Disabled Student Opportunities

By Seneca Barker

While scrolling through the top stories on Facebook the other day, I came across an article that caught my attention.

This piece was written by Lauren Appelbaum, the communications director of Respectability, a nonprofit organization. Their aim is to fight stigmas and advance opportunities for people with disabilities.

Picture source: www.vanatgemobility.com

The article stated that the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of higher educational standards for children with a disability.

The case of Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District argued how much educational benefits public schools must provide to these students.

Appelbaum explained, "They ruled unanimously (8-0) that schools must do more than provide “merely more than the bare minimum” education for students with a disability and instead provide them with the opportunity to make “appropriately ambitious” progress."

Picture Source: thepolitic.org

Lauren went as far to call this, "One of the most important education cases in decades" I completely agree.

As someone that has a brother with a disability, as well as a cousin, this is so important to me. Everyone deserves the same, respect, attention, and education.

"There are roughly 6.4 million students with disabilities between ages 3 to 21. Roughly 13 percent of all American students are students with disabilities, making this case important for a wide group of students."

As a future Special Education teacher, it will be my main focus to provide the best education possible to these students.

I learned from this article that the number of students with disabilities is increasing, and as teachers, we need to be aware of that. There should be no reason for a student to receive poor education because of any disability.