist. of Columbia 1972)

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The Right to Education - Disability Justice

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Dan Stewart Discusses Education Rights for Students with Disabilities The Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities is pleased to announce an interview with a leading expert on Special Education (view all). Dan Stewart currently serves as the Legal Director of ... Continued

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https://disabilityjustice.org/

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https://disabilityphilanthropy.org/resource/what-is-disability-justice/

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Presidents' Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy

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In this resource, you'll learn about the origin and definition of disability justice as a movement and framework.

What does "Disability Justice" mean?
Disability Justice centers intersectionality and the ways diverse systems of oppression amplify and reinforce one another.
The term "disability justice" is often used interchangeably with terms such as "disability rights" and "disability inclusion." Yet it's important to recognize that "disability justice" refers to a very specific framework of thinking about disability.

Disability inclusion is a broad term to describe approaches to advance access and inclusion for disabled people. A disability justice approach centers the priorities and approaches of those most historically excluded groups, such as women, people of color, immigrants, and people who identify as LGBTQ+.

The Origin of Disability Justice

As explained by Patty Berne, the Co-Founder, Executive and Artistic Director of Sins Invalid and one of the people whose work and words informed the conceptualization of disability justice, the framework was a reaction to the ways that the US disability rights movement "invisibilized the lives of peoples who lived at intersecting junctures of oppression - disabled people of color, immigrants with disabilities, queers with disabilities, trans and gender non-conforming people with disabilities, people with disabilities who are houseless, people with disabilities who are incarcerated, people with disabilities who have had their ancestral lands stolen, amongst others."

Click here to read Berne's piece on disability justice and its 10 principles.

Defining Disability Justice - "an expectation of difference"

As set forth by Naomi Ortiz, a writer, poet, facilitator and visual artist whose work focuses on self-care for activists, "Disability Justice is the cross-disability (sensory, intellectual, mental health/psychiatric, neurodiversity, physical/mobility, learning, etc.) framework that values access, self-determination and an expectation of difference. An expectation of difference means that we expect difference in disability, identity and culture. To be included and part of society is about being able to be our "whole self" (all of our identities together). Disability Justice includes space for self-care, reflection and hard discussions."

Click here to read the full definition of disability justice.

Disability Justice and Interdependence

Writer, educator and community organizer for disability justice Mia Mingus explains: "With disability justice, we want to move away from the 'myth of independence,' that everyone can and should be able to do everything on their own. I am not fighting for independence, as much of the disability rights movement rallies behind. I am fighting for an interdependence that embraces need and tells the truth: no one does it on their own and the myth of independence is just that, a myth."

Click here to read Mingus' piece on the values of the disability justice framework.

Disability Justice and Other Justice Movements

Disability justice connects with all other key movements for justice and liberation from oppression. For example, Standing Up for Racial Justice, a national network of groups and individuals working to undermine white supremacy and to work toward racial justice, shares: "We want to create a movement for racial justice that not only pushes back against disability stereotypes of tragedy, inspiration or irresponsible burden but that also fiercely resists the powerful undercurrents about the 'feebleminded', the illiterate or accented people of our lives. These ideas, birthed in ableism, grease the cogs of white supremacy and perpetuate white privilege."
Click here to read their full statement on disability justice and racial justice.
Further Learning
Disability Justice Curriculum

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What is Disability Justice? - Presidents' Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy

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In this resource, you'll learn about the origin and definition of disability justice as a movement and framework. Disability Justice centers intersectionality and the ways diverse systems of oppression amplify and reinforce one another. The term "disability justice" is often used interchangeably with terms such as "disability rights" and "disability inclusion."

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https://ssir.org/articles/entry/there_is_no_justice_that_neglects_disability

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"Disabled people live at the intersection of all systems of oppression and social justice issues. There isn't one issue or one intersection where you will not find disabled individuals advocating for or experiencing the effects of those issues." - Daphne Frias, youth activist, organizer, storyteller, and peacebuilder.

If the philanthropic sector is to advance social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion, then it must recognize disability as essential to its work. This supplement offers critical perspectives and recommendations for dismantling ableism. Sponsored by the Disability & Philanthropy Forum

Last July marked the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a historic civil rights law. We have seen progress in the expansion of access to services and spaces enjoyed by Americans, but the disability community continues to experience above-average rates of poverty, incarceration, disenfranchisement, and social segregation.

And yet there is hope. We have witnessed how effective an intersectional approach to organizing is, particularly on matters of racial and environmental justice. We have seen a revitalized commitment from leaders in various sectors, including government, business, and philanthropy. The moment has come to advance and recognize the promise of disability justice in the United States.

