Today is Special Education Day!

I just learned that today is Special Education Day.

The first federal special education bill was signed into law by President Gerald Ford on December 2nd, 1975, in order to support state and local jurisdictions in “protecting the rights of, meeting the individual needs of, and improving the results for infants, toddlers, children and youths with disabilities and their families.”  It is this law that requires the provision of “free and appropriate” education to all students, including those with mental and physical disabilities of all sorts.

What were the educational prospects for disabled students before this law was passed?  Well, not that great.  Helen Keller, pictured above with actress Patty Duke during filming of The Miracle Worker, was from a well-to-do family that could afford private tutors and special schools. Others had to rely on public schools, which only educated one in five students with disabilities.  Even worse, there were plenty of states with laws that actively and explicitly excluded students with major disabilities such as blindness, deafness, or mental retardation.

I once got a tiny view into this world. While I was in college, I read a book called Journey Into Personhood by Ruth Cameron Webb.  Webb has cerebral palsy, and she grew up in the pre-special ed, pre-ADA days. Webb struggled to live independently, and when out in the world, people were actively rude to her when she needed help with her wheelchair or even when she asked someone to hold the door for her.  She was actively discouraged from going to college, being told that someone like her had no need of a college education, that she was in danger of being “overeducated”.   In spite of meeting with such prejudice, she not only went to college, but earned a PhD as well.  Her career was spent working with and advocating for other people with disabilities.

Unlike Ruth Webb, I’ve had the privilege of taking things like wheelchair ramps and special ed for granted.  Special education law has been continually revised and expanded.  In 1990 it was renamed, becoming the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA.  If you’ve ever had an IEP, it’s because of IDEA.  IDEA now protects the educational rights of more than 6.5 million children.