by Susan Crawford and Brian Charlson
(Editor's note: Charlie Crawford is designating this space, usually reserved for a message from the executive director, to this important topic. Look for Crawford's Executive Director's Report in the November "Braille Forum.")
In the coming months, Congress will consider and pass a re-authorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the federal law that sets out how children with disabilities will be educated throughout this country. ACB's Task Force on Special Education, established several months ago, has focused critically needed attention on the educational needs of students who are blind or visually impaired. The IDEA task force includes ACB members with expertise in the areas of special education, administration, higher education, dispute resolution, vocational rehabilitation, assistive technology, and Braille literacy, as well as parent and student perspectives. Moreover, the task force has benefitted from the expertise of members who represent ACB special interest affiliates, including the National Association of Blind Teachers (NABT), National Alliance of Blind Students (NABS), the Braille Revival League (BRL), Library Users of America (LUA), and eight ACB state affiliates.
As a result of the work of the task force, ACB is releasing a comprehensive report, a "white paper," detailing both the current problems faced by blind children and specific recommendations to improve the education of students with blindness or vision impairments. To explore the obstacles confronting those committed to providing an appropriate education for blind students, ACB examined the overlapping issues of people, tools, and environment.
A fundamental principle of IDEA is to place children with disabilities in the least restrictive environment. But for too many blind children, the mainstream classroom, or full inclusion as it is called, actually imposes restrictions and obstacles to an appropriate education. Blind children have been isolated academically and socially within the general classroom because many general education staffpersons do not consider it their responsibility to teach blind children; special educators with expertise in Braille, assistive technology, and other services are in short supply; and information in print, such as textbooks, daily worksheets, library materials, and building signage, is not accessible to blind students at the same time as it is to their classmates. These circumstances have resulted too often in woefully inadequate academic and social learning, leaving blind students ill equipped for self-direction, independent living, and employment.
Blind students are often excluded from recreation, extracurricular activities, career education, and community service and work experiences. Instead of developing a sense of inclusion and belonging in the school, blind and visually impaired students often suffer academic and social isolation.
Parents seldom know about all the options which may exist for their blind children. In addition to the regular curriculum, blind children must develop strong Braille literacy skills, computer and assistive technology competencies, and independent living skills that are part of an expanded core curriculum. Sometimes students have been able to acquire these essential core curricular skills by receiving instruction via a combination of local school placement and temporary placement at the state's school for the blind. Rather than planning for their blind and visually impaired students to acquire all of the skills they will need in order to be successful in the post-school environment, however, many state educational authorities continue to see these important issues in terms of a struggle between local school districts and schools for the blind concerning which placement option will prevail.
So WHAT can be done? ACB believes that we now have no choice but to seek to impact an intransigent bureaucracy by changing the law itself. For the sake of generations of blind children we must mandate changes that equalize the playing field for blind children so that they have the opportunity to develop to their full potential.
Most of ACB's proposals relate to people. Right now, teachers who must work with children with disabilities in mainstream classrooms are required to take only a single survey course on disability. ACB proposes that all teachers in all states be required to have at least nine credits of disability-related education (including blindness) to acquire or retain their teacher certification. ACB allows a five-year period for bringing teachers up to this level and urges the federal government to earmark funds to support this initiative.
ACB believes that the current funding formula for low-incidence populations under personnel preparation has disadvantaged programs preparing specialists in the blindness field, which is part of the reason that so many programs which prepare teachers and specialists to work with blind and visually impaired children are finding it hard to survive. ACB proposes that 35 percent of the funding allocated for personnel preparation for special education be allocated to low-incidence populations and that 20 percent of that sum be specifically allocated to programs that train specialists to serve blind children.
Parents need to know what the options are for their children. To encourage the recognition of the range of choices that might best serve their children, ACB proposes requiring each school district to provide parents with a document that lists the range of education options both within and out of state that might be appropriate for their children. This document should be mailed along with the notice of the IEP so that parents have time to read it before their team meetings.
To assure that blind children and their teachers have the tools they need to be successful, ACB includes two major proposals. First, ACB proposes amending IDEA so that the core curriculum is expanded to include instruction in orientation and mobility, assistive technology, daily living skills, and low vision. Second, ACB asks the Secretary of Education to create a priority during this funding cycle to train teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, and students to utilize access technology.
In terms of affecting the environment in which education is delivered, ACB makes several recommendations. First, when children are to be educated in a mainstream classroom, ACB advocates that the law be amended to assure that they are not disadvantaged by the extent and manner in which they are provided access to both information and activities. We propose that blind students have access to technology, hand-outs, textbooks, classroom activities, field trips, audio-visual presentations, notices and all other activities conducted in the classroom at the same time as they are available to their non-disabled peers. ACB also proposes that one of the requirements for all blind students regardless of their environment is that the expanded core curriculum described earlier becomes a part of IDEA.
Finally, ACB proposes that the definition of least restrictive environment be amended to include two exceptions instead of one. Currently the law says that a child whose disability is so severe that education in the mainstream classroom is not appropriate may be placed elsewhere. ACB proposes that if a child's educational needs can best be met, in the opinion of the IEP team, in an environment other than the mainstream classroom, then that child can be placed elsewhere along the continuum of services.
In addition to the white paper, ACB has submitted specific statutory language to amend the current law, and ACB has submitted written comments concerning the recent report by the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education.
We urge our friends, both individuals and organizations, to join us in this effort. ACB, through the advocacy of its many members, will continue to advance the educational opportunities available to all blind children. We are optimistic that the work of our IDEA Task Force will make the kind of difference we believe is crucial for the sake of generations of blind and visually impaired children now and in the coming years.