A high school junior explains how disability laws rest on the shoulders of civil rights laws beginning with Brown v. Board of Education.
Courtesy of National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee
Since after the American Revolution, African Americans have been fighting for their place in society. African Americans could not go to the same school as whites, but in 1954, everything changed. Oliver Brown sued the Topeka, Kansas school district for not allowing his daughter to attend an all-white school. There were similar segregation court cases throughout the country, and the Supreme Court heard all of these cases in Brown v. Board of Education. The Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision that enabled black students to attend all- white schools. This landmark case led to advancements in civil rights, particularly for students of color and, later on, for students with disabilities. Brown became the foundation for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which helped the disabled gain equality in the classroom. If it were not for Brown v. Board of Education, students with disabilities would still be required to attend special schools or would not be allowed to attend school at all. Despite important legal cases that paved the way for equality in education, public schools have not been fully desegregated for students with disabilities. Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark case in civil rights for educational equality because it deemed the “separate but equal” doctrine inherently unconstitutional. As a result of the Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896, schools relied on the “separate but equal” doctrine pronounced by the Supreme Court (Bell 11). The “separate but equal” doctrine was used to justify separate public spaces between blacks and whites, such as facilities and transportation. The doctrine allowed racism to occur legally. It claimed to meet the requirements of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, which was to provide equal protection under the law. The Brown decision made the argument that separating children by their race created a “feeling of inferiority ... that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone” (Wright and Wright 12). Brown’s greatest achievement was overturning the doctrine that had sanctioned racism. The Supreme Court made clear that separating black children negatively affected their ability to learn and their place in society. Separate was not equal after all; instead, segregation was proven to have a detrimental psychological effect on children. Brown v. Board of Education set in motion events which would lead to the creation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which rests on the same principle that separate was not equal for students with disabilities. Many years after Brown, two landmark cases were brought before the court in 1972: PARC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Mills v. Board of Education of District of Columbia. The judges agreed in both cases that the laws that excluded children with disabilities from public schools were a violation of the Constitution. This laid the foundation for the right of students with disabilities to go to school with their non- disabled peers (National Council on Disability 17). Both PARC and Mills demonstrated that students were being separated by being placed in institutions or being expelled from school. As a result, Congress launched an investigation and found that of the eight million students with disabilities, only half were receiving an appropriate education (Wright and Wright 14). The government reasoned that providing students with educational services would spare them from being put in institutions which were maintained by taxpayer dollars. The results of this investigation demonstrated that there was a financial cost as well the cost of human capital. The alarming levels of segregation among students with disabilities caused Congress to act quickly by passing the law which would later be known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1975. There were several purposes to the IDEA: to provide an education that meets a student’s individual needs; prepare the child for further education, employment, and independent living; and to protect the rights of children with disabilities (Wright and Wright 15). When educators teach a child with a disability, they are able to contribute to society like their typical peers. The passage of the IDEA was a monumental step forward for students with disabilities, however, this was just the beginning of the long road ahead. Today, segregation looks different than in the time of Brown, PARC, and Mills when students were physically excluded from the school building. While students with disabilities are educated in the same building, they are often placed in separate classrooms. In the 2015-2016 school year, the percentage of disabled students ages six to twenty-one that were in a general education classroom for 80% or more of the day was 63% (National Council on Disability 50). Even forty-four years after IDEA’s passage, the national data illustrates that students with disabilities are still being segregated by being placed in classrooms apart from their peers. The three states with the best inclusion rates, not including U.S. territories, are Alabama (84%), Vermont (76%) and Nebraska with 76%. The three states with the worst inclusion rates are Hawaii (34%), New Jersey (46%), and Montana with 47% (National Council on Disability 49- 50). In other words, states like