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Civil Rights Act of 1866
By declaring that all persons born here in the US are citizens this act provides that it was illegal to discriminate against individuals on the basis of color, race or whether they were a slave. -
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Court Cases/Act Implementations
Important history events affecting citizens with disabilities in the United States -
Plessy v. Ferguson
The Supreme Court ordered that it was legal to segregate individuals and have separate facilites as long as they were equal. Though this is not directly related to education, this did set the precedence of separate but equal. This decision would not be corrected until Brown v. Board 58 years later. -
Council for Exceptional Children
The Council for Exceptional Children is the first advocacy group for children with disabilities. The CEC is one of the largest special education advocacy groups. The main objective of this group is to ensure that children with special needs receive FAPE. -
Brown v. Board of Education
This is the springboard for litigation and legislation regarding students with disabilities. This is a consolidated case that fought for desegregation of all public school systems in the US and separate but equal was unconstitutional. It brought attention to black v. white’s in school and special need students v. general education students. -
Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia
This case involved the court establishing due process procedures to ensure all students had equal rights. The Board of the District of Columbia denied access to education for students who were special needs. -
Pennsylvania Assocaiation for Retarded Citizens v. Pennsylvania. & Mills v. D.C. Board of Education
The federal court decided that children with mental disabilities would be provided with free and appropriate public education. -
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Law that prohibits discrimination in the workplace and schools and any entity receiving federal funding -
The Education for All Handicapped Children Act
This law secured the basic ideals, rights and responsibilities to ensure equal access to public education for all children who are disabled. -
Least Restrictive Environment
Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) means that with a student’s IEP, they must also be in as many regular education classes as possible. This ensures that the student has social experiences. -
No Child Left Behind Act
This law states that all students should be proficient in math and reading by 2014. The goal is to level the playing field and shorten the gap.
