The Rise of Inclusive Approaches and Laws

Progressive Reform: 1920s-1970s

While the 1800s were a time of curiosity in an effort to understand people with disabilities, the 1900s were a time of progressive reform and advocacy. This advocacy led to drastic changes in the laws representing people with disabilities, as well as the public’s perception of disabilities overall. Shortly after the first special education class in the 1890s, educators continued changing their practices in the 1900s to better support students with disabilities. From Elizabeth Farrell to the rise of parent advocacy groups, change was happening at this time that would positively impact students with disabilities for generations thereafter.

Changes in Educational Approaches

Educators at this time were changing their educational approaches to better suit how students with disabilities learn. One person who wanted to change the education of children with disabilities was Elizabeth Farrell (1870-1932). Farrell’s foundational beliefs, based on the work of her colleagues Howe and Séguin, sought to address any educational difficulties the students had so they could return to their general education classroom to learn alongside their peers. Farrell did not want to separate the students with disabilities by program, facility, or school. This was a precursor to the “separate but equal” consciousness brought forward by the landmark racial segregation law case, Brown v. Board of Education (1954), discussed later in this chapter.

Farrell also worked to identify children with disabilities using multiple assessment tools rather than solely intelligence testing. Farrell’s work was informed by a study of an approach used in Great Britain to identify and educate people with disabilities. Through her work, she linked the field of psychology to special education. Elizabeth Farrell has been referred to as the “mother of special education” (Kode, 2017).

The International Council for the Education of Exceptional Children was formed by students from Farrell’s courses, and its purpose was to find a way for these students to network and support each other. At the first meeting, on August 10, 1922, Elizabeth Farrell was elected president (Kode, 2017). This organization is now called the Council for Exceptional Children. Farrell may have been disappointed by the slow progress toward her goal of full integration of students with disabilities learning alongside their typically developing peers, as one hundred years later, we have yet to universally achieve her goal.

The Rise of Parent Advocacy Groups

By 1933, parent advocacy groups were becoming prevalent, as parents of children with disabilities were advocating change so that their children could be granted better educational opportunities (Pardini, 2017). Scientists, such as Goddard, witnessed the changes education was making for people previously identified as feeble-minded. This notable change in the scientific community brought about change to the idea of segregation through institutionalization (Parallels in Time: A history of developmental disabilities, 2022)

The Disability Rights Movement

Brown v. Board of Education

In 1954, the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case was sent to the Supreme Court. The case argued that racial segregation in schools was unequal and unconstitutional, and as a result, it was no longer acceptable for schools to separate students on the basis of race. However, after this, race was considered a binary system; people were counted as either black or white. This landmark case set the stage for all people to be afforded the right to public education regardless of their race. This case was later used to develop the case for educating students with disabilities in the same classrooms as their peers without disabilities.

While the Brown vs. Board of Education bill was going through the court process, parent advocacy groups continued to seek rights for their children with disabilities and formed the National Association of Retarded Citizens (NARC) in 1953. At this time, parents were only given the choice to send their children with disabilities to institutions, but the parents who founded NARC wanted more for their children. They wanted them to have fulfilling lives as a member of society. In 2019, NARC rebranded and changed its name to Arc, which does not stand for anything; despite the name change, this group still advocates for people with disabilities to lead full lives.

The Impact of Social Movements on Disability Rights

The 1960s were a time in history abounding in social movements. At the forefront were equal treatment for all, breakdown of barriers to lives and jobs, and parents’ continual advocacy for their children to receive the services needed. Protests, sit-ins, and marches were frequent. Samuel Kirk persuaded Congress to begin providing financing to train teachers to be experts in helping children with special education needs.

The Formation of the Special Olympics

In 1968, Eunice Kennedy Shriver (1921-2009), President John F. Kennedy’s sister, founded the first Special Olympics in Chicago (Special Olympics). Kennedy Shriver saw the difference physical activity could make for children with disabilities, both for their physical and mental health. What started as a summer camp for children with disabilities at Shriver’s home grew into the Special Olympics. In the process of developing the Special Olympics, the Kennedy Foundation pushed for legislation to develop several initiatives for people with disabilities. A motivating factor for Kennedy Shriver could have been that her sister, Rosemary, was a person with intellectual disabilities that she experienced her entire life.

Recent Advocacy: 1970s-Present Day

The social movements of the 1960s helped to pave the way for the changes that occurred in the 1970s and beyond by providing the much-needed momentum for meaningful change to happen. However, at this time, people with disabilities were still being institutionalized and oftentimes were not treated with the respect, dignity, or care that would have been provided to others.

