Lessons from and for "Disabled" Students

The young children waited eagerly at the starting line for the coach to yell "go." As soon as they heard the magic word, they were off. Laughing and giggling, they raced toward the finish line in hopes of possibly being the winner. But wait. Their friend was having trouble and had not gotten very far beyond the starting line when the other children noticed his predicament. What should they do, they wondered? What did they do? They all turned around, went back and helped their friend, and then they all, hand-in-hand, made their way to the finish line and crossed it together. Still laughing, still giggling. Absolutely full of pride and joy.1This is a true story told much more eloquently by Wayne Dyer on public television, which he also writes about in his book, There's a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem? The children involved were participating in a "Special Olympics" race. They were all handicapped or "disabled."I. INTRODUCTIONThe traditional understanding of "disabled" means to have a physical, mental, or emotional limitation. It is unfortunate that the word has negative connotations because we all have the ability to do some things and not others. For example, the young children in the footrace are disabled in the traditional sense, but they are not at all limited in their ability to understand complex human emotions like empathy, compassion, and cooperation. Indeed, people who are not disabled in the traditional sense often lack those abilities and need to be educated to learn them.Moreover, an individual's disabilities, traditional or otherwise, do not diminish her as a person or detract from the universal tenet that all people are inherently equal and entitled to be treated with dignity. This universal tenet and its relationship to the education of all children-traditionally and non-traditionally disabled students-is the focus of my essay. Importantly, I am not suggesting that traditional disabilities, the types covered by disability law, are "just like" or "no more important than" non-traditional types of disabilities. Generally, it is unproductive to compare the circumstances of one group with another for the purpose of discerning which group has it better or worse. Struggles by different groups to achieve equality have different concerns and are entitled to be "recognized"3 independently and within broader contexts. Simultaneously, struggles for equality are just that: we all want to be equal human beings before the law.Consistent with the purpose of this Journal, it is important to acknowledge that traditionally disabled children are not all the same with respect to wealth, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, and myriad other identity traits. We also need to keep in mind issues and concerns about the intersectionality of disability law with other antidiscrimination laws to avoid essentializing traditionally disabled students. Moreover, even traditionally disabled students can be excluded from the universal tenet because of their disabilities. For example, the Supreme Court recently held that it does not violate federal law to read a disabled student's grades aloud in the classroom even though this practice embarrasses and shames the student.4 Thus, the equality issues in this area are complex, but I save the deeper analysis for another essay. My immediate goal is much more modest: to inspire further reflection on the lessons we can learn from traditionally disabled students and our national commitment to their education. Because my research interests are in the area of racial equality, the primary focus of this essay is racism and education. However, I briefly explore sexism and homophobia to illustrate how my analysis also can be applied in those areas.II. How IMPORTANT IS EDUCATION?Federal law provides that all "disabled" children, under the age of twenty-one, are entitled to receive a "free appropriate public education."5 The federal government gives grants to states that provide students with "Individualized Educational Programs," (IEPs), as all states do. …