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Brown v Board of Education
This case guaranteed the right to an equal education for all American students ('over a mental age of 5', keep in mind) , paving the way to a push for special education.
(Image cred: https://www.britannica.com/event/Brown-v-Board-of-Education-of-Topeka) -
PA Association for Retarded Children v. PA and Mills v. District of Columbia Board of Education Cases
These cases against policies that denied people with special needs an education ended up resulting in a policy change, making the schools liable for providing an education of equal quality to that of their other peers for children who have disabilities. -
The Education for all Handicapped Children Act of 1975
This ensured every US school could accommodate those with disabilities and gave them funding to do so. It also gave parents more rights to dispute and monitor their child's education and required schools to make plans for the educations of these individuals that were similar to that of their peers. (Image cred. http://www.billingsschools.org/special-education.html) -
Board of Education v Rowley
Defined the term Free Appropriate Public Education and IEP and added in that the child must benefit as much as their potential allows from this. It was the first court case to require a re-interpretation and re-look at the Education for all Handicapped Children Act. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
The ADA act prohibits discrimination of those with disabilities in all places open to the public, including school, work, transportation, and more. It guaranteed that people who have disabilities would be given the same opportunities and rights in all areas of their life as any other citizen would. A really awesome run-down of this groundbreaking act: https://adata.org/learn-about-ada. (Image cred. http://www.humanrights.gov/dyn/news/features/ada25/) -
Individual with Disabilties Education Act of 1997
An amended version of the Education of Handicapped Children Act, this act updated the IEP policy, made new training requirements for social workers in special education, and students with disabilities were now included in state testing. -
IDEA 2004 Updates
The last amendment to IDEA to be passed of to date. It dropped the age at which children can start receiving their education to three instead of six, require private schools to offer special education services, and focused more on progress monitoring and goal setting for special education. Here's a video that follows the history of the IDEA Acts and Amendments and explains it simply: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TUDcqwePHak -
The ADA Amendments Act of 2008
The ADA Amendments broadened the range of disabilities included in the original act and made it easier to receive coverage under the act. -
Future of Mainstream Entertainment and Disabilities
It is not uncommon to see a person with a disability on nearly every television show on air, and those with disabilities actually play as characters with disabilities rather than people who do not playing as them. Many people who actually have the disability they portray in films are winning Oscars. People with disabilities are starting to be looked at as less of a minority to society than they used to be. Society is more educated this way about exceptional people. -
Future Education
Schools will be required to teach at least one course on the History of Special Education and Person-First Language to all students so that peers offer a more welcoming atmosphere for their peers who have disabilities. (image cred: http://blog.tutor.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/How-Students-Learn.jpg)
