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The American School for the Deaf
The American School for the Death was founded in 1817 in Hartford, Connecticut. This was the first school for children with disabilities in the western hemisphere. The Connecticut General Assembly gave clearance for the school in 1816 because of the persistent efforts of Dr. Mason Fitch Cogswell, who had a deaf daughter, and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. -
Watson v. City of Cambridge
In this court hearing, the Massaschusettes Supreme Court ruled a child to be too weak minded to benefit from schooling. The young boy would make "strange" noises and the other students would find it worrisome. Along with that, they started the child was unable of taking care of himself which would lead to expelltion from the school. -
White house Conference on Children in 1910
The White House Conference on Children in 1910 was held to establish remedial programs for children with special needs, among other items. This meeting was the first step The White House took to provide equal Education. This included the creation of the Children's Charter, created in the 1930's by President Herbert Hoover. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Probably one of the most well known Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education is considered ground breaking in Educational and Equal Rights history. This case ruled that it was unconstitutional for schools to segragate black and white students. Brown also argued that the schools were not equal in standards and that white only schools were more privileged, which violated the 14th amendment. Brown v. Board of Education, wad the trailblazer for more segregational changes to come. -
Association for Children with Learning Disabilities (ACLD)
Engineered by a group of parents and adults with disabilities, the ACLD (now know as the Learning Disabilities Association of America: LDA) was created in January of 1964. The group was able to implicate The Children with Specific Learning Disabilities Act of 1969 into Federal Law. Their headquarters is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and they continue to work with individuals and families. -
Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens (PARC) v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
https://youtu.be/QtFmp3XduaQ
This case was one of the first major legal cases that looked for equal rights for children with disabilities. In this lawsuit, Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens (The Arc of Pennsylvania) and 13 families sued the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for not providing free education for children who reached age 8 but still had a mental age of 5 years old. It was ruled as being unconstitutional so the law was overturned. -
Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Th Rehabilitation Act of 1973, also known as the Rehad Act, does not allow discrimination of people with a disability, including federal agencies. This meant that people with disabilities would qualify for financial assistance. -
Education for all Handicapped Children Act of 1975
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/94/s6
According to the website linked, this Act mandates all public school that accept federal funds to provide equal education and one free meal a day to students with any form of disability. This act also allowed parents of the disabled to dispute any decision made by the school. -
Timothy W. v. Rochester, New Hampshire, School District
During this court hearing, Timothy W, a young child with cerebral palsy and multiple other disabilities, was seeking to have special Education but was denied due to him not being educationally handicapped. After years of arguing with the first district court, Timothy's lawyer took the case in front of the First Circuit of Appeals. Because of this action, the EAHCA adopted the "zero reject" policy and the districts court desicion was reversed. -
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 is a four part legislation that makes sure students with disabilities are given free appropriate public education, determined by the students individual needs. Part 1: General provision of the law; Part 2: assistance for Education of all children with disabilities, including birth-3 years of age; Part 3: covers infants and toddlers with disabilities; Part 4: national federal grade support groups. -
No Child Left Behind
No Child Left Behind requires all public schools receiving federal funding to give standardized testing every year to all their students. This act also requires states to provide "highly qualified" teachers to all students.
