In The Politics of Autism, I discuss court cases involving the civil rights of people with autism and other disabilities.
Trump does not care. He despises people with disabilities. His head of the DOJ Civil Rights Division is a political hack who uses the r-word as a slur.
In June, the Department of Justice quietly released a memo pertaining to the landmark 1999 disability civil rights case Olmstead v. L.C. DOJ stated it “will not rely upon the Olmstead Guidance in its enforcement” of the ADA, and that Olmstead is “not enforceable.”That precedent, the memo claimed without evidence, increases homelessness.
How does Olmstead relate to K-12 special education?
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ... requires transition planning that is designed to start thinking about what supports are needed so that a student can have better post-school outcomes after leaving the special education system.
In the transition plan, there have to be goals related to postsecondary education or training ..., employment, and ..., if appropriate, ... independent living. So, independent living is commonly used for people who we think might need support to live in the community—somebody with an intellectual disability, or somebody with autism, or someone with multiple disabilities, who we think might need to learn some daily living skills—because ultimately, in special education, per IDEA, we want people to be living independently. Those skills could include things like how to pay your rent, how to keep a clean home, and so on.
What the DOJ is suggesting is that maybe that is no longer the goal for youth with disabilities to live in the community. It sends the message to the people in the community saying that a segregated setting is OK.
Right now, we’re really trying to meet the person where they’re at and build them up to the point where they could be living on their own. If that’s no longer necessarily the goal, then you could see schools saying, ‘Well, we don’t really need to work on those skills.’
What are your concerns about the DOJ guidance and its implications for K-12?
There’s a big divide between special education and adulthood. They’re almost two different worlds. But this bridge is so critical to making sure that youth are actually able to have positive outcomes into adulthood, and that bridge tends to be very shaky.
A lot of special education teachers don’t know a lot about adult disability services. It’s very difficult to navigate. It’s robust. It’s changing. It varies by state. And special education teachers often don’t get a lot of training about the different adult disability services available and what they mean. So that was my worry when the DOJ guidance came out: A special education teacher might see that and be like, ‘Oh, OK, so this is the new thing and this is how we should operate.’
But we have to be clear: The guidance doesn’t change IDEA. The [DOJ is] interpreting Olmstead differently. But, ultimately, our responsibility to our students continues to be to have high expectations, continues to be independent living, and that’s what we need to be educating families about and being committed to.”
