1 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:05,160 Speaker 1: After this week's episode on the five oh four sit Ins, 2 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: we are returning to the topic of disability rights for 3 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:10,559 Speaker 1: our Saturday classic with something that took place a few 4 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:14,920 Speaker 1: years earlier than that. It is about lawsuits involving disabled 5 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:17,920 Speaker 1: students that followed in the wake of Brown versus Board 6 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,040 Speaker 1: and the passage of the first US law establishing that 7 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:26,240 Speaker 1: all children, regardless of ability, have the right to a free, 8 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:27,960 Speaker 1: appropriate public education. 9 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 2: In this episode, we mentioned that the Education for All 10 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:35,440 Speaker 2: Handicapped Children Act, which is now called the Individuals with 11 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:40,520 Speaker 2: Disabilities Education Act, required evaluation programs to be non discriminatory 12 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:45,159 Speaker 2: because poor children and children who weren't white were disproportionately 13 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 2: being identified as disabled. This continues to be an ongoing 14 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:55,080 Speaker 2: and pervasive issue today. Black and Indigenous children in particular 15 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 2: are disproportionately more likely to be incorrectly identified as disabled, 16 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 2: and there are also gender disparities in special education. This 17 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 2: relates to how many children are identified as disabled and 18 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:10,520 Speaker 2: which disabilities they are identified as having, and it can 19 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 2: have a negative impact on students' entire educations and their 20 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:15,200 Speaker 2: later lives. 21 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:19,400 Speaker 1: This episode also makes a passing reference to no Child 22 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:24,040 Speaker 1: Left Behind. No Child Left Behind was repealed on December tenth, 23 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:27,040 Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, and it was replaced with the Every Student 24 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 1: Succeeds Act. This episode originally came out on March twenty fifth, 25 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: twenty fifteen. Enjoy Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, 26 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio Hello, and Welcome to the podcast. 27 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 2: I'm Tracy V. 28 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:52,680 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. While we research this podcast, 29 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:55,480 Speaker 1: you and I uncover things that surprise us. Basically all 30 00:01:55,520 --> 00:02:00,880 Speaker 1: the time, for sure. So sometimes though, we discover things 31 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:04,440 Speaker 1: that surprise us, and the fact that we are just 32 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 1: learning this is also in itself surprising because we should 33 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 1: have known about that before because of various things in 34 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:13,880 Speaker 1: our background. In this case, my mom spent most of 35 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:17,200 Speaker 1: her career working with people who had a range of disabilities. 36 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: For she was a teacher for adults with disabilities, and 37 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:23,799 Speaker 1: then she worked in a couple of different roles at 38 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,880 Speaker 1: a residential care center for children who had multiple disabilities, 39 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:31,680 Speaker 1: most of whom really needed full time care. My aunt 40 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 1: also taught third grade special education for nearly her whole 41 00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:39,480 Speaker 1: teaching career, and one of my first jobs as a 42 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:43,240 Speaker 1: writer was writing for a company that sold educational supplies 43 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,119 Speaker 1: and they had a whole business unit that dealt specifically 44 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:49,800 Speaker 1: with products for children who had special needs. And yet, 45 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:52,600 Speaker 1: in spite of all of that family history, I was 46 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:55,840 Speaker 1: surprised to learn from a listener email that until nineteen 47 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:59,639 Speaker 1: seventy five, children with disabilities in the United States were 48 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:03,680 Speaker 1: not getting guaranteed a public education. Listener Amy wrote in 49 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 1: to tell us about this aspect of Brown versus Board 50 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: that I hadn't known about before. After the Supreme Court 51 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: ruling that the practice of segregation based on race was 52 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 1: unconstitutional came out, it sparked a similar series of cases 53 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:19,959 Speaker 1: that were related to children who were at that point 54 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:25,000 Speaker 1: either segregated into different classrooms