Silenced Voices of the Institutionalized

People were becoming more aware of the educational and institutional experiences of people with disabilities and, with this, aware of the ways in which the laws did not protect their rights. As awareness became widespread, so too did advocacy.

Noticing that Black students in the 1970s were being mislabeled as having learning disabilities, teacher and advocate Marva Collins founded the Westside Preparatory School in 1975, which was located on the second floor of her home.  Her first students included her own children and other children in the neighborhood; some of her students had learning disabilities. By the end of the first year, all of her students scored five grades higher than their grade level on standardized tests. She became known as a teacher of the unteachable. President Ronald Reagan offered her the post of secretary of education, which she turned down to continue developing her Westside Preparatory School (Biondi, 2018).

It is no coincidence that the 1970s experienced an influx of new legislation advocacy on behalf of children with disabilities.

Changes in Law

1970s-1990s

In the 1970s and onward, there was a noticeable shift in the ways people with disabilities were treated and viewed in society. Part of this shift was because of the awareness people were gaining about the educational and institutional experiences of people with disabilities, but another part of this shift was that the laws were starting to be more inclusive of this group.

However, the laws that were being implemented and adhered to were not always in their best form, so many of the laws were revised or changed over time. One example of this is the shift that happened in 1990 when the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) became the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

While the 1960s and 1970s brought awareness to people with disabilities and the challenges they faced, there was still work to be done. As court cases persisted, the climate of special education in public schools continued to drastically change, as there were a significant number of laws being passed during this time. One of the most impactful laws was the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which was the first act to acknowledge the civil rights of people with disabilities. Its goal was to prevent discrimination in public settings. Section 504 of the act ensures that all students be granted Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). This foundational act informed the disabilities laws that followed shortly thereafter.

As parents and advocates noticed that more and more disability laws were being passed, they continued to pursue equal rights for children with disabilities. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) of 1975 gave every child the right to an education and included the parents’ right to be involved in their children’s education. This is when Individualized Educational Programs (IEPs) were first introduced and offered to students who needed them. Parents’ continual participation in the education of children with disabilities brought additional changes.

Transformation of Laws Over Time

In March 1990, a group of disability rights activists went to the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Their goal was to achieve rights for Americans with disabilities, and in many ways, they were successful.

Fueled by their desire for equal rights, the activists got out of their wheelchairs and crawled up the 78 stone steps of the capitol building, a building that was inaccessible to wheelchairs at that time. This event was referred to as the Capitol Crawl and was a significant event that spurred the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in July 1990 as it demonstrated the willingness of people with disabilities to unite for a common cause. Their advocacy does not stop there, as 30 years after this historical event, Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins (referenced in the video above) shared present-day issues with the ADA.

The Americans with Disabilities Act built on the ideas presented in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits discrimination based on disability in any program or activity that is federally funded. Going a step further, the ADA guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in employment, access to public spaces and transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications. This is arguably the most significant federal law ensuring equal civil rights to people with disabilities. To promote equity and counter past discriminatory practices, the ADA required businesses and governments to proactively offer equal opportunities to people with disabilities (National Council on Disability, 2004). Most of the provisions of the ADA were in place but were now required of the private sector as well as the government.

Around the same time, in June 1990, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) amendments became law, changing the name of the law from the Education for All Handicapped Children Act to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). At this time, transportation services and assistive technology were added to the definition of special education services and were required to be included in students’ IEPs. Rehabilitation counseling and social work services were added as related services under the law. Additionally, services and rights under IDEA were extended to comprehensively include children with autism and traumatic brain injury. Although IDEA offered more improvements in the rights of people with disabilities, it did not address all their needs.

The continued refinement of what constitutes appropriate placement of students with disabilities came with the Sacramento City School District v. Rachel H court case (1994). This case underscored the issue with the least restrictive environment (LRE) mandate outlined in the IDEA. LREs are part of a student’s Individualized Educational Program and determine how much or how little they are integrated into the general education classroom.

This case was important because it made it clear that there needed to be clear criteria when deciding the proper placement for a student with disabilities. The criteria includes:

1. “[T]he steps the school district has taken to accommodate the child in a regular classroom;
2. [W]hether the child will receive an educational benefit from regular education;
3. [T]he child’s overall educational experience in regular education; and
4. [T]he effect the disabled child’s presence has on the regular classroom” (Sacramento City School District v. Rachel H).

