It is Women’s History Month, and we express our gratitude to the many women with disabilities who have made and are making major contributions to the disability rights movement. The Smithsonian Women’s History Museum is a great place to start if you’re wanting to learn more about the accomplishments of women with disabilities in the United States. We also recognize the many women working in the disability rights space in Michigan. There is no history without women’s history and that is true for the history of disability advocacy as well.
March is also Reading Month, a time when we not only celebrate the act of reading itself, but also lift up authors with disabilities and stories featuring characters with disabilities. If you’re looking for your next great read, there are many lists online of books about disabilities and by authors with disabilities including poets with disabilities, books for children, and works from Canadian authors. There are also intersectional lists like books by Latinx authors about disabilities, stories about LGBTQ+ people with disabilities, and books by women with disabilities. It’s a great time to visit your local library or your favorite independent bookstore!
Reading Month also evokes literacy education, or education more broadly, which is a subject top of mind for disability advocates amidst the mass layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education.
Advocates for students with disabilities are alarmed by the changes at the department. “Any plan to shut down the Education Department — and, indeed, the cuts and layoffs that have already happened — will disproportionately hurt students with disabilities,” reports Vox. “That includes kids who receive special education, but also those in general education classrooms who get supports or accommodations to learn, from speech therapy to sign language interpreters to counseling. Any kid who has an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or 504 plan through their school could be affected.”
The U.S. Department of Education enforces the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which “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.”
So what effect will the mass layoffs have on Michigan students with disabilities? The most common answer is, well, that there is no answer yet.
“[IDEA] is federal law. Funding for it, and the law itself, would not be eliminated through action eliminating the U.S. Department of Education,” reports the Detroit Free Press. “Student special education services are also protected by law and would remain in place, even if the [department] does not.”
In fact, a press release titled “U.S. Department of Education Initiates Reduction in Force” claims that the department “will continue to deliver on all statutory programs that fall under the agency’s purview.”
While this is on the surface reassuring, the fact remains that there will be far fewer employees tasked with getting funding from the federal government to the states.
But funding isn’t the only thing the department does. There will also be far fewer people to look into allegations of civil rights violations at schools and to study how to best educate students with disabilities.
According to NBC News, “The cuts in [the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and Institute of Education Sciences] mean there will be far fewer staff members to finish the 12,000 pending federal investigations into allegations of civil rights violations at schools — roughly half of which involve disability issues — and fewer employees to review and distribute government-funded research into effective ways to educate children with autism or severe intellectual disabilities.”
This is, needless to say, a big concern.
“In Michigan alone, the Office for Civil Rights shows multiple pending cases under a range of complaints such as denial of benefits, restraint and seclusion, discipline, service animal violations and more,” the Free Press reports. “In fact, a major Office For Civil Rights investigation in Michigan over a state failure to educate students with disabilities during the pandemic has yet to be resolved.”
It is not clear what will happen to these pending cases, let alone new cases.
The goal of slashing and even eliminating the Department of Education is to “send education authority back to states. But as the Free Press reports, “[A]uthority over what is still hazy: In Michigan, communities set curriculum, make budget decisions and make other consequential choices over how students are educated.”
This is a time of great uncertainty for people with disabilities and disability advocates. We must all watch this situation closely. We will not stand silently by and let protections for students with disabilities be diminished or for the services they need to be taken away.
Community and communication are more important than ever. Contact your local Center for Independent Living for support and to relate any issues regarding the education of students with disabilities.