No, Special Education Does Not Treat Disability like a Disease and Is Not ‘Obsessed’ with Forcing Students to Conform
February 25, 2019
By: Andrew Wiley, Dimitris Anastasiou and jim Kauffman
Source: The Washington Post
The recent opinion piece by Soyoung Park titled “How special education is a prime example of our obsession with conformity” misrepresents the purpose and function of special education, and, in so doing, fails to advance efforts to respond appropriately to all forms of diversity in schools.
Park links discrimination against transgender people with the practice of special education in schools. In fact, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the federal law requiring special education) was major civil rights legislation to address discrimination against students with disabilities, who were historically excluded from appropriate public education in the United States.