Section 4: Struggles of the Movement
Robyn Feinberg
For a long time now, people with special needs have been seen as inferior and unacceptable in today’s society. They have struggled to gain the recognition and respect that they deserve. Uninformed people’s perceptions about people with disabilities, has often become their reality. The misgivings that they have towards people with disabilities are formulated by their misperceptions towards the reality of having to deal with somebody who actually has a learning disability.
A long-standing struggle had not been how to accommodate kids with special needs in a learning environment, but to actually allow them to attend public school. The origins of special education go back to 1975 with the passage of the IDEA Act (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). Before the IDEA Act was put forth, public schools accommodated only one out of five children with a learning disability. This included children who were blind, deaf, etc, they were seen as “emotionally disturbed” and “mentally retarded”. By the time the IDEA Act was passed, one million children were not allowed to attend public school because of a learning disability or other special needs. Instead, they attended school in segregated facilities, receiving little education. This also dates back to the nineteenth century, and even earlier, when people who were seen as “emotionally disturbed” were locked up and kept in isolated facilities, receiving little to no help. The IDEA Act was enacted in 1975, only thirty-seven years ago, and when you think about all of the time it took to get this law passed, you think about what people had to go through. Kids were separated and told that they were incompetent, and that was only thirty-seven years ago. Education has always been a struggle for those with special needs or learning disabilities. Consequently, neither the United States Congress or the Supreme Court, ever fully understood the difficulties and struggles of those with special needs at the time. They never took into consideration the learning hardships that people with special needs had to overcome. For example, the 1979 court case involving College versus Davis, section 442, U.S. 397, was a real eye-opener for many people. A hearing impaired woman, Francis Davis, applied for acceptance to the Southeastern Community College of North Carolina nursing school. Her application was denied due to the fact that she had a hearing impairment. The court rendered her unqualified to participate in the program by not being able to fulfill the clinical requirements. This subsequent decision casted a negative shadow on section 504 legislation, which said that one must take the steps to accommodate the needs of persons with a special need. As a result, United Sates District Court ruled against her case, but the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit overturned that decision. The struggles that Francis Davis endured, helped tell the Supreme Court that they needed to be educated on the issue of disability discrimination. |
Perhaps the longest legislative battle to date; is the fight over the CRRA (Civil Rights Restoration Act). Before this “battle”, the Supreme Court had stripped away civil rights protections from those with special needs. Those with learning disabilities, or special needs, gathered together with just one goal in mind; to reinstate their civil rights protections. This battle begun in 1984, and was finally passed in 1988. It took four years to give civil rights protections, to people with learning and physical disabilities. Another goal was to overturn the Grover City College v Bell Act, which said that people with special needs were restricted from receiving federal funds that would help them with paying for their education. Eventually, this act was overturned, but only after so much effort and time. No one should struggle with the idea that they cannot pay or afford an education.
The ADA (American Disability Act); was finally passed in 1990, after so much hardship. Even though this Act was passed and legalized, opposition from different viewpoints formed. Many people were against the ADA being passed, and were not afraid to speak out. The Greyhound Bus Lines testified before congress that this act had the potential to “deprive millions of people of affordable intercity public transportation and thousands of rural communities of their only link to the outside world”. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce even said that it “would have a disastrous impact on small-businesses struggling to survive”. Others said that the ADA was a headache, and that it would improve nothing for the disabled. In summary, society over the course of many years has tended to isolate and segregate those with special needs and learning disabilities. They have done so by keeping those with learning disabilities/special needs away from others who do not have any disabilities. Needless to say, this has deprived people with special needs of educational rights and privileges, as well as altered how they are perceived in society. Even today, with all the progress and advancements that have been made to assist people with special needs, they still continue to face stereotyping, labeling, and public humiliation in a society of unwilling acceptance. People with special needs deserve the same rights privileges, and opportunities as everyone else. |