New York’s Initiative on the Disabled Community
There’s close to a million people that have some disability in New York City (NYC Mayor’s office). Disability is defined as a person who has any physical or mental limitations that prevents them from doing daily activities. In the past, disability was unfavored by society- seen as a disease or an inconvenience that was brought on individuals who simply went out living on Earth in different ways. Disabled individuals were often segregated from others who weren’t disabled and were often heavily mistreated for being different. Cases like these happened in places such as the Willowbrook State School (1947) in Staten Island. However in modern day history, New York City seems to strive to make sure that disabled individuals are treated equally and fairly among others especially in classrooms.
IEP stands for Individualized Education Programs and it is a program that offers disabled students the resources and tools they need to be equally successful in the classroom. In order to apply for the IEP program you must be 18 or under and eligible at least of one of the thirteen conditions. These conditions are listed by the NYC Public School Education Department as follows:
- Autism- a deficiency that leads people to have a lack of social relation or communication
- Deafness-the inability to hear
- Deaf-Blindness -the inability to hear or see
- Emotional Disability- a disability that affects a person’s social awareness, emotion, expression, etc.
- Hearing impairment- a disability that has a person with partial or full lack of hearing
- Intellectual Disability - a deficiency in cognitive function skills
- Learning Disability- a disability that impacts a person’s ability to learn
- Multiple Disabilities- a person with more than one of these conditions/disabilities
- Orthopedic Impairment- a disability having to do with a problem with skeletal, muscle, or neural functions (e.x broken leg, arm, etc.)
- Other Health Impairment- and other disability that impacts one’s overall physical/ mental health
- Speech or Language Impairment- a student with problems with communication and speech (e.x stuttering)
- Traumatic Brain Injury- a student having an injury to the brain
- Visual Impairment- a disability that has a person with partial or full lack of vision
(New York State Senate)
Every student who follows the required conditions in order to qualify for IEP (such as autism, dyslexia, etc.) receive a guided track to their courses and a specialized teacher to assist them if need be. The IEP program benefits all students with disabilities by giving equal and fair access to the education that all other students receive. 1 in 16 students are enrolled in IEP programs at their schools. Students in IEP programs receive updates on their academic reports, suggestions to external disability services, and are encouraged to interact in activities with children without disabilities. This makes it so that the child is treated fairly in a public school system community. There will also be services that provide an IEP student the resources they need to succeed in a standard school environment such as alternative exams procedures to accommodate the needs of those with disabilities.
The Free Appropriate Public Education Guidelines or FAPE are rules in the public education system that ensures that every single student is treated fairly in schools with disability or not. This includes students with disabilities being integrated with students without disabilities. These rules make sure that every disabled student is cared for and that they are not isolated from the rest of the public school system because of their condition. It is New York’s main goal overtime for FAPE:
Disabled students are successfully integrated with the rest of their non-disabled peers
Disabled students are held up to the highest academic standard as every other student
Disabled students will be able to successfully integrate into active activities with non-disabled students.
Disabled students will be very successful in their high school education
SETSS stands for the Special Education Teacher Support Services and it provides additional instructional service for students in the IEP to be guided by a paraprofessional or faculty that has a background in special educational services. This program offers what is known as resource rooms provided for students who need additional support in educational services such as “math, reading, or braille ’’ as stated on the Teacher Associations Website. The SETSS program offered what are known as direct or indirect services.
~Direct Services- provide students with close knit education by having teachers teach cognitive skills and social awareness to disabled students so they don’t struggle as much learning in the classrooms.
~Indirect services- partnership between the special education teacher and the general education teacher working together to accommodate the needs of the disabled student. Cognitive skill development and social awareness are all taught within the regular classroom.
New York City’s goal is to make every student equal both inside and outside of the classroom is increasingly successful. More and more students with disabilities are being treated more fairly, this increases New York City’s goal for more inclusive community with people with disabilities and without.
Sources
“Senate Passes Disability Protection Package.”NY State Senate, 18 May 2022,www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senate-passes-disability-protection-package.
Solodev.Orthopedic Impairment (OI).www.fldoe.org/academics/exceptional-student-edu/ese-eligibility/orthopedic-impairment-oi.stml#:~:text=Definition,%2C%20muscular%2C%20or%20neuromuscular%20impairment.
Special Education Teacher Support Services.www.uft.org/teaching/students-disabilities/special-education-teacher-support-services.
TABLE FAPE.IV: Cluster Area IV - Free Appropriate Public Education in the Least Restrictive Environment - Status of Program Performance.www.p12.nysed.gov/sedcar/apr/apr0304data/tablefape4.htm.
Team, Understood. “Learning Disabilities in Children | Understood.”Understood, Aug. 2022,www.understood.org/en/articles/learning-disabilities-by-the-numbers#:~:text=How%20many%20kids%20have%20formal,other%20health%20impairments%20(OHI).
“The IEP.”Web,www.schools.nyc.gov/learning/special-education/the-iep-process/the-iep.
“What Is Intellectual Disability?”SpecialOlympics.org, July 2018,www.specialolympics.org/about/intellectual-disabilities/what-is-intellectual-disability#:~:text=What%20Is%20an%20Intellectual%20Disability,social%20and%20self%2Dcare%20skills.