or restricted from public schools 55 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,400 Speaker 1: entirely because they had a disability. So that is what 56 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:30,919 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about today, And as a caveat 57 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: before we start, the language that we use to talk 58 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 1: about disabilities has evolved so much since the nineteen sixties 59 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: and seventies, so, particularly in quoted material from court proceedings 60 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: and laws, this episode includes some terminology that we would 61 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: not use the day today. This would be considered insulting 62 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: or offensive. We're gonna note those as they come up, 63 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: but just as an advanced warning. There are words we're 64 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: going to use that today we absolutely would not be 65 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: using in that way. 66 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 2: So uh to kick it off. The first US state 67 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:06,720 Speaker 2: to pass a compulsory school attendance law was Massachusetts, and 68 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 2: it did so in eighteen fifty two, having passed a 69 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 2: similar law when it was still a British colony more 70 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:16,000 Speaker 2: than two hundred years prior to that. Other states followed suit, 71 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 2: and these laws required children in a specific age range 72 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 2: to attend school, and parents whose children didn't go to 73 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 2: school or get an equivalent education at home faced prosecution. 74 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 1: However, most states granted exceptions to their compulsory attendance laws 75 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:35,720 Speaker 1: in the cases of children who had disabilities. These children 76 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:38,440 Speaker 1: weren't permitted to enroll in public schools at all, or 77 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: if they were allowed to enroll in school, they were 78 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: kept in separate, segregated classrooms away from other children, regardless 79 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 1: of the nature of their disability or what kind of 80 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 1: education that they needed. School systems had different rules for 81 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 1: determining who could be excluded, but in general, students deemed 82 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,880 Speaker 1: to be quote uneducable were not a allowed to enroll. 83 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:03,440 Speaker 1: Laws were all over the place when it came to 84 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:08,719 Speaker 1: defining who exactly could be categorized as unedugable. In some 85 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 1: cases it was an IQ below a certain number. But 86 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:14,279 Speaker 1: there were states that labeled a range of disabilities that 87 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:17,920 Speaker 1: had absolutely nothing to do with the ability to learn 88 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:22,000 Speaker 1: as uneducable, and that is not a label we would 89 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 1: use anymore. Children who were excluded from school mostly stayed 90 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: home or were institutionalized. Many of these institutionalized children did 91 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,600 Speaker 1: not actually need full time care because of their disabilities, 92 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:38,120 Speaker 1: and even if they did, the institutions that existed in 93 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,280 Speaker 1: the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were not equipped to 94 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 1: give that kind of care. In general, these facilities just 95 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 1: provided housing, minimal food and attentive care, and virtually no 96 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 1: education for the children who lived there. Even after the 97 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,360 Speaker 1: Supreme Court ruled in Brown versus Board that schools could 98 00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 1: not be segregated based on race, other courts were finding 99 00:05:59,839 --> 00:06:04,120 Speaker 1: that segregation based on ability was allowed. In nineteen fifty eight, 100 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:07,279 Speaker 1: the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the state's compulsory education 101 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:12,200 Speaker 1: laws did not apply to children with disabilities. In North Carolina, 102 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 1: it was a crime for parents whose children had already 103 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:18,480 Speaker 1: been excluded because of a disability to try again at 104 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:21,640 Speaker 1: enrolling them. This law was actually in effect all the 105 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:26,720 Speaker 1: way until nineteen sixty nine. So apart from the fact 106 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:30,000 Speaker 1: that children were being denied in education, the Supreme Court 107 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:33,480 Speaker 1: opinion in Brown versus Board had outlined very eloquently a 108 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 1: number of ways in which segregation based on race was 109 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 1: