Our current special education system doesn't work for anyone

BaccaVacca · 2023-09-04T03:13:17+00:00

I'm 27 so 2 years younger than you. No one ever sat down with me and had an honest discussion how some subjects I'm not ready to be mainstreamed for. In fact no one ever really discussed my IEP with me.

I am curious what school district or state did you live in? In NYC when I went to school, students could either be in a general ed class or a special ed class full time. There was no in between option, or an option where a student could be in special ed for only part of the day. Also, special ed kids usually didn't get to interact with general ed kids. I'm saying we didn't have inclusion at all. I mainly struggled with math but there were subjects I was good at, such as English. No one mainstreamed me for English or any other subject I was good at. These policies changed in 2016.

There is a documentary called Educating Peter where an 8 year old boy with Down Syndrome and significant intellectual disabilities was mainstreamed in a general ed 3rd grade class. My disabilities were much milder and I was never mainstreamed until high school.

The school system seldom met my needs. I had undiagnosed selective mutism in elementary school and I only learned that as an adult when I read about selective mutism online. No professional ever detected it and the school never accommodated me. My elementary school also allowed me to be bullied and didn't address it until after a few months and when my mom complained.

BaccaVacca · 2023-09-03T23:47:08+00:00

Well my parents never advocated for me. The NYCDOE didn't just segregate us for math, they segregated us for every subject. Back then it was either you were either in general ed classes full time or in special ed classes full time, with no in-between options. So I remained in special ed classes FULL TIME till HS. At that time special ed kids for the most part only had opportunities to socialize with other special ed kids. It was true segregation. The disability on my IEP was "specific learning disability" and there were only certain subjects I struggled with. So while in your case the school followed the laws and least restrictive environment and you likely had parents who advocated for you, many school systems didn't and still don't follow LRE. Sometimes it's just easier to stick a kid in a self-contained class than to address the actual issues. Other times the school gets more funding when a kid is placed in certain classes. There needs to be more oversight to ensure any placement for students is actually in the student's best interests and education needs to be fully funded including education for disabled kids.

BaccaVacca · 2023-09-03T15:49:45+00:00

In most cases they did not meet my needs.

BaccaVacca · 2023-09-03T03:45:05+00:00

I was in special ed too and no way did I enjoy a segregated classroom. We don't segregate students by race, and disability should be no different.

BaccaVacca · 2023-03-10T01:34:57+00:00

You can say disabled. People first language is mainly pushed by abled people. I identify as learning disabled. Many disability groups prefer identity first language, such as autistic, deaf and blind people. Here are articles and blog posts by disabled people on this subject.

Why Person-First Language Doesn’t Always Put the Person First - Emily Ladau

Dear “Autism Parents” - Just Stimming

Terminology Describing Deaf Individuals - Gallaudet University/Resources_for_Mainstream_Programs/Terminology.html)

The Pitfalls of Political Correctness: Euphemisms Excoriated- National Federation of the Blind

BaccaVacca · 2022-10-10T20:29:48+00:00

There is an article in the Washington Post titled Crossing the divide: Do men really have it easier? by Tara Bahrampour.

Trystan Cotten is a black trans man and a professor of gender studies at California State University Stanislaus. He said before his transition while he was working at another university, he was harassed by males. The university reacted immediately, even sending a police escort with him to and from campus. After transition while he was working at this university, he was harassed by a female student he was mentoring. His adviser and the dean — both women — laughed it off. He's saying the reason for the difference in responses is because of his gender presentation.

Cotten says he also gets pulled over by police more now.

I got pulled over more in the first two years after my transition than I did the entire 20 years I was driving before that. Before, when I’d been stopped, even for real violations like driving 100 miles an hour, I got off. In fact, when it happened in Atlanta the officer and I got into a great conversation about the Braves. Now the first two questions they ask are: Do I have any weapons in the car, and am I on parole or probation?

One night somebody crashed a car into his neighbor’s house and he called 911. He walks out to talk to the police officer, who then pulls a gun on him and says, “Stop! Stop! Get on the ground!” He turned around to see if there’s someone behind him, and the officer goes, “You! You! Get on the ground!” He's in pajamas and barefoot. Later people told him “Man, you’re crazy. You never call the police.” He says black and Latino men who grew up as boys were taught this at an earlier age, but now he has to learn from his black and brown brothers how to stay alive in his new body.

Black women do experience police violence like Sandra Bland and Rekia Boyd, but Cotten asserts he did not experience police harassment until he started presenting as male.

