There were about 7.3 million disabled students in 2021-2022, according to a Pew Research Study. This number made up approximately 15% of the students that year. According to EdW, this is double the number from almost 50 years ago in the 1976-1977 school year which is estimated to have been about 3.6 million students. Over time, disabled students have received much more accommodations than they had received in the past, but that does not mean special education is perfect in today’s world.
Special education is very important because it contains lots of unique and differing needs and conditions which may make it difficult for school districts to give the necessary tools for their students to succeed. An article from the University of North Carolina states, “One of the most pressing social challenges in special education is the perennial issue of funding shortages. Many special education programs struggle with inadequate financial resources, which can impede the provision of necessary services and support for students with disabilities. Schools often find it challenging to hire enough qualified special education teachers and provide essential resources, such as assistive technology and individualized learning plans, to meet the diverse needs of their students.”
Not only is it difficult for schools to supply the students with all the support they need, but many students with disabilities face severe ableism from other students, and sometimes teachers or other school personnel.
A study performed by Trinity College in Connecticut discovered that in over ten thousand high schoolers in Connecticut, the odds of a disabled person being bullied was 87% more likely, and 55% more likely to be cyber-bullied. This number is certainly too high and needs to be brought down.
This behavior is not exclusive to certain states. Even in the Poudre School District (PSD) in Fort Collins, there are various acts of discrimination against disabled people. In May of 2023, a paraprofessional for PSD by the name of Tyler Zanella was caught striking multiple children with disabilities on the bus, one of whom was nonverbal. Zanella pleaded guilty in January 2024 and it has been reported that he could serve around 15 years for his crimes. The school district had failed to recognize a previous conviction of child abuse.
Another non-physical example comes from an anonymous source at a high school within PSD. The source stated that their family had been forced to move from a different state because one of their relatives with a disability could not go to any of the schools due to issues with the district’s policies with a disability accommodation organization, and one of the first things they saw at PSD was the Zanella incident. The anonymous source’s relative has also had some trouble at a high school in which the math department would not accommodate the student’s needs. Instead of telling the teacher to allow the student their IEP (individualized education program), the school instead said to give the student a new teacher.
Not only have there been physical and non-physical discrimination towards disabled students within PSD, but there is also blatantly wrong information that can prevent some students from success within school. Another anonymous source with a visually impaired sibling at Rocky Mountain High School claims that most braille signs outside the doors are misplaced or mislabeled. When the school was alerted to this, they sent an organization that did an, “Unofficial and uncomprehensive pass at certain sections of the schools.” This means that most of the incorrect signs are still incorrect.
All of these examples prove that there are substantial issues not only within the country but even as local as the Poudre School District. There are many ways in which we can fix some of these issues. School districts must do more thorough background checks when hiring paraprofessionals or other staff who would work closely with disabled students. Deeper background checks would inform school districts of more details and be able to catch more red flags like Zanella’s previous child abuse conviction.
School districts should also make all staff more educated on the proper policies to support students with disabilities to ensure that each student has their needs met. If the staff does not care enough to help and support all of their students, that is a huge issue that needs to be addressed immediately.
School districts also need to make sure that all of the accessibility accommodations (like the braille signage) are correct. It is one thing to have accessibility accommodations, but it is another thing entirely to make sure that all of them work and help the students who need them. If the accommodations need to be corrected or fixed, that completely defeats the purpose of having them in the first place.
There also must be ways to stop bullying in schools which could require staff and other students to step in and prohibit other individuals from discriminating against disabled students.
We live in a world where disabled individuals can be given all of the accommodations they need, but there is still a long way to go. As a society, we need to step up and put an end to verbal, physical, and systemic ableism that prevents disabled students from succeeding in schools.