psychologically harmful, and it seems to a lot of people 110 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: that the same would be true in the case of 111 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:44,800 Speaker 1: segregation based on ability. For example, if you just changed 112 00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:47,560 Speaker 1: the word race to ability in this sentence from the 113 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:51,360 Speaker 1: ruling quote, to separate them from others of similar age 114 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 1: and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling 115 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:57,280 Speaker 1: of inferiority as to their status in the community that 116 00:06:57,320 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlike 117 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:03,560 Speaker 1: ever to be undone end quote. So if being put 118 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,680 Speaker 1: in a separate classroom made black children feel inferior to 119 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 1: white children, logically people thought it would do the same 120 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,440 Speaker 1: in the case of children who had a disability who 121 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:16,640 Speaker 1: were being separated from the rest of the school, And 122 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: the same questions were on the minds of legislators, and 123 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:22,920 Speaker 1: the US started to pass a variety of laws that 124 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 1: addressed various aspects of education for disabled students in the 125 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: late nineteen fifties, new laws provided teacher training programs for 126 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:34,400 Speaker 1: working with blind and deaf students, as well as captioned 127 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:39,080 Speaker 1: films and other accessible teaching materials. Not long before his 128 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:43,040 Speaker 1: assassination in nineteen sixty three, President John F. Kennedy signed 129 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:46,480 Speaker 1: two pieces of legislation that were related to this subject. 130 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:49,920 Speaker 1: One was an amendment to the Social Security Act, which 131 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:53,120 Speaker 1: expanded programs for mothers and children in an effort to 132 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 1: prevent intellectual disabilities, which were things like screening programs and 133 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:01,240 Speaker 1: nutrition programs that I aimed at prevention. The other was 134 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:05,360 Speaker 1: the Mental Retardation and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act 135 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:10,600 Speaker 1: of nineteen sixty three. This funded research and programs, including 136 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:14,880 Speaker 1: the training of special education teachers. Then, as a part 137 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:18,840 Speaker 1: of his war on poverty, President Lyndon Johnson signed the 138 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:23,000 Speaker 1: Elementary and Secondary Education Act into law in nineteen sixty five, 139 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: and this law was meant to address student inequality, especially 140 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:30,920 Speaker 1: when it came to children from financially disadvantaged families. In 141 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:33,840 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six, this law was amended to include two 142 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: parts related to students with disabilities. It established the Bureau 143 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:41,439 Speaker 1: of Education of the Handicapped and the National Advisory Council, 144 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 1: and it created programs for students with disabilities and provided 145 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:49,160 Speaker 1: grant funding for those programs. As a side note, the 146 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:53,680 Speaker 1: Elementary and Secondary Education Act was really controversial at the time. 147 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:58,320 Speaker 1: It increased spending on education really dramatically, and since many 148 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: of the poorest children it was meant to help were 149 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:04,200 Speaker 1: also racial and ethnic minorities, that raised the hackles of 150 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:06,719 Speaker 1: a lot of the same citizens and lawmakers who had 151 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:10,960 Speaker 1: previously opposed integration and at that point were still opposing integration. 152 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:15,200 Speaker 1: This law actually continues to be controversial today. It was 153 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:17,920 Speaker 1: reauthorized in two thousand and two and at that point 154 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 1: renamed No Child Left Behind. Additional laws expanded access to 155 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:27,920 Speaker 1: services through the nineteen sixties, and in the early nineteen seventies, 156 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: two court rulings outlined the idea that all children had 157 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:35,080 Speaker 1: the right to a free, appropriate public education. We're going 158 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:37,240 Speaker 1: to talk more about that after we have a quick 159 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:49,000 Speaker 1: word from a sponsor. A number of court cases came 160 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:52,000 Speaker 1: about in the nineteen sixties and seventies that related to 161 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: the right to an education for children with disabilities. Two 162 00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:59,720 Speaker 1: of them have become really the landmark cases in this field, 163 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:01,959 Speaker 1: and the ones that are cited over and over again. 