Guess the Decade

2000s-Present

In 2002, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was updated to be No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The goal of No Child Left Behind was to reform schools to forge new results. NCLB was the guiding law for K-12 general education from 2002 to 2015. While the focus of the law was accountability through the use of testing data, this proved to be controversial as the law seemed to penalize schools that could not meet the target goals. Urban schools were experiencing issues of equity, as there were issues of academic, professional, financial, and instructional disparities encountered at urban schools historically. Insufficient funding to urban and rural schools negatively impacted minorities and families with low socioeconomic status who relied on the education provided due to the negative effects of NCLB (Fusarelli, 2004).

This impacted the quality of teaching that was happening at public schools, as teachers modified their teaching to teach to the test, in turn leaving out cultural components and other learning opportunities to instead meet prescribed test scores. Those who opposed NCLB stressed teacher creativity and student learning were stifled. However, standardized testing is antithetical to the goals of special education, as individualized instruction does not coincide with a one-size-fits-all approach. NCLB tests were considered ‘too densely written, too long in duration, and too difficult in terms of readability’ and required a level of understanding that required indiscriminate administration, even with accommodations such as extra time and extra breaks’ (Meek, 2006). NCLB did not improve scores or narrow achievement gaps.

In 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) into law, which replaced No Child Left Behind. There are many differences between the NCLB and ESSA, one of the main differences being the change in accountability of each state. Instead of states being measured by the test scores of students, states are legally required to provide the public with a State Report Card reflective of its schools that includes: reading and math test scores, English-language proficiency test scores, high school graduation rates, and a state-chosen academic measure for elementary and middle schools. The schools are also measured on school quality through factors such as kindergarten readiness, access to and completion of advanced coursework, college readiness, school climate and safety, and chronic absenteeism. States are required to assess more weight to the academic factors of the law. Instead of penalizing schools for low test scores, struggling schools will receive more funding and develop an improvement plan.

For special educators, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act has served as the regulating document for special education since its first passage in 1990 and continues to be amended and revised as needed. In 2004, the IDEA was reauthorized and aligned with No Child Left Behind. At this time, it was also renamed to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act. Highlights of this change include early intervention services, greater accountability, and improved educational outcomes. It also raised standards for instructors who teach special education classes.

Guaranteed by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) is a right for all students to have an education. However, what is deemed appropriate depends on the student, and how to determine what is appropriate has been challenged in recent years. The landmark case Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District RE-1 (2017) is a case regarding Endrew F, a student with autism, who was receiving his education with the assistance of an Individual Education Program (IEP). After being on the same IEP for a couple of years, his parents noticed his academic progress stagnated and attributed this to his unchanged IEP. His parents, who disagreed with the plan identified in Endrew’s IEP, placed their child in a private school where he could learn. The problem with this case was that Endrew was receiving “de minimus” educational benefits rather than being provided an education that led to progress and development. The Court of Appeals determined that the instructional services provided to children with disabilities must be drafted to confer “some educational benefit,” as the minimum was no longer sufficient. In other words, the student needs to show progress.

Of course, in 2020, when the Coronavirus pandemic hit, many students with learning disabilities were impacted. The pandemic brought light to the many issues related to education, specifically the shortage of licensed and skilled teachers. Additionally, the pandemic interfered with federal law through the loss of services. View this family’s plight with two children diagnosed with autism during the pandemic.

Times Have Changed

Conclusion

Over the decades, significant progress has been made to support students with learning disabilities. This progress could not have been made without people like Geraldo Rivera or Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who used their platforms to bring awareness to the challenges and living conditions of people with disabilities, and advocates, who used their influence to persuade lawmakers to create laws that are more inclusive of people with disabilities. These efforts combined helped to create the disability laws that we have come to celebrate today.

The Rise of Inclusive Approaches and Laws

References

Biondi, C. (2018). Marva Collins, Her Method, and Her “Philosophy for Living.” The Objective Standard.

Farrell, E. (1925). What New York City Does for Its Problem Children. Ungraded. The Ungraded Teachers Association of New York City.

Fusarelli, L. D. (2004). The Potential Impact of the No Child Left Behind Act on Equity and Diversity in American Education. Educational Policy, 18(1), 71–94.

Kode, K. (2017). Elizabeth Farrell and the History of Special Education (2nd Ed.) Council of Exceptional Children.

Meek, C. (2006). From the inside out: A look at testing special education students. Phi Delta Kappan, 88(4), 293-297.

National Council on Disability (2004). Equality of Opportunity: The making of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Pardini, P. (2017). The History of Special Education. Weebly.

The Minnesota Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities (2022). Parallels in Time: A history of developmental disabilities.