Discrimination Against Specialized Individuals with Disabilities

Many students with disabilities in the United States are receiving a sub-standard education because states are not complying with federal rules on special education as a result of discriminatory practices (BBC News Online). In many cases, children with disabilities are being taught in separate classroom, when they should not be segregated. In addition, schools are not always following regulations meant to protect students with disabilities from discrimination. Historically ethnic and linguistically diverse groups have been discriminated against in our society and especially our educational system. For example, “in the early 1950’s, racial segregation in public schools was the norm across American. Although all the schools in a given district were supposed to be equal, most blacks’ schools were far inferior to their white counter parts” (Cozzens, 1998). This was changed by Brown v. Board of Education where Congress concluded that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal (Cozzens, 1998). Just as Oliver Brown and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NACCP) challenged segregation in public schools, many parents of children with disabilities, advocates, and civil right leaders fought for a policy that would provide a free, public education to all students with disabilities. This is how the Individual with Disabilities Act (IDEA) evolved and as Brown v. Board of Education it too is a giant step forward towards desegregation in public school and protection from acts of discrimination.

Not surprisingly, many definitions describing individuals with severe disabilities focus on deficits such as intellectual, orthopedic, sensory, behavioral and functional impairments; unfortunately, such definition tell us very little about them as people (McDonnell, Hardman, & Mc Donnell, 2003). Students being viewed specifically as the definition on