164 00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:06,679 Speaker 1: The first one was the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children 165 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:10,800 Speaker 1: Versus the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, also known as PARK versus Commonwealth. 166 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 1: The Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children was an advocacy organization 167 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:20,400 Speaker 1: for children with developmental disabilities and their parents. It was 168 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:24,200 Speaker 1: at that point also providing education for most Pennsylvania children 169 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: with disabilities who were not being educated in public schools. 170 00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:31,280 Speaker 1: Under Pennsylvania law, at this point, children had to have 171 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:34,960 Speaker 1: reached a quote mental age of five years before the 172 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:38,160 Speaker 1: age of eight to start first grade, and schools could 173 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:41,200 Speaker 1: deny admission to any student who didn't meet that criteria. 174 00:10:42,559 --> 00:10:44,800 Speaker 1: People were still talking about mental age a lot when 175 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:47,280 Speaker 1: my mom was still working, but I don't think we 176 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:52,079 Speaker 1: do that anymore. It's a very nebulous thing, the idea 177 00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:55,720 Speaker 1: of a mental age, and it's not nearly the prevalent 178 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:59,439 Speaker 1: standard that it used to be. Along with Park, the 179 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:02,840 Speaker 1: parents of thirteen children who had been excluded from school 180 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:06,640 Speaker 1: formed a class action lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 181 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:10,040 Speaker 1: quote on behalf of all mentally retarded persons between the 182 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:12,600 Speaker 1: ages of six and twenty one, whom the Commonwealth of 183 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:16,040 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania is presently excluding from a program of education and 184 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:20,400 Speaker 1: training in the public schools. Their attorney, Thomas K. Gilhul, 185 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 1: argued that excluding the children from school was unconstitutional because 186 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:28,000 Speaker 1: it violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, 187 00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:32,280 Speaker 1: so as a quick refresher, The Fourteenth Amendment was one 188 00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:34,720 Speaker 1: of the reconstruction amendments passed in the wake of the 189 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:37,559 Speaker 1: Civil War, in part to help protect the rights of 190 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:41,360 Speaker 1: recently freed slaves. The end of the first section of 191 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:45,319 Speaker 1: the Amendment includes both the equal protection and due process clauses. 192 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:49,480 Speaker 1: Quote No State shall make or enforce any law which 193 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:52,720 Speaker 1: shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the 194 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:57,560 Speaker 1: United States. Nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, 195 00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:01,320 Speaker 1: or property without due process of law law, nor deny 196 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:04,560 Speaker 1: to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of 197 00:12:04,559 --> 00:12:09,720 Speaker 1: the laws. Pennsylvania's defense was basically to cite the laws 198 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:12,440 Speaker 1: that were already on its books. One was the law 199 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:14,880 Speaker 1: we just talked about that required a mental age of 200 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:20,400 Speaker 1: five years. Another relieved Pennsylvania of the obligation to educate 201 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:25,600 Speaker 1: children who were quote uneducable and quote untrainable. The Commonwealth 202 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:29,120 Speaker 1: also argued that educating these children would create an undue 203 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:32,320 Speaker 1: financial burden on the government of Pennsylvania. 204 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:35,880 Speaker 2: The case was settled before the U. S. District Court 205 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:40,360 Speaker 2: for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Judge Thomas Ambrose Masterson 206 00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:45,200 Speaker 2: ruled that yes, it was unconstitutional for Pennsylvania to interfere 207 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 2: in any exceptional child's right to an education, and the 208 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:52,000 Speaker 2: Commonwealth was deemed to be responsible for providing a free 209 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:54,880 Speaker 2: education for all children between the ages of six and 210 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:59,480 Speaker 2: twenty one, regardless of their ability. The Commonwealth was also 211 00:12:59,559 --> 00:13:03,480 Speaker 2: required to offer free preschool to all students regardless of 212 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:07,000 Speaker 2: ability as well, and if for some reason a school 213 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:10,640 Speaker 2: system could not provide a free, appropriate education for a 214 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:13,680 Speaker 2: child within its own schools, it had to find other 215 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:17,640 Speaker 2: arrangements for that child's education at no cost to the family. 