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The Civil Rights Movement and the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision which extended equal protection under the law to minorities, paved the way for similar gains for those with disabilities. Parents, who had begun forming special education advocacy groups became the prime movers in the struggle to improve educational opportunities for their children.
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Prior to this, parents had created advocacy groups to help bring the needs of students with disabilities to the public eye. This panel, created by John f. Kennedy in 1961, recommended giving federal aid to states in order to address these issues.
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Lyndon B. Johnson signed this act which provided funding for primary education and expanded access to educational opportunities to those children with disabilities.
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This act passed in 1975 established a right to public education for all children regardless of disability.
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The EHA was reformulated into the IDEA. This act elaborated on the inclusion of children with disabilities in regular classes and allowed parents to become more involved in educational decisions for their disabled children.
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This act ensured equal treatment and equal access of people with disabilities to employment opportunities and to public accommodations.
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In addition to it's already determined purpose, the IDEA was revised to emphasize academic outcomes for students with disabilities. This involved raising expectations for students, supporting students, supporting parents, and helping states determine appropriate outcomes. With the focus on outcomes, school-to-work transition planning gained new importance.
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The revision of IDEA in 2004 reiterated that special education and related services should be designed to meet students’ unique needs.” They also stated that students with disabilities should have access to the general education curriculum in the regular classroom, to the maximum extent possible.
