Audit finds wide enrollment disparities, particularly in charter schools

From the New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Many public schools in New Orleans, particularly charter schools, show significant underrepresentation of students with disabilities, according to a report by state officials. At some charter schools in the Recovery School District, fewer than 4 percent of students are reported to have disabilities, as compared with a district-wide average of about ten percent.

The report has prompted criticism from advocates who charge that some schools are practicing discrimination by advising students with disabilities to go elsewhere. Educators defend the schools, saying the district’s open enrollment policy makes some degree of variation inevitable. An excerpt:

… in some cases it’s easy to sympathize with both the parents and the schools: Families have every right to full services, but schools cannot  always get the money and staff they need to provide them.

See related post: Opinion: Open charter doors to students with disabilities

Writing in USA Today, Ben Mattlin says people with disabilities owe a profound debt of gratitude to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for his work in the civil rights movement.

Like African Americans, Mattlin says, people with disabilities share a history of being been held back by discrimination and low expectations. An excerpt:

Make no mistake: There is a legacy of shame. Just as blacks were shunted to the margins of society not so long ago, we disabled were housed in attics, basements and institutions.

What’s more, both blacks and the disabled were once considered genetically inferior. There were laws curtailing our reproductive freedom. Even today, unemployment rates for people with disabilities rival those of African Americans.

The historical and current similarities are stirring. Which is why Martin Luther King Day on Monday should have special meaning for people with disabilities. Besides showing us how to organize and agitate for equal rights, King gave voice to the simple yet revolutionary notion that we’re good enough — valuable, even — as we are. And as such we deserve better.

From AP/ABC News, EEOC press release, EEOC data:

New federal statistics show the the number of workers claiming job discrimination based on disability rose to a new record in fiscal 2009. Statistics released by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission showed that charges of disability discrimination rose by ten percent to 21,451 claims, the largest increase in any category.

Complaints claiming discrimination based on religion or national origins also surged to record highs last year. “Equal employment opportunity remains elusive for far too many workers and the Commission will continue to fight for their right,” said the commission’s acting chairman, Stuart Ishimaru. “Employers must step up their efforts to foster discrimination-free and inclusive workplaces, or risk enforcement and litigation by the EEOC.”

The increase in disability bias claims coincided with the economic downturn and changes in the Americans with Disabilities Act that significantly broaden protections for people with disabilities.

Overall, the EEOC received more than 93,000 employment discrimination claims in fiscal 2009.

Writing in the Chicago Tribune, Parade Magazine publisher Randolph Siegel lists a few examples of the ways in which people with cognitive impairments are ridiculed in the national media. Here’s just one: A leading character on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm seduces a character with an intellectual disability, then belittles his victim when she speaks out. “I cringe when I see snark like this,” Siegel says. An excerpt:

Call me overly sensitive. Accuse me of being humorless. Say whatever you want. But if the true measure of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable citizens, then these mean-spirited attacks are not only indefensible, they reinforce the intolerance and discrimination that these children and adults often face in their schools, communities or workplaces. I had never met a “retard” until my daughter was labeled one after untreatable epilepsy ravaged her cognitive development.

… Over the years, I’ve bit my tongue whenever I hear “retard jokes” at business functions — or see a movie like DreamWorks’ “Tropic Thunder” in which “retards” are vulgarly disparaged in a lame effort to generate laughs — or hear a song like the Black Eyed Peas hit single “Let’s Get Retarded.” Even when President Barack Obama described his subpar bowling skills by making an insensitive joke about the Special Olympics on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”, I tried to internalize the pain. But that’s a losing strategy and no longer justifiable.

As Americans with intellectual disabilities are increasingly stigmatized and dehumanized in our media and popular culture, it’s time — now more than ever — for their families and friends to help them fight back.

Earlier post: Daughter with epilepsy needs more than hugs — ‘My Turn’ column by Randy Siegel in Newsweek

See also: Our seizure nightmare, by Randolph Siegel in the Chicago Tribune

(Photo from website of Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy)

From the [UK] Guardian:

In response to a survey by a UK disability charity, 9 percent of respondents with disabilities reported that they have been the victim of a hate crime. The charity, Leonard Cheshire Disability, asked respondents whether they had faced a crime which they felt was motivated by their disability.

The charity said it decided to add the question after high-profile incidents in which disabled people had been targeted, most notably the case of Fiona Pilkington and her 18-year-old daughter, Francecca. Pilkington killed herself and her daughter after enduring years of abuse at the hands of local toughs. An inquest jury in September criticized local law enforcement authorities for failing to respond to her repeated pleas for help.

Some 42 percent of respondents also said they believed they had been turned down for a job because of their disability, a rise of seven percentage points from 2008, while more than half felt they had been discriminated against in a place of work. The data was based on responses from 1,253 people.

Foes of a planned group home for people with developmental disabilities in Virginia are acting out of ignorance, prejudice and fear, Colleen Miller writes in the [Harrisonburg, VA], News-Record , adding that their actions are illegal under the federal Fair Housing Act. She says people with developmental disabilities deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. An excerpt:

The arguments made by the opponents of this home are old and patently false. Homes for people with disabilities have existed in communities just like Pleasant View, for many decades, with no negative effect on property values, no increase in crime, and no increase in traffic. These false fears arise from the fact that people with intellectual disabilities have been segregated from society for too long. Simply put, it is a fear borne of the unfamiliar.

The law is unambiguous that individuals with disabilities have the right to live in the community, but awareness of the law alone will not resolve the protests of those who have preconceived notions of individuals with disabilities. Only time, experience and knowledge will overcome those notions. Individuals with intellectual disabilities have been denied their rights for too long. We must continue to break down the barriers between them and their right to freedom and inclusion.

Colleen Miller is director of the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy in Richmond.

See also:

A chance to live the good life, By Jeremy Hunt — Harrisonburg [VA] News-Record

Deed restrictions vs. fair housing, By Jeremy Hunt — Harrisonburg [VA] News-Record

From the National Law Journal:

The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission has filed a federal lawsuit against a North Carolina employer for alleged workplace discrimination against an employee with mental illness.

The EEOC argues that the Smith International Truck Center relied on “myths, fears and stereotypes about mental impairments” when it unlawfully terminated Stephen Kerns, an employee who returned to work after taking a leave for a mental health issue.

Carol Miaskoff, assistant legal counsel to the EEOC, said discrimination against employees with mental illnesses has been an ongoing problem since the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990.

“There’s just a lot of stigma about mental illness,” she said, adding that the North Carolina case highlights the difficulties that individuals with mental illness face in landing a job and keeping one. “‘Getting employers to slow down and not jump to these negative conclusions is not easy.”