Ableism in Public schools

I don’t know what state you live in but, in my Illinois district, disabilities are taken very seriously. When a student registers, we get the medical information upfront. A meeting is scheduled between the parent(s) and the specialists in our school, and an IEP (individual educational plan) is formulated, understood, and agreed upon, and then it is implemented. We are actually working towards having an LBS1 specialist for each grade level.

Im in america :melting_face: :glowing_star:

im talking about highschool and up also in america mainly

Understood but, outside of federal guidelines, individual states control a lot of what goes on in public schools within their own states. Illinois, being a liberal state, stresses public services, education, aid for disabilities, etc. If you live in one of those, “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” states, things can be markedly different.

My understanding is that the implementation of IDEA varies a lot from state to state. Of course since Trump gutted the Department of Education we will not see timely investigations when the law is violated. And state budgets have no choice but to slash funding since the federal government is cutting them off. So all of these issues will get worse.

ok so what I meant was that the break is kinda like a thinking moment its quite odd.. I think is supposed to be a breather there but they continue talking and its not only a break for the student but the staff stopped taking notes and its all in the same room so that’s why I know they aren’t getting other things done also since it’s after school.

I had a grand mal seizure at work and they called 911. The doctor told me if I had another seizure, it wasn’t necessarily a medical emergency. My employer said that’s nice but we’re definitely going to call 911 if it happens again.

I get it. It’s a liability thing.

(I was diagnosed with epilepsy since I had three in one day and had one years earlier. But I’ve been on anticonvulsants and haven’t had one since 2016.)

its uhm washington

yes, the thing is with pots if they faint and aren’t injured we only need a few minutes not a hospital and when I get the doctors note they wont call 911…

…Ok so the staff areas have high quality and high priced stuff while the room students are allowed in there’s only normal stuff

But that’s not a disability issue, is it?

I don’t know how it is many other places but the principal has done fundraisers to get stuff like coffee machines back there.

No, but it’s just a side note

(it shows how the system here isn’t the best)

sorry if it doesn’t make sense I’m not the best at explaining.

Please rephrase?

POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) isn’t necessarily a fainting disorder but when someone with POTS does faint it only takes a few minutes for them to regain consciousness …and if they don’t get hurt they don’t need immediate medical attention, typically when people with POTS go to the hospital the hospital cannot do much unless they get injured from the fall. They might need a few hours to be able to sit up because of a flare up, so they don’t faint or collapse again but again, going to the hospital doesn’t do any better than a friend following what the person told them to do beforehand. Although after a certain amount of time or if their blood pressure and or their heart rate doesnt get better, then it’s time to call 911.

That’s probably because they can’t get the money any other way. There are no grants for staff coffee machines.

I think you are correct that some schools fail to properly accommodate students with disabilities. There are plenty of horror stories out there. I’m just not entirely clear on your specific complaints.

You generally do need doctor’s notes for ADA accommodations. In my son’s case, the school evaluated him with their own team. But they also took medical evaluation results. In my case, I needed a fair amount of documentation.

I agree it would be nice if the burden for figuring out the best accomodations didn’t always fall on the student. This is where having a therapist or medical professional can be helpful because they often will know what a reasonable accommodation is and how to get it. It helps to have someone outside the school who can provide recommendations.

The problem is that the school cannot make a medical diagnosis, so it something like this happens they cannot legally assume that it what the student says it is and not something more life threatening. “We just assumed that it was “A” going on, and not “B” thru “Z”, will not stand up in a court of law in most cases, and letting a child self-diagnose is just asking for lawsuits.

Ok let me try to make its more clear, ADA does state you can ask for a doctor note but what really bothered me was when the nurse said “Lets not Use {mobility aid} here unless you know you need it its a sensitive topic and how will others react” sorry for not mentioning it.

  • You may ask that they provide “credible assurance” that the device is used because of a disability.

    You must accept any of these types of credible assurance:

    • A valid, state-issued disability parking placard

    • Other state-issued proof of disability

    • A statement from the person that the cart or other powered option is used because of a disability, unless the person is observed doing something that contradicts this statement

  • You may not ask about the nature or extent of someone’s disability. This is also true if someone is using a wheelchair or other manual mobility aid.