We work in different sectors-government and philanthropy-but share the conviction that by centering disability we have an opportunity to create a just society that is more accessible and inclusive for everyone. To make this belief a reality, our efforts must center conversations that have been relegated to the sidelines as well as the voices of expert advocates who were previously siloed. Government has addressed disability for three decades, with the ADA serving as a guide. The philanthropic sector is beginning to recognize disability inclusion as a core element in its justice work and acknowledges that each grantmaking organization is at a different stage in its disability inclusion journey. Today we are sharing our personal experiences to reflect on the potential of an intersectional, cross-sector approach that will advance justice for all.
If government is to serve the people, then disability justice must be a framework we bring to every policy discussion.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley: In January 2020, I disclosed my alopecia diagnosis in an interview with . The disability community welcomed me. Viewing my diagnosis as an asset and an opportunity to shed light on disability issues, members of the community reached out to me from various organizations and coalitions. In my approach to legislating, I have always prioritized intersectionality, but my dialogue with disability activists illuminated new ways in which the disability community has been systemically marginalized in public policy. Today, we are still in the civil rights movement, and the struggle for racial and disability justice are woven together. Some commentators give the impression that Rosa Parks sat, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke, John Lewis crossed a bridge, and then our full liberation was realized. But our struggle continues, and our destinies are bound together.

Far too often in the daily work of government, people are noted as numbers on a grid. But people live in intersectionality, not in checked boxes. Encouraged and emboldened by generations of activists, I am proud to be part of a new generation of leaders on Capitol Hill who take an intersectional approach to disability justice. This effort starts with recognizing that the disability community is not a monolith. From health-care access to employment, and from marriage rights to COVID-19 recovery, every policy issue is a disability issue.

In formulating my legislative agenda, I consistently look for the ways in which disability is affected by the proposals on which I am working. For example, discussions of the racial wealth gap that do not explicitly address the challenges facing Black and brown disabled people leave behind so many individuals and do not paint an accurate picture of the economic injustice these communities face. Amid the current national reckoning on racial injustice, we fundamentally believe that disability justice must be part of an intersectional conversation. We must affirm that Black disabled lives matter. Nearly half of the individuals murdered by police in the US have a disability, and Black girls with disabilities are criminalized in US schools at four times the rate of their white peers, beginning as early as preschool. We know that our systems are deeply broken, and together, we must legislate and invest in healing, justice, and accountability. We must start with honest conversations about where matters stand and what changes must follow.
The Numbers on Disability
Statistics show that disability is a natural part of the human experience. Philanthropic foundations must recognize this reality in their work.

26% (1 in 4) of American adults have some type of disability. In the United States, 61 million people live with a disability, which can be lifelong or acquired at any time. US and international law protects the rights of all people with disabilities including physical, sensory, intellectual, developmental, and mental health disabilities, as well as chronic illnesses.

15% of the global population lives with a disability. More than one billion people globally live with a disability. Eighty percent of persons with disabilities live in developing countries.

27% of people with disabilities live in poverty, compared with 12% of people without disabilities. Disabled people are more than twice as likely to live in poverty than those without disabilities. Poverty can increase the likelihood that a person with an existing health condition becomes disabled through inaccessible environments or lack of access to needed health services.

1 in 5 women in the world have a disability. Disability is part of diversity and intersects with all identities, including class, gender, race, ethnicity, and sexuality. Being disabled disproportionately affects those living in poverty, women, and people of color. People with disabilities are three times more likely to experience violence than those without disabilities.

1⁄3 of COVID-19 survivors have long-haul symptoms. People with disabilities face increased risk of contracting COVID-19, dying from COVID-19, as well as experiencing poorer health outcomes, whether or not they are infected with COVID-19. With one-third of COVID-19 survivors in the United States experi- encing long-haul symptoms, there is a "rise of long COVID as a persistent and significant health issue" that may lead to disability, according to the US Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services. If philanthropy is to build a more just and equitable society, it must combat ableism in its own institutions and practices, and recognize that disability is a key element in its work.
If the philanthropic sector is to advance social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion, then we must recognize that disability is a key element in our work.
Rebecca Cokley: Growing up in the disability community with parents who were also little people, I saw disability as a beautiful thing. Bodies were amazing in their diversity, and people of all genders, races, and cultures found myriad ways to communicate, live, and exist. Based on the definition in the ADA, the disability community is large enough to encompass children in Flint, Michigan, who are approaching 5,000 days without clean water; Asian American victims of hate crimes; mothers with postpartum depression; and COVID-19 long-haulers. That the ADA definition of disability emphasizes the activities of daily life shows that disability is not about a diagnosis but about its effects on your life. When people assume that being a little person has the greatest impact on my quality of life, they're wrong. It's actually my migraines, and that's okay.

