My hope is that meaningful funding will follow all the goodwill and good intentions. What do you see next for the education system to ensure education is available and equitable to all children with disabilities? Culturally inclusive and culturally responsive pedagogy must become ubiquitous within the special education system. We must do a better job of educating BIPOC youth with special education needs. People are open to hearing, taking action and wanting to be a part of the change that we want to see in our culture and in our communities. I believe that the soil is fertile and now is the time to have hard conversations about racial inequalities. The willingness of people and institutions to have a reckoning with the racial injustices of our current system. What is a milestone of special education that you are most excited about? Why? If you really want to disrupt the effects of generational poverty, educate young girls of color. If I can be even more pointed about it, it is the education of not all young people, but specifically the education of girl children because when we change the trajectory of our own lives, we then change the trajectory of our children’s lives. This work is important to me because I fundamentally believe that education is the most powerful lever that we have to disrupt the effects of generational poverty within communities of color.
The Black Child Fund seeks to elevate the cultural competence of special education advocates, teachers, and practitioners so that all professionals serving BIPOC students with disabilities are doing so through a culturally responsive lens. While disability does not occur more frequently in the Black community, Black children are often over identified as having behavior problems or not being school ready thus creating a pipeline of Black students into the special education system that often does not serve them equitably. Despite being over-represented in the special education system, outcomes for Black children receiving special education services lag behind those of every other group. For example, 72% of all special education students graduate high school with a regular diploma. However, only 65% of Black children who receive special education services graduate high school with a regular diploma. Of that 14% the largest percentage of those students identify as Black/African American. What are the disparities that Black students and Black students with disabilities face in education? How is The Black Child Fund working to end those disparities?īlack students are the largest population in the special education system, and the most underserved. About 14% of all public-school students receive special education services. The Black Child Fund is focused on the intersectionality of race and disability and aspires to disrupt systems of educational inequity and improve long term outcomes for BIPOC youth with disabilities.Įasterseals aspires to be a thought leader and convener of people, ideas, and resources aimed at mitigating disparities that exist for BIPOC youth with disabilities in educational outcomes and social indicators of health and wellbeing. The Black Child Fund was launched by Easterseals in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and the BLM movement from summer 2020. What is The Black Child Fund at Easterseals? It is important to highlight the children, people and families that are beneficiaries of this work. That is 7.3 million reasons to honor the hard work, the wins, and the possibilities of young people on their unique pathway toward fulfilling their potential. It is important that we observe this day to bring attention and awareness to the special education system to ensure that the most vulnerable students among us have access to everything that they need to be successful. It is important to acknowledge Special Education Day because nearly 14% of all public-school children-7.3 million children-receive special education services guaranteed to them by IDEA.
National Special Education Day was first celebrated in 2005, which was the 30th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
What is National Special Education Day? Why is it critical that we observe it? In celebration of National Special Education Day, Team Easterseals is in conversation with Erika Watson, the National Director Childhood Development, Education, and Equity at the Easterseals National Office.
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