Stop The School to Prison Pipeline
DISS-ABLED
Dissed If You Are. Dissed If You’re Not.
The modern day disability rights movement was founded on the principles of the civil rights movements of the 50’s and 60’s.
Speaking to the similarities, Justice Marshall explained that people with disabilities: “have been subject to a ‘lengthy and tragic history,’ of segregation and discrimination that can only be called grotesque.A regime of state-mandated segregation and degradationthat, in its virulence and bigotry, rivaled, and indeed paralleled, the worst excesses of Jim Crow.” Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, 473 U.S. 432, 461-462 (1985) (Marshall, J., concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part).
So, put racial and disability discrimination together and the results are devastating for our school children. An African American student is 3 times more likely to face suspension than a white student. A student with a disability is 2 times more likely to face suspension than a non-disabled student. But an African American student with a disability is 4 times more likely to face suspension as students without disabilities of all races. Multiple suspensions drastically reduce the chances of graduating from high school and increase the chances of incarceration.
This piece was inspired by a client of mine who I feared and worried would/could go down the school-to-prison pipeline. The suspension notices which frame the picture are from his “educational” file. This African American young man with invisible disabilities (learning disabilities and severe ADHD) is now 15 years old.
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) used the disability rights laws to secure needed services and supports in school. We can only hope it is not too little, too late.