By Meghan Schrader
Meghan Schrader
Meghan is an instructor at E4 - University of Texas (Austin) and is a member of the EPC-USA board.
I’m again commenting on some of the disability policy amendments that have been attempted or implemented by this administration, especially the changes to the special education system that have been made or are likely to be implemented soon.
This is a blog about assisted suicide, but as I’ve written, assisted suicide intersects with other disability rights issues. I think that helping disabled people die by suicide is tolerated because society tolerates degradation of disabled people in all other spheres of life.
Based on my personal experiences and advocacy background, I currently feel certain that the disability policy changes being implemented by this administration are squarely in line with that unethical, unjust pattern.
For instance, although this administration recently stopped using Special Education students as government shutdown “hostages” and reversed the layoffs of most of the Department of Education’s Special Education staff, this administration is planning to move Special Education to HHS. I guess many of the aforementioned staff members might move to HHS, but I doubt that that process will be conducted in a careful, efficient way.
Moreover, it is deeply frustrating to think of RFK Jr. having any oversight over Special Education, what with his rants about autism being caused by vaccines and Tylenol and his statement that people with autism, “will never pay taxes, they'll never hold a job, they'll never play baseball, they'll never write a poem, they'll never go out on a date," and "many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.” Although it is true that some people with autism have high support needs, Kennedy’s general attitude reinforces society’s pattern of low expectations for the inclusion of autistic people in education and everything else.
I’m a pragmatist. If moving Special Education to HHS somehow goes well, “great.” But, by “goes well” I mean direction by Special Education and educational policy staff at the top of their field, a maximum academic achievement standard for Special Education students, amazing transition services, robust opportunities for teacher training, etc. I don’t think that’s going to happen with an HHS chief ranting that autism is caused by Tylenol & vaccines, the federal government canceling Special Education grants, President Trump blaming disabled people for plane crashes & allegedly saying that disabled people should just die, etc.
These changes to the Special Education system are being led by people who lack even cursory knowledge of that system. For instance, in a recent interview, Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon said of IDEA, the acronym for the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, “Well, do you know what? I’m not sure I can tell you exactly what it stands for, except that it’s the programs for disabled and needs [students].”
If you don’t know what the acronym IDEA stands for, then you should NOT be in charge of implementing it. It makes me angry that this administration is deferring to the opinions of someone who doesn’t know what “IDEA” stands for instead of to groups like The Council For Exceptional Children, The Learning Disabilities Association of America, multiple other disability rights groups, and a bipartisan group of former Department of Education directors.
The problem of Special Education students getting a substandard education is already very prevalent, which contributes to incarceration, poverty, mental health problems and suicide. (Again, this is something I know from personal experience; lack of accommodations for my learning disability is the primary social factor driving the mental illness that I have experienced.)
One could of course argue that the Department of Education has not prevented disabled students from being discriminated against, but I doubt that getting rid of it completely is going to decrease the ableism that such students experience. And this problem is directly relevant to assisted suicide opposition, because as we can see from Canada, lack of education and civil rights protections pushes disabled people towards situations where assisted suicide seems like the only option.
This administration’s approach to disability rights falls into a longstanding cultural pattern of apathy towards disabled people: this administration has an agenda of returning all education oversight to the states, come what may, and Special Education students are likely not a priority. In my opinion this behavior isn’t much different from the behavior of assisted suicide proponents who decide that the wrongful deaths of a few disabled people is worth it as long as they can die with champagne in their hands, except “at least” this administration’s policy changes don’t legalize killing disabled people outright.
There is no reason for any politician or administration to behave this way, other than to check off items on someone’s political grocery list.
Disabled people don’t exist to serve anyone’s political agenda. Not conservative agendas or liberal agendas, even if the agenda item is very important. We aren’t “toys” that people from different political “tribes” can use and break at will. I really wish that the ideologues having a tug of war over the direction of America would spare a thought for disabled people as they prance merrily towards whatever utopia they have in their minds.
Previous articles by Meghan Schrader (Articles Link).
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