216 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:22,120 Speaker 2: The other case that's most cited in this context is 217 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:25,360 Speaker 2: Mills versus Board of Education of the District of Columbia 218 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:29,000 Speaker 2: or Mills versus Board. This was another class action suit, 219 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:31,520 Speaker 2: and this time it involved seven children who had been 220 00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:34,839 Speaker 2: excluded from school in the District of Columbia. The case 221 00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:37,560 Speaker 2: is named for plaintiff Peter Mills, who, at the time 222 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:39,880 Speaker 2: of the proceedings is twelve years old in a ward 223 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:43,720 Speaker 2: of the district. He had been excluded from school in 224 00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:48,440 Speaker 2: fourth grade due to a quote behavior problem. Another plaintiff, 225 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:51,959 Speaker 2: Dwayne Blackshear, was also excluded because of a behavior problem, 226 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:54,920 Speaker 2: and the remaining plaintiffs were reported to have been excluded 227 00:13:54,920 --> 00:14:00,440 Speaker 2: for a number of intellectual disabilities and medical conditions. Thetiffs 228 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:03,040 Speaker 2: had been trying to get access to public education for 229 00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:06,640 Speaker 2: the nineteen seventy one nineteen seventy two school year, and 230 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:09,680 Speaker 2: after failing to get results by going through normal channels, 231 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:12,800 Speaker 2: filed their suit on September twenty fourth, nineteen seventy one. 232 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:16,480 Speaker 2: On December twentieth, nineteen seventy one, the court signed an 233 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:19,880 Speaker 2: interim stipulation that four of the plaintiffs get access to 234 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 2: a public education that would meet their needs by January 235 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:25,600 Speaker 2: third of nineteen seventy two, and that the Board of 236 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:29,040 Speaker 2: Education take a series of steps to identify other children 237 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:32,600 Speaker 2: in need of special education services and figure out how 238 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:35,840 Speaker 2: to provide them with an education. The ruling that I 239 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:40,160 Speaker 2: was reading did not get into why only four of 240 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:44,600 Speaker 2: the children were ordered to be enrolled in school immediately. 241 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:52,120 Speaker 2: Based on the descriptions of the various plaintiffs, that are included, 242 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:56,080 Speaker 2: and the ruling, I think it was just an issue 243 00:14:56,080 --> 00:14:59,880 Speaker 2: of we need to figure out more accommodations for these, 244 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:02,880 Speaker 2: but let's go ahead and get these into school. God, 245 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:04,960 Speaker 2: that is sort of my conclusion, but it wasn't really 246 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 2: spelled out that clearly. However, the Board of Education missed 247 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:12,600 Speaker 2: this January third deadline, and it continued to miss new 248 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:15,560 Speaker 2: deadlines as the judge ordered them, and so the plaintiffs 249 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:18,040 Speaker 2: had to keep bringing the matter back before the judge. 250 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:22,080 Speaker 2: It dragged on for months before Judge Joseph Cornelius Wattie 251 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:24,960 Speaker 2: ruled that excluding these children was a violation of their 252 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:29,040 Speaker 2: constitutional rights. He cited Brown versus Board and Bowling versus 253 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:31,280 Speaker 2: Sharp as precedents. Those are all things that we've talked 254 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:34,720 Speaker 2: about during our two parter on Brown versus Board, along 255 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:37,480 Speaker 2: with a number of other civil rights cases, and he 256 00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:41,280 Speaker 2: found that the whole process of excluding children from school 257 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:45,680 Speaker 2: violated their due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. We've 258 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:48,480 Speaker 2: kind of alluded before to the way the Fourteenth Amendment 259 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:52,040 Speaker 2: is worded applies to states and not to the District 260 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:55,080 Speaker 2: of Columbia, which is why this really focused on Fifth 261 00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:59,040 Speaker 2: Amendment rights rather than Fourteenth Amendment rights, and he finally 262 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:03,000 Speaker 2: ordered quote that no child eligible for a publicly supported 