An Abundance of Restraint(s and Seclusion) In many respects, the special education classroom is squarely at the intersection of systemic racism and disability in the United States because it plays such a pivotal, yet largely unexplored, role in the preschool to prison pipeline. Black/Brown students- including those diagnosed with disabilities, those who have diagnosable disabilities but lack access to diagnosing professionals, and those without disabilities- are subjected to a disproportionate use of seclusion and restraints, as well as “interventions” by law enforcement officers in public school settings. For instance, a recent settlement agreement between the Wichita Public Schools and the United States Department of Justice reveals significant ongoing issues of race and disability discrimination, including “students with disabilities receiving more than 98% of the district’s roughly 3,000 restraints and seclusions — meaning putting children in rooms alone — and at least 44 students experienced “20 or more restrains and seclusions” during the period covered by the investigation. One student was restrained or secluded 144 times — including 99 seclusions lasting over 15 hours total.”
An Unsettling Settlement However, upon review of both the DOJ’s settlement agreement and Wichita Public School’s proposed code of conduct, it’s clear that the decision makers at both the federal and local level are committed to placing accountability for the disparate treatment of Black/Brown students with disabilities squarely on the shoulders of the students, not the professionals employed by the school district to educate them: emphasis in both documents is placed on issues such as revising dress codes for students and not, instead, on identifying staff who habitually engage in the use of force on students (it should be noted that, although restraining and/or placing students in seclusion are common practices in public schools throughout the US, such practices, employed outside of a public school setting, could be deemed anything from, depending on who is doing the investigating, assault to an outright human rights violation) for either training, disciplinary action, termination, or referral to law enforcement.
If It’s Not Covered in Academia, It’s Deemed Not Important
The Why behind the criminalization of Black/Brown students with disabilities has myriad systemic implications, including the academic environments that both train special education professionals and conduct research on people with disabilities. For instance, the curriculum for special education professionals has, historically, centered white disabled people and lacked coursework on disability and race. That coursework is derived from research conducted almost exclusively on white people with disabilities. Compound that with whatever implicit bias the special education professional already possesses and, as a result, special education professionals often lack the necessary experience and cultural competency (or humility) to effectively educate and support racially marginalized children with disabilities, as well as learn from them and their parents/guardians/advocates (PGAs).
SPEDing While Black/Brown- As a Parent
The overrepresentation of Black/Brown children in special education classrooms has created an avenue for racial segregation to thrive in public schools, despite Brown v Board of Education. Add to this the unforeseen consequences of the Brown v Board of Education ruling, particularly the loss of community connection between Black/Brown PGAs and teachers after integration, which has left such PGAs vulnerable to microaggressions and other manifestations of discrimination including being addressed by school staff condescending manners and experiencing negative assumptions being made about their parenting practices and abilities. To be a Black/Brown PGA of children with disabilities is to constantly encounter rooms full of highly credentialed educators who may not understand (or value) their- or their child’s- lived experiences. PGAs often feel pressured to agree to drafts of IEPs without fully understanding either their rights as they pertain to the IEP process or the implications of the documents. Teachers often act as gatekeepers to the special education system, which can further intimidate Black/Brown PGAs. Even the internet, which, in the 21st century, easily connects people to the most obscure information, yields limited search results to support racially marginalized PGAs of children with disabilities as they navigate the public school system seemingly alone.
Where Are the Advocacy Organizations?
Although Wichita Public Schools is specifically mentioned in this blog entry, they are, unfortunately, not alone in its mistreatment of Black/Brown students with disabilities. We at the Lois Curtis Center encourage readers to get- and stay- informed about how your local public school district treats Black/Brown students with disabilities. Do not assume that the advocacy organizations you support will keep you abreast of issues like this- with regard to Wichita Public Schools mistreatment of students, no advocacy organizations, including the Wichita Independent Living Resource Center (which is funded at the state level via the Department for Children and Families to provide systems advocacy as a core service for people with disabilities), Families Together (which receives a variety of state grants to advocate for families of students with disabilities in Kansas and is headquartered in Wichita), the Kansas Council on Developmental Disabilities (federally funded via the Administration on Community Living to provide advocacy for people with developmental disabilities) and the Disability Rights Center of Kansas (also federally funded via the Administration on Community Living to provide protection and advocacy services to disabled Kansans). Disability advocates are not alone in ignoring this issue- the Wichita NAACP, LULAC State of Kansas, and the Kansas Poor People’s Campaign have all been silent regarding Wichita Public School’s mistreatment of Black/Brown students with disabilities.
Do not equate lack of attention on this issue to lack of its importance.
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