Disabilities in College: A Timeline of Important Legislation for Handicapped Students in Higher Education
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President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, establishing state-level programs to help disabled students facing challenges in schools.
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Eunice Kennedy Shriver organizes the first Special Olympic Games in Chicago. Shriver believed that people who had mental disabilities could excel in physical activities.
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The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is passed under President Ford. The act protects the privacy of student's education records/history, and grants the student's family specific rights to these records until the student turns 18 or graduates from high school. The McBurney Center operates under FERPA laws, as upon graduating from high school, these educational rights transfer to the student.
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The Individuals with Education Disability Act (IDEA), first known as the EHA, is passed to support education/programming for young people with disabilities. The act made sure that all children with an identified disability received services for their individual needs.
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The McBurney Center is founded at UW-Madison.
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The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is passed. The act outlawed discrimination against people with any sort of disability in "all areas of public life." This includes public schools.
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Amendments to the IDEA are passed. The amendments focused specifically on improving the education of children with special needs; provisions included identifying children who have handicaps even before they enter school and fortifying the relationship between the children's parents and their schools.
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ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) is passed; it overruled decisions previously made by the Supreme Court that made it harder for people to prove certain handicaps qualified as disabiltiies.
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The ADAAA becomes effective.
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By 2011-2012, 12.9% of all enrolled public school students ages 3-21 were covered under the IDEA.
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President Obama signs the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which reauthorized the ESEA passed 50 years prior. The ESEA was dedicated to creating equal opportunities for all students regardless of differentiating factors, including disabilities.