263 00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:06,560 Speaker 2: education in the District of Columbia public schools shall be 264 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:10,880 Speaker 2: excluded from a regular public school assignment by a rule, policy, 265 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:13,480 Speaker 2: or practice of the Board of Education of the District 266 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:17,280 Speaker 2: of Columbia or its agents, unless such child is provided 267 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:21,760 Speaker 2: a adequate alternative educational services suited to the child's needs, 268 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:26,160 Speaker 2: which may include special education or tuition grants, and be 269 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:30,680 Speaker 2: a constitutionally adequate prior hearing and periodic review of the 270 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:35,479 Speaker 2: child's status, progress, and the adequacy of any educational alternative. 271 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 1: So, to be very short, that says you cannot exclude 272 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:43,520 Speaker 1: children from school without providing them an alternate education that's 273 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:47,000 Speaker 1: suitable for them, and you can't exclude children from school 274 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:50,360 Speaker 1: without actually allowing them to do process. And that was 275 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:52,400 Speaker 1: a problem that was happening all over the country where 276 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:55,840 Speaker 1: basically a principal would say this child is excluded from 277 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:58,720 Speaker 1: school because of this disability, and the child really had 278 00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:03,400 Speaker 1: no recourse. There was no due process in that situation. 279 00:17:03,920 --> 00:17:07,600 Speaker 1: So this brings us to the first federal law that 280 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:13,560 Speaker 1: guaranteed the same thing that Judge Wattie had just guaranteed 281 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:15,520 Speaker 1: in the District of Columbia, and we'll talk about this 282 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:26,520 Speaker 1: after another brief word from a sponsor. One of the 283 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:29,879 Speaker 1: things that was really exceptional about Brown versus Board is 284 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:32,359 Speaker 1: that it was a Supreme Court ruling that dramatically and 285 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:35,439 Speaker 1: fundamentally changed the way people lived in their daily lives. 286 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:38,479 Speaker 1: One of the questions that was raised during the Supreme 287 00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:41,840 Speaker 1: Court's arguments and re arguments in Brown versus Board, and 288 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:44,719 Speaker 1: it's actually a question that still still persists in some 289 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:47,960 Speaker 1: people's minds today, is whether the Court even had the 290 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:52,120 Speaker 1: authority to make such a massive change. Critics argued that 291 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:54,800 Speaker 1: that wasn't the court's job at all, that it really 292 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:57,480 Speaker 1: should have fallen to Congress to pass a law to 293 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:00,480 Speaker 1: change segregation, not to the Court to over turn all 294 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:02,480 Speaker 1: of those laws that were already on the books. 295 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:06,880 Speaker 2: Congress did eventually pass civil rights legislation that had some 296 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:09,919 Speaker 2: things in common with the Brown versus Board decision, but 297 00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:12,919 Speaker 2: when it came to children's rights to an education regardless 298 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:17,479 Speaker 2: of disability, Congress took a more focused approach. In nineteen 299 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:20,520 Speaker 2: seventy two, after these and other cases had started moving 300 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:24,639 Speaker 2: through the courts, Congress introduced legislation meant to directly address 301 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:28,800 Speaker 2: the subject of education for children with disabilities. First, Congress 302 00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:31,800 Speaker 2: launched an investigation into the state of education for children 303 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:35,080 Speaker 2: with disabilities, and these findings were kind of shocking to 304 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:39,000 Speaker 2: today's sensibilities. Millions of children in the United States were 305 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:42,840 Speaker 2: effectively being denied a public education due to a disability, 306 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:45,960 Speaker 2: either by being excluded from schools entirely or by being 307 00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:49,439 Speaker 2: put into a segregated classroom that was not appropriate for 308 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:53,720 Speaker 2: their needs. There were, according to this investigation, more than 309 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:58,400 Speaker 2: eight million children who needed special education services. Only three 310 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:01,480 Speaker 2: point nine million of these children, so less than half 311 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:04,480 Speaker 2: were getting an education that was appropriate to their needs. 