Embracing Diversity: Navigating Support for Disabilities in Education
There is a positive shift happening in how people think about and support disabilities. Thrivister’s Co-Founder, Michelle Raz, draws from her extensive experience working with individuals with disabilities to identify and address critical barriers in the educational system. There is a complex process of navigating accommodations through educational 504 plans and Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). A 504 plan, comes from Section 504 in The Rehabilitation Act where individuals with disabilities are provided the necessary support to adapt the learning setting in their classrooms. On the other hand, an IEP modifies the course material to fit the unique needs of each student.
Raz highlights the inherent challenge within the educational system that is struggling to reconcile the diverse needs of students, in large classrooms with personalized requirements. Teachers, burdened by the task of meeting individual needs without sufficient educational background, often find themselves stretched thin.
In addition, special education teachers intended to provide crucial support often face overwhelming workloads, limiting their effectiveness to only a fraction of what is needed. The recent spotlight on professionals who have successfully overcome academic hurdles, despite societal pressure and misunderstanding, portrays the inadequacies of a system designed for linear thinking. This movement towards fostering open discussions around disabilities challenges the societal perception of normalcy, particularly for special education students whose potential for success remains largely untapped.
During the pandemic, more students with disabilities went to college, and universities are making changes to help them succeed. The number of students getting support for disabilities increased, and it’s not just about physical disabilities. Conditions such as anxiety, ADHD, and other diagnoses are getting attention too. The goal is to make sure everyone has what they need to do well in school and beyond. So, it’s a bit like making sure everyone gets a fair chance to learn and succeed!
Michelle Raz sees promising developments at UCLA and San Francisco State as part of a powerful movement that aims to illuminate the potential of individuals facing educational hardships. The universities are starting to think about disability as they think about race, gender, and sexuality – all things that make people unique. Even though there are still some challenges, such as few teachers who have disabilities themselves that can have more understanding of their student’s experiences. Programs to meet special needs are growing and becoming more important. Raz believes this movement will encourage more educators to come forward, sharing their own experiences with disabilities that may have been concealed due to historical biases.
The term “disability” itself has been laden with biases. Society’s preconceived notions of what is considered normal are acknowledged as mere social constructs. Thrivister recognizes the importance of providing tailored, individualized support to meet students at their unique points in the educational journey. The path to success, as understood by Thrivister, is diverse and manifests in various forms.
*Taken from this original report:
Sonja Sharp reports that UCLA now has a disability studies major. Announced this month, is a sign that “the stigma around disability is shifting,” said Victoria Marks, a professor of choreography and chair of the UCLA program. This fall, San Francisco State University became just the second CSU school
to inaugurate a disability studies minor. “My entire time at S.F. State we’ve been trying to get a disability studies minor,” said Emily Beitiks, interim director of the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability at San Francisco State University, whose founder was one of the earliest scholars in the field.
These days, the discipline is booming. Annual submissions to Disability Studies Quarterly have more than doubled in recent years, and the number of majors and minors in the subject has soared, said Jeffrey A. Brune, co-editor of the journal. “We see disability as a social construction, very much the same way as race, gender and sexuality are constructed,” he said. Although, disability studies programs still face barriers that ethnic and LGBTQ+ studies do not. “They often couldn’t make a lot of money, and they didn’t have the conventional credentials that a department at UC would permanently hire,” said Susan Schweik, professor emeritus and a founder of Berkeley’s program. “UCLA is going to lead the way as a department where disabled faculty are hired in with tenure.”
Many see the current surge in interest in disability studies as part of a sea change sweeping their discipline, and the student populations they serve. The number of students who are perceived as disabled has plummeted, yet the number of disabled students enrolling in universities has soared. “We saw a 40% increase in students registering with our disability office” since the pandemic, said Beitiks of San Francisco State. The number of students receiving disability accommodations across the 10 UC campuses jumped from 5% in 2018 to 7% in 2021, due in part to the growing rates of autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in young people. The given statistics also reflect the different legal landscape for disability rights in universities.
Disabled primary and secondary students are mainly covered by the Individuals with Disabilities in the Education Act. The law doesn’t apply to universities.
Accommodations in college and beyond come mainly from Section 504, which covers conditions as varied as anxiety and ulcerative colitis, ADHD and asthma, quadriplegia, and cancer. As more students qualify for disability accommodations and feel empowered to take them, long-stigmatized diagnoses have transformed into points of identification and affinity.