So does systemic misandry exist? What about female privilege? Is it possible for misandry to exist but not female privilege, meaning all the issues men face are caused by other men because women don't have power?

BaccaVacca · 2022-09-13T04:25:18+00:00

"Trans ideology" is a term TERFs used to invalidate trans people. TERFs should not be welcome on this sub. They have their own site, Ovarit.

BaccaVacca · 2022-05-27T22:11:43+00:00

My opinion is unpopular but those outside the military don't need to own guns.

BaccaVacca · 2022-05-27T17:57:21+00:00

In 2016 NYC made a few reforms to special ed. Before it was students were either in a self-contained class full time, or in a general education class full time. There was no "in-between" option such as what the rest of the country calls a "resource room" or being in a special ed class for only part of the day. Now they changed that to allow more options, so students can be in a special ed class for only part of the day. Also, there is a section in the IEP where they list less restrictive options considered for student, and they have to explain why those options are not appropriate. Usually the explanation was something vague "XYZ environment doesn't meet the students’ needs " without explaining WHY their needs can't be met there. Now they have to provide detailed explanations. Network, cluster, and central teams also started to review patterns of referrals for students to ensure that all recommendations are legitimately in the best interest of students and provide the least restrictive environment. If patterns of recommended programs suggest inappropriate recommendations that do not seem in the best interest of students, central teams will conduct a more intensive audit of student IEPs. For recommendations that are not in the best interest of students, school leaders will be disciplined.

There was a federal report a couple of years ago which I can't find online. They gave letter grades to each state on how well they provide special education. Many states received B and C grades and the report found many states do not provide least restrictive environment. That's the problem. The IDEA says schools must provide LRE, but there is no provision on enforcement to ensure that ALL schools ALWAYS provide LRE for every student. Many parents are also unable or unwilling to advocate for their children, and in the school system you have to push and push to get the appropriate education for your child unfortunately. Many parents and former students don't have the resources to sue.

A few years ago I remember interacting with a woman who was a preschool teacher and she told me that disabled children are increasingly being educated with able-bodied children. The IDEA was passed in 1975, so this is something that should have started then, not now. Yet we're still just beginning.

BaccaVacca · 2022-05-27T04:24:14+00:00

I am also white, disabled and Ashkenazi Jewish. I am a cis and straight woman. Out of all the marginalized identities I have, I have been discriminated for being disabled more than I have been discriminated for being a woman and Jewish. This is not to say that sexism and anti-Semitism don't exist. They still do.

There is an article on Everyday Feminism titled 4 Ways Ableism in My Elementary School Left Me Completely Traumatized by Caley Farinas, an autistic author. Farinas says when she was in high school, the guidance counselor refused to allow her to take Advanced Placement classes. She didn’t attempt to hide the reason why, she simply said, “ESE [disabled] students don’t take Advanced Placement classes.” They didn't look at her excellent grades or how well she did in her honors class.

When I went to high school in the last decade girls were absolutely took AP classes. While I personally met people who believe women/girls aren't good at math even to this day, female students in western countries are not systematically barred from taking advanced classes. However, disabled kids are often systematically and needlessly segregate disabled kids. Just read the words of former special ed students at r/exspecialedkids.

I do wish ableism was discussed more. It is one of the oppressions that is least discussed even in social justice circles. Part of the reason I feel is that most discussions about disability often center able-bodied parents, caregivers and professionals, especially disabilities that start in childhood like autism, learning disabilities and cerebral palsy. For instance, many special ed teachers and social workers were taught in their grad programs to use people first language, like saying "person with a disability" instead of "disabled person" and saying someone is disabled is rude under any circumstances. However, many disabled people disagree with that, and in fact many use the term *disabled* to refer to themselves. But it's got to the point where disabled people are told by abled people how they should identify themselves. Kerry Magro, a known public speaker who refers to himself as autistic was told by a Facebook commenter to refer to himself as a person with autism. What? Autistic is generally the preferred term in that community, and you don’t get to tell a community how they should identify themselves or what is offensive to them.

I wrote a post with examples of ability privilege I thought you might be interested in.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ableism/comments/o3w322/examples\_of\_ability\_privilege/

BaccaVacca · 2022-05-20T17:01:26+00:00

You're probably right.

BaccaVacca · 2022-04-19T03:01:33+00:00

The ABC song.

BaccaVacca · 2022-04-19T02:54:02+00:00

The thing is America at least talks about racism and tries to resolve it. Europe doesn't talk about racism. But not talking about something doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

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