"The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law that makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children.
The IDEA governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education, and related services to more than 6.5 million eligible infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities." (U.S. Department of Education) In 1975, President Ford signed the Education for the Handicapped Act (EHA), now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), into law. This law, for the first time, mandated access to a free and appropriate education for all children with disabilities. Prior to this law, schools were not required to education children with disabilities with many states creating and enforcing laws that said children with disabilities could not be educated in their state's public schools. Considered useless and less than human, they were kept at home or sent to institutions. When the EHA was passed, it was determined that an estimated 1.8 million children with disabilities were excluded from the public education system, many of whom could have gone on the lead full lives. Although individuals with disabilities make up 20% of the population, our family still lives a life drastically different than most. From the intense joy we experience to the extreme adversity, it's a life most won't understand. When you live in the minority, it changes your daily and global perspective. I find myself understanding that while I cannot fully experience someone else's plight, I can certainly relate to the complexities of someone else's situation and better evaluate their response to that situation. I now better understand that what may be perceived as a black and white issue is full of intricacies that deserve a closer look. Such is the case with the current immigration crisis. I have wondered lately how many people prior to 1975 who had no connection to or experience with a person with a disability said schools should continue to deny disabled individuals access to an education because it's the law, and we are a nation of laws. I have wondered lately how many of those same people might have said that a parent who lived in a state with laws denying disabled children entry to their school, who crossed the threshold of their local public school should receive the maximum penalty and have their child removed from their custody as a means of deterring anyone else from trying the same thing because well, it's the law and that parent broke it. Some laws and the people who make them are meant to be challenged. We don't have to go too far back in history to see that. The immigration issue (and I say issue because it is an issue that needs greater resolution) is really just the boiling point for an administration that has time and again proven that the good of the people are their last priority. I have watched as our current president has openly mocked individuals with disabilities, often publicly used "low IQ" as an insult and appointed a secretary of education who has no concern for teachers, students, public school and especially children with disabilities. Those are really just the actions that personally offended and concerned me. There are a myriad of other issues that are snowballing into a larger concern as well. Will lives among a community of people that have rarely been loved or valued in the history of the world. It disheartens me and worries me that so many are being given the opportunity to disguise hate and fear of those that are different as a love of law and God. The day will come when this administration goes directly after Will and his claim to basic human rights. It won't be obvious. It will come in small waves, reducing federal funding for special programs which in turn reduces appropriate training and the number of qualified special education teachers. Or possibly scrolling back specific federal rights that would swing wide open a door for states to spend money on special programs as they see fit. Please note here that Texas ranks last in the nation in special education already, so you can imagine how that scenario would play out. We are hanging on by a thread here in Texas only because of our federal rights. And one scenario that Betsy Devos already tried to introduce, a waiver program she specifically marketed to special needs parents. She said you can send your child anywhere and the government will help pay for it! It's your chance to get a more specialized program for your child! The reality is, most schools outside of public schools won't take our kids and they don't have to, so the program would have effectively promoted segregation into "special" schools and amounted to a reduction in resources at local public schools. It's a cleverly disguised and effective way to limit a special needs individual's exposure to society and a way of getting the riff-raff out of your child's school. Anyone who lives in the minority that isn't already fighting for their equal place knows their battle is coming. If you live in the majority and don't have to worry about a current or coming disruption to your life, I am happy for you. It's you who we need to stand up for us. Your words and actions matter the most. Instead of throwing the Bible at people and taking to Facebook to argue with each other, choose a cause and pursue it. Do you believe in a right to life? Great! Go out and volunteer at a pregnancy center that provides tools and resources to the underprivileged so they can parent successfully or provides them with a clear and loving path to adoption. Do you believe your child should be getting more out of public school? Great! Go talk to your principal about how to get your teachers more resources. Call your congressman and demand raises for teachers. Volunteer in the classroom. Do you believe countries should be taking care of their own people? Great! That's not a reality in war-torn or poverty-stricken countries. Change takes time. Sponsor a child in one of those countries. Volunteer your time or money to providing clean drinking water in those countries. Buy from companies that help individuals in third-world countries learn a trade that supports their family. You get the point. Leading small can enact big changes. We don't all have to agree with each other, but positive action in conjunction with opinion is part of human decency. You can't ever know what it is to walk in someone else's shoes. Anyone that expects that is demanding the world. But it's important to evaluate the details from every side, lend your ears to those who live differently than you and walk alongside your fellow man before condemning them to a life you wouldn't want to live. We are at a poignant time in history. Change is coming. Let's make it positive.
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Charming, quirky and incredibly loving. Will loves his friends, swimming, the iPad, the Avett Brothers, observing the world upside down, climbing, jumping and being chased.
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