Real, Vibrant and Not-to-be-Ignored

EDUCATION OF ALL CHLDREN

By Heidi Johnson-Wright

2015 marked the 40^th anniversary of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA), landmark federal civil rights legislation that allows kids with disabilities to sit in school desks alongside non-disabled students. Before 1975, the U.S. was a nation in which the educational needs of eight million “handicapped children” were not being met, with one million such children excluded entirely from the public school system.

The most severely disabled children were forbidden by law to pass through the schoolhouse doors. Among the other seven million, most attended segregated schools with very rudimentary curricula or were sequestered within segregated classrooms. Most were tasked with just busy work and training for menial jobs. 

Like the Sex Pistols sang in “God Save the Queen”: No future, no future, no future for you.

The EHA later evolved into the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which defines kids eligible for services as those who have “a disability that adversely affects academic performance.” Of the eight million children mentioned in the EHA, it’s likely that many had orthopedic that didn’t impair the ability to learn but pushed them into segregated settings. Today, approximately 95 percent of kids with disabilities are attending regular public schools. About two-thirds pass school days alongside their non-disabled peers.

But don’t uncork the champagne just yet.

While U.S. law creates a framework for an integrated setting, good intentions don’t always add up to a meaningful education. Parents, students, school administrators and teachers must still shape a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment.

Intrigued?  Check out Pentimento magazine at: http://www.pentimentomag.org/issue-6-toc

My non-fiction memoir piece, “Crip Cargo,” appears in the current issue of this literary magazine for the disability community. An accessible, balanced platform where a piece about a promising future can sit next to a glimpse into a bleaker reality. Readers look together into the dark and the light and connect to both. To see and see again. To see beyond disability.

Don’t expect the usual mass media-crafted tropes of super-crip, inspirational gimp or pathetic victim. The pieces relate indignities, triumphs, and moments of silent or not-so-silent joy. At the heart of any education lies communication. Telling our stories makes us real, vibrant and not-to-be-ignored. 

http://earthboundtomboy.blogspot.com/2016/04/real-vibrant-and-not-to-be-ignored.html 

RIGHTS GIVEN SHOULD NEVER BE TAKEN AS A GIVEN

OUR RIGHTS AS DISABLED PEOPLE CAN NEVER BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED

By Heidi Johnson-Wright

Rights given should never be taken as a given.

Just because the law protects us doesn’t mean those protections will always be respected. Not even by allegedly respectable entities such as school districts.

Take Anthony Merchante, for example. Anthony is a cute little 7-year old boy. He has more challenges to deal with, though, then the average 7 year old. He has cerebral palsy, spastic paralysis and a seizure disorder. He cannot speak, and he uses a wheelchair for mobility.

Because Anthony is a person with a disability, he has rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. One of those rights is the use of a service dog. And it just so happens that a bright, dedicated, professionally trained dog came into his life. The Staffordshire terrier, named Stevie, alerts caregivers when Anthony needs help.

Stevie knows when Anthony needs help stabilizing his head to keep his airway open. The dog steps onto Anthony’s wheelchair and lays across his lap. The dog alerts humans by stepping on a mat with a sensor should Anthony have a medical emergency, such as a seizure. Stevie’s vest carries medical supplies and emergency instructions for Anthony’s human caregivers.

Not only is Stevie an essential part of Anthony’s daily care, but he’s a gentleman, too. He stays at Anthony’s side, is never disruptive, doesn’t beg for food or bother anyone.

Nevertheless, Broward County, FL school administrators decided, for whatever reason, they did not like Stevie. Didn’t want him in Anthony’s school, even though the dog has never misbehaved.

Anthony’s mother tried for two years to convince the school district that Stevie is an essential part of Anthony’s life. She tried to make them see that, without the service dog, her son could not get the education he is entitled to.

The school district put up roadblocks. Administrators insisted that Stevie receive vaccinations not required of other dogs. They required Anthony’s mom to purchase expensive liability insurance and insisted she pay a handler to accompany the dog during the school day. The district even contended that Anthony didn’t need Stevie. That school staff could do all the things Stevie does.  

So Anthony’s mom took the school district to court. In fact, a friend and colleague of mine – Matthew Dietz, represented her and her son. Dietz told the court that the district’s burdensome requirements amounted to “an impossible barrier,” and violated the ADA.

Ultimately, the judge agreed, ruling that is was reasonable for Stevie to accompany Anthony during the school day, “in the same way a school would assist a non-disabled child to use the restroom, or assist a diabetic child with her insulin pump, or assist a physically disabled child employ her motorized wheelchair.”

The school district can no longer separate Anthony from his service dog, and cannot impose the insurance and handler requirements on him.

Now a seven-year old boy – like the other seven year olds -- can focus on math and spelling and social studies. He doesn’t have to worry that the service dog who enables him to do these things will be taken away. That the rights he is guaranteed under federal civil rights law will be violated by a school district that refuses to acknowledge these rights.

It’s been a quarter century since the passage of the ADA. But we must never let our guard down.

Like the way Stevie watches over his friend, Anthony.

Follow Heidi Johnson-Wright's acclaimed blog at: http://earthboundtomboy.blogspot.com