In my role at the Ford Foundation, I am responsible for developing strategy for our US disability rights program, the first of its kind at the foundation. In 2015, when the Ford Foundation issued its declaration to move its work to challenging inequality, disability advocates spoke out about the glaring absence of a disability lens. In the past, organizations have rarely responded to this type of response, in no small part because the disability community was not considered formidable or worth listening to. But in this instance, Ford Foundation CEO Darren Walker expressed his commitment to "embracing risk and reflecting honesty," which led the organization to examine disability bias, investigate the history of philanthropy's negligence and harm to the community, and determine a course of action to address historic harms with solutions.
We must seize this moment to advance and recognize the promise of disability justice in America.
Rep. Pressley and Cokley: The disability community has lived segregation, from specialized educational settings to community service programs and restricted employment opportunities. Our demand to philanthropy, government, and other sectors is not to be treated as a special case. Government and foundations alike must fund efforts to develop housing proposals to ensure a supply of affordable and accessible housing. Funders exploring ways to organize efforts in criminal justice reform must remember that 60 to 80 percent of people who are currently incarcerated have a disability, including individuals who acquired a disability while incarcerated. No effective approach to reentry, abolition, or de-escalation will be successful if disability is not included.

Disability is a cause and consequence of poverty. Philanthropic organizations that are committed to fighting poverty and inequality in the United States or globally will never meet their goals as long as disability is missing from their work. Even if a foundation is discomfited by the idea of putting up a neon sign that says "We fund disability," any philanthropic entity that addresses inequality or injustice in effective and comprehensive ways must include disability in its work. Any demographic data that is collected to understand populations served, affected, or employed must include disability if true diversity is to be reflected in the numbers.

Similarly, the federal government must move away from the bureaucratic excuses of the past, which required disabled folks to fit into specific boxes when it comes to data and benefits. This bias has resulted in public policy that does not acknowledge the community's diversity or recognize the fundamental rights of all people to pursue liberty, justice, livable wages, marriage equality, and fair housing.

The novel coronavirus has surfaced many existing inequities, and the impact on the disability community is clear. More than a third of all deaths tied to COVID-19 come from congregate settings, where people with disabilities make up a large percentage of all residents. More than one-third of individuals impacted by the novel coronavirus are likely to experience long-haul symptoms, a brand-new category of disability. COVID-19 has exacerbated existing mental illnesses due to increases in anxiety and social isolation, and for many individuals, there have been new diagnoses. The need for flexibility and rethinking how we work, how we receive health care, and how we learn has required us all to take a moment to ask ourselves why there isn't greater accessibility and flexibility to support how we live so that we may thrive.

Together, we can meet the moment, center individuals who are most impacted, and rebuild as a more just nation if we see disability as part of the continuing struggle for our full civil rights and liberties. We recognize that there is no justice that neglects disability.

Support SSIR's coverage of cross-sector solutions to global challenges.
Help us further the reach of innovative ideas.Donate today.
Read more stories by Ayanna Pressley & Rebecca Cokley.

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There Is No Justice That Neglects Disability (SSIR)

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Achieving diversity, equity, and inclusion means putting disability justice in every policy discussion and making it part of the continuing struggle for civil rights.

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What resources have you used, or seen used, to help students succeed in the classroom after they have been diagnosed? How have you seen teachers support students in their journey through school.

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How can you transition inclusion to your future school?

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How do we gain support as a teacher in a sometimes isolating role?

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How can teachers be supported with general ed, gifted ed, and special ed all blended into the same classroom? With all of the legality, classroom management, etc.

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Special education classrooms tend to lack funding and getting the topic out there brings more awareness to the inequality of it. It is also great for gen ed teachers to learn about disabilities so that they are prepared in case they are placed in an inclusion setting.

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Students with disabilities are always going to be in our classroom. One thing I learned in one of my classes is that students should always be the least restrictive environment when in school. With this, students should always be included in the general education classroom, which further highlights why it’s so important why we should be more accessible and inclusive towards our students with disabilities.

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This topic plays a important role in raising the next-generation and also it teaches people to be resilience and to be seen as a contributing member of society

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from seeing it first hand and especially in the schools i have worked in students with disabilities are looked at as less than human. it needs to be brought into the light that these students are students and they are human who deserve to learn the same as any other child anywhere that may be.

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It impacts more people than you think. One in so many people struggle with a specific learning disability.

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I think this plays an important role because everyone deserves the resources and opportunities to achieve their goals.

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America, as well as he rest of the world, has a long history of discriminating & segregating individuals with disabilities, like how even today disability benefits are taken away once someone gets married causing individuals with disabilities have a bigger wall towards getting married than most. A lot of these laws originate in schools, and create a sense of bias in all of our students, which continues when they grow up.

