The Special Burden of Special Education

Abstract

Like a powerful hurricane that alters the landscape forever, the Education of All Handicapped Children Act that Congress passed in 1975 ensured that nothing remained the same for local school boards. A little history. School boards traditionally ignored and failed to serve the needs of disabled children. Blind and deaf youngsters were largely barred from attending neighborhood public schools. Those confined to wheelchairs and having other physical disabilities were unable even to enter school buildings that made no accommodations for them. Those with learning disabilities remained unidentified and were treated as simply dumb or lazy until the time came for them to drop out of secondary school. Children with mental developmental difficulties, with few exceptions, had no hope of attending public schools.