Defining Civic Equity for Students with Disabilities
By Leah Bueso
“Disability is a natural part of the human experience and in no way diminishes the right of individuals to participate in or contribute to society.”
- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004
The first time I read Congress’s statement above, I couldn’t help but wonder whether my vision for what it means to “participate in or contribute to society” was anywhere close to that of our legislature. At the time, I was a special education teacher in New York City and most of my job felt like a race to boost students’ standardized test scores in reading and math. In fact, my students were routinely pulled from “nonessential classes” like social studies and science to receive their specialized and related services.
To be sure, it is essential that all students are provided with opportunities to learn to read, write, count, and compute. These are foundational skills necessary for the pursuit of further education, employment, and independent living. But students with disabilities also deserve to be prepared to participate in our democratic society. Indeed, any meaningful commitment to respecting students with disabilities as competent, contributing citizens requires preparing them to advocate for themselves and for others as fully as possible, which in turn requires high-quality civic learning opportunities in our schools.