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Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
The Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education was originally brought up in an effort to integrate public schools. The Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to segregate by race, schools also may not segregate or discriminate by ability and disability. Essentially laying down the foundation for special education law. -
Mills v. Board of Education of D.C. (1971)
In 1971, students with disabilities at public schools in Wash D.C. had been discriminated against by means such as being excluded from their public school and denied educational services. When advocates for students with disabilities became aware of this issue they filed a lawsuit, Mills v. BOE of D.C. Advocates won and schools were required to then provide a free appropriate education for all students with disabilities in the same place as students without disabilities and be able to account it -
PARC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1972)
Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children had sued the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania because the Commonwealth of PA was discriminating against children/ students with exceptionalities such as learning disabilities. At the time (1972), there was a state law that granted public schools the authority to deny a free education to children who had physically reached the age of 8, yet had not reached the mental age of 5. This was on of the first major legal cases. See Mills 1971 for outcome of case -
Rehabilitation Act (1973)
Authorized services for people with disabilities. Also allowed for people with disabilities to have options. The act says that if a person has a disability but with rehab is able to maintain employment, that person is entitled to vocational rehab services. This act also benefited students because it allowed students to enroll in a supported employment program. This was a big step in special education because it directly falls into the four goals of special ed. -
Congress Public Law/ Education for all Handicapped Sdtudents (1975)
(Education for all handicapped students) After the rulings of the Mills v. Washington (1971) and PARC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1972) cases, Congress felt the need to pass federal law to benefit students with disabilities who were not being given an appropriate public education. Thus Congress enacted IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) in 1975. -
Zero Reject
The Zero Reject policy falls under IDEA in regard to rejecting zero students from receiving and appropriate free public education. After having different state and federal laws this helped dispute because federal law always goes first and this eliminated the problem of not being able to reach/ access all the students who need and benefit from special education -
Tech Act (1988)
Technology- related assistance to individuals with disabilities act of 1988 granted state funding in order to create systems that could be used state-wide for delivering assistive technology devices and services as well. -
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (1990)
IDEA only benefited public school kids, not the general public and people with disabilities were continuing to face discrimination. The ADA helped put a stop to that by providing that "no otherwise qualified individual with a disability shall, solely by reason of the disability, be discriminated against in certain realms of American life. This covers all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. -
ESEA
(Elementary and Secondary Education Act.) This act was passed on the principle of no child left behind. It authorized services for all children including children with disabilities. The goal of this act was to improve educational outcomes and prepare all students, including students with disabilities to be ready for the "real world" -
IDEA
In 2004 Congress reauthorized the education for all handicapped children act and officially changed the name to IDEA. The principles are basically the same but the act is updated to address more modern obstacles not present in 1975.