312 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:08,280 Speaker 2: One point seventy five million children were receiving an education 313 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:11,320 Speaker 2: that wasn't appropriate for their needs, and two point five 314 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 2: million weren't getting any education at all. Aside from the 315 00:19:16,359 --> 00:19:19,960 Speaker 2: basic idea that so many children just were not receiving 316 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:23,680 Speaker 2: the education that they were entitled to, this investigation actually 317 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:28,040 Speaker 2: raised another point. By failing to educate children appropriately, state 318 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:31,440 Speaker 2: governments were essentially forcing them to remain dependent on other 319 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:34,800 Speaker 2: people for their entire lives. The end result of this 320 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:37,840 Speaker 2: lack of education was that children who could have otherwise 321 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:41,479 Speaker 2: become independent were growing up to rely exclusively on public 322 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:46,280 Speaker 2: agencies and taxpayer dollars in order to survive. According to 323 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:50,119 Speaker 2: the legislative records, the figure was cited as billions of 324 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:54,600 Speaker 2: dollars spent per year to keep people in quote subhuman conditions. 325 00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:58,840 Speaker 2: The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of nineteen seventy five, 326 00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:01,239 Speaker 2: also known as Public Life Law ninety four Tosh one 327 00:20:01,359 --> 00:20:04,840 Speaker 2: forty two, was signed into law by President Gerald Ford 328 00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:07,720 Speaker 2: on November seventeenth, nineteen seventy five, and it was to 329 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:11,560 Speaker 2: take effect by September first of nineteen seventy eight. This 330 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:15,240 Speaker 2: is the law that guaranteed all children between the ages 331 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:19,040 Speaker 2: of three and twenty one be allowed access to a free, 332 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:23,840 Speaker 2: appropriate public education, regardless of whether they had a disability. 333 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:28,719 Speaker 2: It had four purposes. First was quote to assure that 334 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:32,359 Speaker 2: all children with disabilities have available to them a free, 335 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:37,560 Speaker 2: appropriate public education, which emphasizes special education and related services 336 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:41,600 Speaker 2: designed to meet their unique needs. Second, quote to assure 337 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:44,440 Speaker 2: that the rights of children with disabilities and their parents 338 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 2: are protected. Third quote to assist states and localities to 339 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:53,520 Speaker 2: provide for the education of all children with disabilities. And 340 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:57,760 Speaker 2: force quote to assess and assure the effectiveness of efforts 341 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:02,440 Speaker 2: to educate all children with disabilities. This law also outlined 342 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:05,600 Speaker 2: a number of ideas that are still part of education 343 00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:10,639 Speaker 2: for children with disabilities today. This included individual education programs 344 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,919 Speaker 2: are IEPs, which are tailored plans of education that are 345 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:18,280 Speaker 2: put together to meet each child's specific needs. The concept 346 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:21,800 Speaker 2: of the least restrictive environment was also part of this law, 347 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:24,280 Speaker 2: so that's the idea that a child should be educated 348 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:28,520 Speaker 2: in the least restrictive setting that is still simultaneously appropriate 349 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:32,640 Speaker 2: to meet their educational needs. It also sets up education 350 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:36,359 Speaker 2: as a collaborative process. This is one that involves the 351 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:40,280 Speaker 2: active participation of the parents, the teachers, and other professionals 352 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 2: all working together to put together a plan and educate 353 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:47,160 Speaker 2: a specific child. There were a lot of other provisions 354 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:50,080 Speaker 2: in the law as well. Evaluation programs had to be 355 00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:54,200 Speaker 2: non discriminatory. They needed to account for economic differences as 356 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:57,320 Speaker 2: well as language and ethnicity. And this was a big 357 00:21:57,359 --> 00:22:01,080 Speaker 2: deal because poor and minority children were dispropored portunately represented 358 00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:06,040 Speaker 2: in programs for children with disabilities, sometimes for discriminatory reasons 359 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:10,560 Speaker 2: and not because an actual disability existed. And to be clear, 360 00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:13,680 Speaker 2: this was really an enormous step. We had gone from 361 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:17,679 Speaker 2: people just being institutionalized as a matter of course to 362 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:19,840 Speaker 2: there being a law that guaranteed that everyone had the 363 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,960 