Sydney Bell

English 2010

Professor Brandon Alva

Editorial Assignment

A Special Case for Special Education

Autism is defined as a complex neurobehavioral condition that includes impairments in

social interaction and developmental language and communication skills combined with rigid,

repetitive behaviors. Each of these impairments were very prevalent in a classmate I had as an

elementary school student. Due to her impairments, she often got upset and would sometimes

lash out. The school administration would often have to take unpleasant measures to resolve

these issues. It’s understood that safety in schools is important, however, it almost seemed that

this girl was being punished for something she had little to no control over.

Many laws are currently written in legislation to aid the disabled. However, we are still a

long way away from equality for all. Disability is considered a “protected class”, however, there

are still many instances where it is not treated as such. This was exhibited with that particular

classmate almost weekly as administration treated her rather poorly. Very often, the disabled

students are treated much more harshly than general education students. Even though there is

more conversation surrounding disability today, disabled students are generally still confined to

separate classrooms and are treated differently in almost every setting.

Surely, there must be a way to better understand and protect special education students

from being treated unfairly for impairments they never chose to have. There needs to be better

laws put in place to defend students who can’t help the way they are. As a paraeducator for a

special needs class, I often find myself stuck in the middle between understanding where the line
is to discipline these students. This is a very difficult issue to solve, but one we can focus on

answering is what we can give special education students to create a better sense of equality.

There are two places we could easily begin.

First, there ought to be better representation of the disabled population in our school

district leaderships. There should be people who really understand what it’s like to be disabled

within school districts to help make sure that students with disabilities are being treated fairly.

Absolutely everyone deserves a quality education and equal treatment. Having a better

representation for disabled students would create leaps and bounds for equality in the educational

system.

And second, we should cover the history of disability in curriculum. The current

curriculum for history courses does not include content surrounding disability. Although there

may not be an abundance of historical records for this subject, we should be fully utilizing what

we do have and what we do know from the past. Learning more about the past of disabled

populations will help us better understand and help the current disabled population.

To start with these two simple changes, we could help special education students rise

above the constant kickback they already feel due to their disabilities. By doing these things-

granting these rights, in a sense- we can empower students to truly aim high and reach higher.

We’ve come a ways concerning special education already, but there is still a lingering, spacious

gap to close. Our nation often talks big about equality and freedom. It’s about time we start

walking the talk. Because students with special needs require special attention, laws and rights

regarding them and their education should receive special attention, too.