The Summerland Advocate-Messenger - Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community

When I entered my senior year of high school, I knew I wanted to pursue a degree in education.

I was adamant that I wanted to complete an endorsement in elementary education. However, I waivered on other endorsement areas to add to my degree program.

As I ventured through my senior year, I constantly fought the internal battle of choosing an endorsement in early childhood education or special education. At that time, I had the opportunity to be a teacher’s assistant in the preschool classroom and I loved the time I spent there. I came to the conclusion that I would add an endorsement in early childhood education and seek a degree in special education after I received my bachelor’s degree.

As I began my freshman year at Wayne, I continued with that plan. However, I met with my advisor early on and he worked with me to add a special education endorsement to my degree as well. Since it was too late to enroll for the introductory special education class for the fall semester, I had to wait until the spring semester set about.

While many things covered in that course merged together with the content covered in other courses, a video v shown in the introductory class was burned into my memory. However, as the semester continued, this video became a distant memory.

Now, fast forward two years. I was sitting in one of my special education courses, which all education majors are required to take, and the professor announced that we had an assignment due next week.

After class, I logged on to canvas, opened the assignment and found a familiar video title staring me in the face.

I was immediately taken back to the introductory to special education course I took my freshman year.

The video hosts the title of “Willowbrook: The Last Great Disgrace.” As the video begins, a reporter with a persona from the 1970s appears on screen. He explains they are about to complete a surprise visit in multiple wards at the Willowbrook mental institution. From there, the video depicts a barbaric and inhumane scene.

Children and adults are left to roam about the ward. They are completely naked, with no caregivers to attend to them. The reporter describes the building as smelling of urine and fecies. Patients are curled up in balls on the floor and an agonizing moan can be heard throughout the building. Patients can also be viewed shoving food into their mouths with little assistance from caregivers. In complete honesty, livestock was treated better than some of these people.

When hearing about this scene, the question quickly arises as to what people did to deserve living in these conditions. Simply put, they did nothing.

Beginning in the 1950s, state institutions began popping up around the United States for people who were considered, and what was then referred to, as moderately to severely mentally handicapped.

People diagnosed with these disabilities were considered to be uneducable and were not allowed in public school buildings. As time continued, it was obvious how incorrect that belief was.

People put in those institutions had disabilities what we would now classify as Down Syndrome, autism and cerebral palsy, just to name a few.

Anytime someone was identified as having a mental handicap, they were automatically hidden from the general public in an institution.

After the injustices of individuals with special needs were exposed, a long battle of rights for individuals with special needs was fought over the upcoming decades. Through countless court cases and a variety of public laws, individuals with special needs began to receive the education they deserved.

Brown v. Board of Education is used as a landmark case that determined all children deserve access to an education, even those with special needs.

Shortly after, the Education for all Handicapped Children Act was passed and it outlined that all students should receive a free and appropriate public education, and it began to outline that students need to be placed in the least restrictive environment.

Children with special needs went from not being allowed access to an education because they were considered to be ineducable and were now guaranteed a FAPE.

Soon, EAHCA was amended and changed to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and it became a federal law that guaranteed financial support for special education services.

The law also outlined that states are required to provide eligible individual services from age three to 21.

Along the way, there continued to be cases that changed the way students with special needs received, and qualified for, services. The laws associated with how the students were educated changed as well.

However, in more recent years, it is easier to find a change in the verbiage used. Not long ago, Rosa’s law was passed, which banned the word “retarded” from all federal language referring to individuals with disabilities.

In more recent years, the push has been for people-first language. This is putting the person before the disability. For example, the person is not autistic, they are a person with autism. The idea behind this concept is individuals are being seen as a person, not their disability. It is keeping in mind that they are a person with a disability, not the disability itself.

Students with special needs can now be found in the general education classroom, fully included, and in their least restrictive environment. Fifty years ago, these students would be in institutions or classrooms surrounded by other individuals with special needs. However, because of the battles fought by those before them, they are receiving the education, supports and resources they deserve.

Special education has come a long way from where it started and the progress made is exciting.

However, there is still plenty that can be done to support individuals who qualify as having a disability.

While these students may need extra supports, accommodations or modifications, they are still extremely capable people. They are smart and have the potential to achieve great things. It is our job to provide the support necessary for them to find success in life.