Speaker 2: right to the same education. But this was not an 364 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:26,639 Speaker 2: easy process at all, and it wasn't even one that 365 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:29,000 Speaker 2: a lot of people had high hopes for. When the 366 00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:33,440 Speaker 2: law was originally passed, President Ford himself said, quote, Unfortunately, 367 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:36,960 Speaker 2: this bill promises more than the federal government can deliver, 368 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:39,840 Speaker 2: and its good intentions could be thwarted by the many 369 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:43,960 Speaker 2: unwise provisions it contains. Everyone can agree with the objectives 370 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:47,040 Speaker 2: stated in the title of this bill, educating all handicapped 371 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:50,480 Speaker 2: children in our nation. The key question is whether the 372 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:56,160 Speaker 2: bill will really accomplish this objective, and as people's understanding 373 00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:59,199 Speaker 2: of what was actually needed and how it would work progressed, 374 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:02,159 Speaker 2: Public TIK Law ninety four TOASH one four two was 375 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:06,359 Speaker 2: amended several times between nineteen seventy five and nineteen ninety seven. 376 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:09,960 Speaker 2: In the nineteen eighties, amendments expanded the scope of the 377 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:13,120 Speaker 2: law to include services that started from birth, as well 378 00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:18,720 Speaker 2: as transition services from graduation into adult living. In nineteen 379 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:21,439 Speaker 2: ninety the law was reauthorized, and at that time it 380 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:25,960 Speaker 2: was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or idea. 381 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:30,159 Speaker 2: It was reauthorized again in nineteen ninety seven, and this 382 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:34,639 Speaker 2: reauthorization involved research into the outcomes of special education, in 383 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:38,440 Speaker 2: other words, what had actually happened to special education students, 384 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:43,000 Speaker 2: and the research was not particularly positive. Special education quote 385 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:46,639 Speaker 2: has been impeded by low expectations and an insufficient focus 386 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:50,159 Speaker 2: on applying replicable research on proven methods of teaching and 387 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:55,080 Speaker 2: learning for children with disabilities. So while at times this 388 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 2: progress has been slow or faltering, overall things have improved 389 00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:02,840 Speaker 2: over the last forty years. The majority of children with 390 00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:06,240 Speaker 2: disabilities now go to neighborhood public schools and are educated 391 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:09,640 Speaker 2: in regular classrooms, and both the graduation rates and employment 392 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:14,320 Speaker 2: rates after graduation have increased, along with enrollments into secondary 393 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:18,400 Speaker 2: schools by students who have disabilities. The number of college 394 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:23,440 Speaker 2: freshmen with disabilities has tripled since nineteen seventy eight. However, 395 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:26,480 Speaker 2: while things have improved, there are definitely a number of 396 00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:29,560 Speaker 2: challenges and issues that parents and teachers, and as they 397 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:32,280 Speaker 2: get older and become more accountable for their own education, 398 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:35,159 Speaker 2: the students themselves still face. 399 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:38,760 Speaker 1: Yeah, most of the parents I know whose children have 400 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:45,119 Speaker 1: some sort of disability have talked really candidly about various struggles, 401 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:47,760 Speaker 1: like they will have teachers who they love, and the 402 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:50,639 Speaker 1: teachers are obviously doing the best that they can with 403 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,840 Speaker 1: the resources that they have, but they they're like still 404 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:57,720 Speaker 1: struggles in getting IEPs put together and approved and having 405 00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:02,800 Speaker 1: them implemented once they actually are our put together. So 406 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:06,200 Speaker 1: it's definitely definitely not a perfect process yet, but it's 407 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:08,800 Speaker 1: also one that has certainly come a long long way 408 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:17,080 Speaker 1: since nineteen seventy five. Thanks so much for joining us 409 00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:19,840 Speaker 1: on this Saturday. If you'd like to send us a note, 410 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:24,639 Speaker 1: our email addresses History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com, and 411 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:27,399 Speaker 1: you can subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio app, 412 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:35,560 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.