{"id":313650,"date":"2010-02-12T09:29:38","date_gmt":"2010-02-12T14:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogs.rj.org,2010:\/rac\/\/2.2447"},"modified":"2010-02-12T13:29:15","modified_gmt":"2010-02-12T18:29:15","slug":"disabilities-education-is-enough-being-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/313650","title":{"rendered":"Disabilities & Education: Is Enough Being Done?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JDAM<\/span>In the last few weeks, I’ve been working with my colleague Rabbi Lynne
\nLandsberg, Senior Adviser for Disability Issues at the Religious Action Center,
\nto draw attention to a very troubling statistic: more than 70% of
\npeople with disabilities are unemployed<\/a>. This means that the
\nunemployment rate for people with disabilities is more than seven times the national average<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But why? This is an extremely complicated question, and not one I can
\nfully answer. I understand there to be a vicious cycle in which in order to
\nqualify for often necessary health insurance, young people with disabilities
\njust finishing high school must swear that they are unable to ever work. I
\nunderstand there is immense discrimination perpetrated against a community of
\npeople often and wrongly considered burdensome and costly (the average cost of accommodations
\nfor an employee with a disability is around $500<\/a>). I understand that
\ntoo many people see only the disability and not the potential employee. I
\nunderstand that for many people with disabilities, accessible homes near
\naccessible transportation to accessible buildings for jobs which provide full
\nhealth benefits are all prerequisites for employment.<\/p>\n

I’d like to add an issue to this list, one often missing
\nfrom this conversation and if better addressed possesses an enormous payoff both
\nfor the community of people with disabilities and for the American economy:
\nproblems and equalities in education for people with disabilities.<\/p>\n

The Education for all Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) of
\n1975 first established the standard that all schools which accept federal
\nfunding must provide equal access for children with mental and physical
\nhandicaps. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1990
\nexpanded upon the EAHCA and created specific standards for specific forms of
\ndisability in thirteen categories for all children with disabilities up to age
\n21, and has been amended and reauthorized several times since. <\/p>\n

But is enough being done? Are these laws adequate? Off the
\ntop of my head, I can think of several existing gaps in services for students
\nwith disabilities – opportunities for higher education, assistance for students
\nor young people over 21 who have had special education suddenly removed,
\nservices for students with poorly-understood or unusual disabilities and needs,
\netc. These laws are not enough, we need to be addressing these gaps and
\nassisting all Americans, including those with disabilities, to become fully
\neducated and use that education to find employment and contribute to the
\neconomy. <\/p>\n

One of the best tools we could soon have for improving
\neducational opportunities for students with disabilities is the United
\nNations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD)<\/a>.
\nThis convention, signed by the United States last July but still not ratified,
\nwould set high standards for special education and accommodations for students
\nwith disabilities. It would make some of these standards obligatory for all
\npublic schools, not only those which accept federal funding and require annual
\naccountability and status reports. Furthermore, it would seek to change
\nattitudes about disabilities by improving education for all students, not just
\nthose with disabilities – a long term amelioration of the discrimination people
\nwith disabilities experience when seeking employment.<\/p>\n

The process of ratifying a treaty is a long and difficult
\none (some spend years being checked out by the State Department before being
\nsent to the Senate for a vote), but in this case, when educational iniquities
\ncontribute to hyper-unemployment among the community of people with
\ndisabilities, it is more than necessary. Canada and 78 other nations have done
\nso already. Though not yet ready for a vote, the UNCRPD could be released from
\nState at any time.<\/p>\n

For more information, visit www.ratifynow.org<\/a> or contact me at slehman@rac.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the last few weeks, I’ve been working with my colleague Rabbi Lynne Landsberg, Senior Adviser for Disability Issues at the Religious Action Center, to draw attention to a very troubling statistic: more than 70% of people with disabilities are unemployed. This means that the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is more than seven […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4316,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-313650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313650\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}