Handicapped Children Before The 1970s

This Act transferred the responsibility of children with special educational needs looked after by the health service to the local authority and as a result many special schools were built.

Throughout the ages, people with disabilities have been hidden away at homes or institutions and were often not educated. This was common practice and as such, when the education system was designed, children with disabilities were not even considered. Then, starting soon after the civil rights movement in the 50’s, a series of lawsuits was brought against school boards and the federal government took notice. Then the Education for all Handicapped Children Act of 1975 was passed and these children were finally allowed the education they deserved. As time went

During the 1950s, people who had a disability had two options of housing which included living with their families or living in an institution. However, families did not receive much support since most public welfare services were used towards institutional care, such as mental hospitals and orphanages. Throughout the 1960s there were movements to deinstitutionalize, which at that time basically led to smaller institutions. The 1970s allowed for even smaller community-based residential services that were typically designed for not more than 12 people that were similar in terms of age, independence, or ability. Even though different funding was available, many standards were violated in most of the institutions. Throughout the 70s there were movements to close state institutions and provide more community residential services as well as family support. During the 1980s groundwork for families was laid to expand their control of the nature of the support they received and more options were available to help out with living outside an institution. People with developmental disabilities began to gain increased support to having homes of their own during the 1990s and funded had dramatically increased to over $735 for family support programs in 1998. In 2001 the federal government began a new freedom initiative to “remove barriers to community living for people of all ages with disabilities and long-term illness.” In 2011 the decision that the isolation of people with

Prior to 1940’s, People with disabilities were excluded from society and were considered unable to learn. They are often placed in institutions under custodial care, considered unable to learn or benefit from regular educational programs. However, as early as in 1800s, some educators like Samuel Gridley Howe disagreed, believing that children with disabilities could learn and should have an education, not just custodial care.

When Public Law 94-142 was passed in 1975 it had a positive impact on the education for children with disabilities. Millions of children in the United States were supported by the law. These children had previously been excluded entirely from the education system.

People with disabilities were also forced to enter institutions and asylums. Society hid people with disabilities from a mean, fearful, and biased world. This continued until the Civil War and World War I when our veterans returned in a disabled state expecting the US government to provide some sort of help or rehabilitation in exchange for their service in the nation. Although President Roosevelt was the first president with a disability to take office was a great advocate for the rehabilitation of people with disabilities, the nation was still operated under the assumption that being disabled was and abnormal condition and needed to be medically cured. In the 1940's and 1950's, World War II veterans started placing pressure on the government for rehabilitation for their disabilities. The veterans made it more visible to a country filled with thankful citizens who were concerned about the well-being of the men who sacrificed their lives for their country. By the 1960's, the civil rights movement began to take place and disabled citizens saw this as an opportunity to join forces along with the minority groups to demand equal treatment, equal access, and equal opportunity for people with disabilities. The Disability Rights Movement just like the others faced negative attitudes and stereotypes. In the 1970's, disability rights activists lobbied congress and marched on Washington to include civil rights language for people with disabilities into the 1972 Rehabilitation

As a result, there were many Reauthorizations and Amendments to Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. These Amendments would ensure the safety and increase parental participation in the education of children with disabilities. These acts help secure educational programs for those children that demonstrated disruptive behaviors due to their disability. It also provided help to state and local government by relieving them of some of the financial burden associated with educating students with special needs.

The first two laws that dealt with this issue were the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975. These laws provided federal funds and established regulations to protect equal access to a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) for students with disabilities. Over time, these laws have been amended and federal financial incentives have been tied to state compliance. Congress and the courts have clarified and reauthorized these laws along with passing additional legislation guaranteeing equal access and opportunities.

Until that time, many states had laws that excluded children with certain types of disabilities from attending public school. These included children who were blind, deaf and children labeled "emotionally disturbed" or "mentally retarded." Many of these children lived at state institutions where they received limited or no educational services. Having a disability does not automatically qualify a student for special education services under the IDEA. The disability must result in the student needing additional or different services to participate in school. For example, a child who is diagnosed autistic. Children with disabilities who qualify for special education are also automatically protected by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Although special needs people in the 1960’s were considered useless, Eunice Kennedy Shriver took a stand for them. She created the special olympics, and camp shriver. She used the Joseph P Kennedy Jr. Foundation as well to bend her will on the country of America. The legacy she left behind is still felt today; with the special olympics having an attendance of over 3 million people. Along with that, we have seen the rights and view of special needs people increase ten-fold, compared to what they were in the 1960's. They are as much a part of modern society as anyone else is.

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act, (1975), The Education for All Handicapped Children Act, now known as the Individuals with

With Disabilities Education Act." Focus On Exceptional Children43.2 (2010): 1-16. Academic Search Premier. Web. 9 Mar. 2016.

For most of our nation's history, children with special needs or disabilities were shunted aside. In spite of mandated education laws that had been in place since 1918, many students were denied education and

Since the establishment of the division for the deaf and dumb at Columbia University in 1864. American Higher education has been influenced and responsive to changes in federal civil rights protections for students with disabilities while facing both internal and external pressures on how to deal with persons with disabilities. The establishment of students with disabilities in an American higher education context found its start with the admission of students with sensory disabilities, primarily deaf and blind students. Changes because of the world wars poured federal funding into programs to assist veterans with acquired disabilities return to the workforce. The rise of the disability rights movement resulted in the passage of federal protects that mandate the creation of disability support services and bared institutional discrimination at all institutions. These changes saw students with disabilities and the services to support them move from marginalized, and often experimental, into the mainstream of student affairs and higher education.

The Education for all Handicapped Children Act (EHA) had an overall goal of desegregating disabled children in schools, as well as work on integrating them in classrooms with their non-disabled peers. Until the Civil Rights Movement, not much attention was brought to the fact that children with disabilities had very little rights and were kept isolated and not given a proper education, if any at all. Because of the attention brought to the poor and unjust treatment of children with disabilities and the significant court cases dealing with the fourteenth amendment such as Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia, The EHA was passed in 1975. There were high hopes for this act, including keeping disabled students integrated