New Jersey include less than half of students with disabilities in the general education classroom for at least 80% of the day. This means that the majority of students with disabilities are placed in separate classrooms. The U.S. Department of Education data shows that segregation of students with disabilities occurs inside of schools by way of separate classrooms. While progress has been made since the legal cases and legislation that gave students with disability greater rights, segregation has taken a more nuanced form. The arguments in favor of segregating students are various and complex. There are several assumptions that support segregated settings. For example, there is confusion that certain services are only provided in certain placements or that a given level of support can only be achieved in a more restrictive setting. There are sometimes requirements that students earn increased participation into general education by demonstrating specific behaviors (National Council on Disability 33-34). Other reasons in support of segregation are attitudes and beliefs, organizational structures, or number of personnel. Once schools have established segregated programs such as resource rooms and self-contained classrooms, then allocated resources like physical space and staff to support them, it becomes difficult to dissolve these structures. Some research on classrooms with students with emotional and behavioral disabilities shows that students in kindergarten and first grade had more absences, lower reading and math scores, and were more likely to act out (Studies Flag Potential Downside to Inclusion). Except for this last study, there is no other research to support why students with disabilities should be in segregated settings. Similar to the reasoning of “separate but equal” debated in Brown, many of the above assumptions appear convincing, but they are detrimental, promote segregation, and have no basis in research. Those that make the case for segregation feel that smaller is better, placement dictates quality education, perhaps even that students are culturally more protected and accepted among others like themselves; however, the majority of research since the 1970s states that inclusion is better for all students. Students with disabilities perform better academically in general education. A 2002 paper led by Eric A. Hanushek, states, “Full inclusion boosts the math achievement of special education students, particularly those with learning or emotional disabilities, without causing any academic drag to students without disabilities” (Studies Flag Potential Downside to Inclusion). Typical peers perform academically better when students with disabilities are included in their classrooms. In fact, several years of studies have shown that peer-assisted learning (PAL) results in improved reading skills at every level of academic achievement for students with and without disabilities (National Disability Council 43). Students with disabilities that were included in school also have higher employment rates. Research shows that even students with substantial support benefitted from being included because they learned social skills, attained employment, and became better at being independent (Lawrence 1). Inclusion is better for all students, disabled or not. When Brown and IDEA were made into law, no one knew that research would prove that equality would lead to better academic performance for all students, while segregation would not. Brown gave students the hope of equality, but more remains to be done. The creation of the IDEA rests upon the shoulders of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case, which laid the foundation of equality for all students. If it were not for Brown, students with disabilities would not enjoy the right to sit beside their non-disabled peers in class today. Although advancements in civil rights, laws, data-gathering, and research have helped in desegregating public schools, students with disabilities are still not being fully included in the general education classroom. The national data shows that there is a long way to go for the spirit of IDEA to be fully implemented. In the days of Brown, racism was overt, but today, it has taken on more subtle forms by way of prejudice or bias. In the same way, discrimination against students with disabilities is no longer overt but takes on subtle forms as well. At the heart, separate is still not equal. Since the research and laws align, leaders in education must continue to make gains to include students with disabilities because research shows that equality is better for all students.
Works Cited
Bell, Derrick A. Silent Covenants: Brown v. Board of Education and the Unfulfilled Hopes for
Racial Reform. Oxford University Press, 2004.
Lawrence, KS. “Research Support for Inclusive Education and SWIFT.” SWIFT Center. January 2017, http://www.swiftschools.org/sites/default/files/Research%20Support%20for%20SWIFT %202017.pdf.
National Council on Disability. IDEA Series: The Segregation of Students with Disabilities.
National Council on Disability, 7 Feb. 2018, www.ncd.gov/sites/default/files/NCD_Segregation-SWD_508.pdf.
"Studies Flag Potential Downside to Inclusion." Education Week, 7 Sept. 2016, p. 1. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A463962353/OVIC?u=midd46556&sid=OVIC&xid=
95c39903. Accessed 14 Apr. 2019.
Wright, Peter W.D., and Pamela Darr Wright. Wrightslaw: Special Education Law. Harbor House Law Press, 2007.
Jillian, New Jersey
Written as a junior in high school
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