Perspective Shift

So as you might know, I wound up with a pretty cool job recently.. And it's a job for which I do a lot of blogging about education & disability issues (and work with teachers from all around Central TX), so I haven't been compelled to post on here in a while. But over the holiday I've been reflecting on just how far my attitudes and mission regarding disabilities have had to change.

My position at Region 13, nay my department, is essentially funded by the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, 2004 re-authorization. That Act lays out a number of vital points, but the ones that most concern me are ensuring that students with disabilities get: 1. access to the general curriculum 2. in the least restrictive environment possible. These themes, AGC and LRE, are what essentially define what I do with the Region.

Those who know me know that I've spent the past 10 or so years at private schools for students with learning disabilities, designing and delivering non-conventional academic content as a teacher and an administrator. In other words, ensuring that students 1. access an alternate curriculum 2. in a very restrictive environment. (Restrictive here meaning isolated from the general population of students).

And in that role I often found myself defending the isolated environment by the results: our students' self-esteems were enhanced and we helped them access the really vital life skills: goal-setting, self-awareness, proactivity, perseverance and the like. I believed we were serving them well, and I still do.

Now my role is completely different. Now I have to help these square pegs fit into round holes of Texas' public schools. And to do that means working with the teachers and administrators who, by law, have got to find a way to serve these kids in the most mainstreamed environment as is possible and beneficial.

It is different. Disability rights may be the final frontier of the civil rights movement. I think it's also the most complex. And my journey is just beginning.