Special education absent in America

ISABEL O’GORMAN Managing/Copy Editor

Education is one of the core priorities of our nation, yet many children with special needs fail to receive the necessary resources and support to succeed in their education. While society has come a long way in accepting the principle that every child deserves an equal opportunity to seek out and experience education, this was certainly not always the case.

In the early 70s, activists like Evelyn Deno pushed for change and pioneered the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975. This regulation ensured that children with disabilities, however severe, would have the right to a free, appropriate public education. But is it really that simple?

Despite the progress made with the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, children with special needs continue to face numerous barriers to accessing quality education. In the last decade, there has been an uprise in individuals who assert the public school system’s failure to remedy the serious educational injustices that individuals with special needs and their families continue to endure. One of the most significant challenges afflicting these systems is a lack of funding, limiting the ability of institutions to provide their students with adequate resources, hands-on support, and specialized services. Under the same token, many public schools face limited access to technology, which explicitly impacts special needs students as many require particular technology for communication and effective learning. Moreover, due to difficulty obtaining certification, high burnout rates, low pay, and general lack of support, the shortage of qualified special education teachers only exacerbates the problems and places a disproportionate burden on the student’s parents.