In celebration of Disability Pride Month, and the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), we present this series of blog posts highlighting the impact of this monumental civil rights legislation. The ADA played a transformative role in promoting accessibility, equity, and inclusion of people with disabilities. Let’s celebrate these achievements and continue to work towards a more accessible and inclusive world for everyone.
Education
In 1975, more than 1 million children with disabilities were excluded from education in public schools. Another 4 million children with disabilities, while attending school, were not receiving educational services they needed – either because their disabilities were undetected or because schools did not offer the services they needed. Virtually no preschoolers with disabilities received services. Today, almost 7 million children with disabilities receive educational and service-related access to education, due in part to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
The ADA, by articulating more specific regulations, reinforced the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which states in Section 504 that, “No otherwise qualified individual with a disability … shall solely by reason of her or his disability be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Although the ADA doesn’t specifically address education, its provisions do affect educational organizations regarding students with disabilities. The ADA is divided into titles. The first three titles cover:
- providing reasonable accommodations to employees and applicants with disabilities,
- providing auxiliary aids and services necessary for effective communication and program access, and
- providing reasonable modifications of policies, practices and procedures.
Since most public schools receive federal funding, they already had to comply with the obligations of Section 504. The ADA broadened that legislation to include most entities, excluding churches and private clubs. Private schools not affiliated with a church were required to provide for full inclusion.
Title II states that government entities, which include public schools, must provide program access in the most integrated setting unless separate programs are necessary to ensure equal benefits or services. This makes it clear, therefore, that schools are required to:
- make structural improvements where needed
- provide alternative and/or auxiliary aids for learning and communication
- offer students with disabilities the means to participate in extracurricular activities
In other words, every service, program, benefit or activity offered by schools must ensure access for students with disabilities.
Section 504 and the ADA require that schools should always place students with disabilities with their nondisabled peers in the general education setting and in extracurricular activities. It would be inappropriate, for example, to send a student with a disability on a field trip on an accessible bus by themselves – all students should ride together.
Because of the ADA, today many young people with disabilities are competitively employed as a result of the education they received through the enforcement of these federal statutes. The ADA has improved their quality of life, level of independence, and educational goals.
For more information, visit these additional education resources.
References
- Impact of the Civil Rights Laws
- ADA Q&A: Back to School (PDF)
- Protecting Students With Disabilities
- A Comparison of ADA, IDEA, and Section 504