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It’s something that needs support and help so that it isn’t overlooked! It’s important to create inclusion not only in the school, but out in the community too! -Anna and Grant

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More and more students are being monitored even more closely than before, so giving them sense of safety and equality within their education is becoming more and more important.

-Alexa

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I know about some of ADA’s efforts to make the world more accessible. I also know about IDEA’s role in education and the Universal Design for Learning.

-Alexa

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Everyone is different and should receive services that best fit them. Each student has different strengths and weaknesses and that is what makes them their own person. We should accept them for the qualities they bring. Children should also be shown love despite having a disability and I feel like that is lacking a lot in many schools.

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I don’t know a lot and would like to learn more.

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Mental health (anxiety, depression) is often overlooked as a “disability” and can interfere with learning just as a learning disability (ADHD, Dyslexia etc.) can.

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Education for students with disabilities has come a long way, but still has many problems for us to work through, for example, the use of aba therapy when working with students on the autism spectrum.

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There have been improvements in education for this topic throughout the years, such as IDEA, but there is still lack of funding! -Grant and Anna

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People with disabilities are often underrepresented & oppressed in society. Disability justice works towards developing a supportive and inclusive system for people who have a disability in diverse environments such as the workplace, in a school setting, or in society as a whole. Some Acts that have worked to further support disability justice are the IDEA, Americans with Disabilities Act, and the ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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Growing up I was in the special education and I had some great teachers who  made me feel seen and like l mattered  and I also had some adults who should have been there for me but they weren't and literally told me that what I had to say didn't Matter or and said that I shouldn't even try to get an education  and that I was a troubled  student. And with the wording of ieps it made you feel terrible about yourself.

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i do not know much about the topic and want to learn more on the topic.

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1. Use person first language when discussing
2. Treat them like a person when discussing
3. Acknowledge them from their viewpoint when discussing an educators point of view
4. Be respectable of others
5. Listen and learn of what others have to say
6. Acknowledge that we are all hear to learn about disability justice

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Introduction to the Americans with Disabilities Act

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The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in everyday activities. The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability just as other civil rights laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, col…

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Kids on the Fly, a family play and learning experience created for O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, inspired us to see disability as a unique attribute and powerful design informant. To enable access and offer play parity, visitors of all ages and abilities are permitted the freedom to control their experience. For instance, the most interesting way to enter the iconic cargo plane is via the colorful, activity-filled incline. Instead of treating the ramp in a subordinate architectural manner or having two separate entry points, the incline is celebrated. It's bright, inviting, and is crawlable, climbable, and slidable. It is fun for everyone to enter the raised cockpit, pilot the plane, listen to real recordings of air traffic control, and have a great view of real take-offs and landings.

Instead of treating the ramp in a subordinate architectural manner or having two separate entry points, the incline is celebrated.

Continuing to advocate for accessibility through thoughtful and creative design reinforces a civil right. Focusing not on the differences of those with disabilities but on their talents and their abilities amplifies experiences and the dignity of places and spaces. Architects and designers can dramatically improve a child's and an adult's experience by going beyond the stipulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Designing from an adaptive-ready stance help push architects beyond ADA and, perhaps, even beyond Universal Design tenets.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 31, states: "That every child has the right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts."

Architects and designers can dramatically improve a child's and an adult's experience by going beyond the stipulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

This international treaty incorporates thinking about children as citizens and about their healthy development.

When designing for inclusivity, there's a challenge that spaces and environments fit everyone and that all play together. Any adaptive equipment can be designed to be as appealing and inviting as all other elements.

At DuPage Children's Museum in Naperville, Illinois, where Architecture is Fun embraced this thinking in the design phase, there's a beloved indoor hill for climbing, running, and laying around. The undulating hill is interconnected, side-by-side, to a gentler and hyper-accessible hill, which allows kids of all abilities to play on the same indoor landscape. Inclusivity in design helps create an atmosphere of success, where every child can interact with another, explore, imagine, and play together.

Design that goes beyond access also helps create experiences that foster emotional well-being. Facilitating safe places where kids can be kids is vital in every community. And the hill at DuPage Children's Museum is one instance of a side-by-side, integrated, inclusive environment and experience that creates a safe and equitable place to play.

These two examples of access, Kids on the Fly and DuPage Children's Museum, go beyond the ramp and illustrate how design can advocate for us all. Inclusivity benefits entire communities because, through design, we can recognize, value, and celebrate one another.

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peter and sharon exley  faia  maae  asid  architecture is fun

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Peter and Sharon Exley, FAIA, MAAE, ASID, Architecture is Fun

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What does children's space design look like when it goes beyond simple access? Two award-winning Chicago designers offer up an example.

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