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We are our own biggest enemy. Our assumptions that is...and we all bring them to the table when thinking about the role of school, special education, and inclusion. Let me see if I can boil down the issue (as I see it) as succinctly as possible. Teachers, principals, therapists, district administrators, psychologists, lawyers or any other educator representing the district are extremely anxious about unrealistic expectations from parents. Parents, advocates, self-advocates, students, lawyers representing the families or any other party are extremely anxious about the school district not giving the appropriate services and/or placement for their child with disabilities. Can you see the problem? It is trust.

Gregory Hilibok has been named the new head of the Federal Communications Commission's Disability Rights Office - the first time a person with a disability has headed the office.

Each month, special education lawyer Matt Cohen answers selected questions from the LD OnLine community regarding legal issues for people with learning disabilities. Below are the newest questions answered by Matt Cohen. To view all questions, organized by topic, visit the All Questions section.

A Washington, D.C. newspaper is facing rebuke after an editorial written by its own staff criticized federal efforts to hire more people with disabilities. The opinion piece from The Washington Times editorial board focused on a recent U.S. Department of Justice memo informing employees about the agency’s plan to hire more people with so-called targeted disabilities including cerebral palsy, deafness, blindness and severe intellectual disability. “Most employers would balk at even minor mental disabilities in hiring a lawyer, let alone severe ones. But the policy states that the Cabinet department run by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. must ‘achieve a work force from all segments of society,’ which includes those who are teetering on the edge of sanity,” The Washington Times said in its Aug. 22 editorial. The commentary is drawing strong backlash from disability advocates who say the criticisms are baseless and rely on untrue information. “While the Times editorial suggests applicants with disabilities would be fast-tracked into jobs at the DOJ without due screening and assessment, the DOJ memo clearly states otherwise,” said Jonathan Young, chair of the National Council on Disability. “To mischaracterize the DOJ initiative with fear-mongering and hyperbole misses the point.”

The American Bar Association's Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law established the national Mentor Program for: law students with disabilities prospective law students with disabilities, and recent law school graduates with disabilities The Program’s purpose is to give members of these groups the opportunity to learn from an experienced attorney. In a recent study conducted for the ABA, those immediately out of law school cited having a mentor as an important driving factor of satisfaction with their career. Career satisfaction, however, is just one benefit of having a mentor-mentee relationship. Practitioners, students, and academics have all praised the benefits of a mentor program for those with disabilities, namely the availability of advice, guidance, and support.  

The American Bar Association's Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law established the national Mentor Program for: law students with disabilities prospective law students with disabilities, and recent law school graduates with disabilities The Program’s purpose is to give members of these groups the opportunity to learn from an experienced attorney. In a recent study conducted for the ABA, those immediately out of law school cited having a mentor as an important driving factor of satisfaction with their career. Career satisfaction, however, is just one benefit of having a mentor-mentee relationship. Practitioners, students, and academics have all praised the benefits of a mentor program for those with disabilities, namely the availability of advice, guidance, and support.  

Click here to view the full flyer (PDF) On Saturday, April 17, part of the Masters in Social Work (MSW) research team will be in Billings, MT to facilitate two focus groups – one for parents who have been positively or negatively affected by the GAL system in Billings, and another focus group for former or current GALs and/or other professionals (mental health workers, lawyers, social workers) who have worked within the GAL system. To learn more, please visit the Montana Guardian ad Litem (GAL) Project website at: www.mtgal.webs.com If you have addition questions feel free to email Erin at: erin1.butts@umontana.edu.

The Commission's mission is "to promote the ABA's commitment to justice and the rule of law for persons with mental, physical, and sensory disabilities and to promote their full and equal participation in the legal profession." The Commission consists of 15 members appointed by the ABA President-elect on an annual basis. It meets bi-annually at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. to map out future plans and to direct its current activities.

BMJ Editor Fiona Godlee presented a discussion of the stunning investigation she published earlier this year that revealed the MMR scare was based not on bad science but on deliberate fraud.  The three-part series was produced by journalist Brian Deer, who spent seven years investigating Andrew Wakefield’s infamous study linking the MMR vaccine with autism, discovering Wakefield had been paid by a lawyer to influence his results and had blatantly manipulated the study data. 

By the time he was 17, Antonio Rocha had bounced among 11 New York City schools and was reading at a first-grade level. It wasn't until he told school officials "I want a lawyer!" that things began to change.

With the help of an advocacy group, Rocha pressured the city to pay for 480 hours of private tutoring, which eventually helped him read at a functional level. Now 20 and working for United Parcel Service, he's one of three people profiled (and the only one comfortable with being identified) in WNYC Radio reporter Beth Fertig's new book, Why Cant U Teach Me 2 Read?.

We felt terrible for the school team. And we felt bad for the family, too; we heard that they had been banned from the school. One thing we knew for sure—we would never be the kind of parents who would go to due process. We were not lawsuit people and didn’t even know any lawyers. If we ever had differences, we would find a way to work them out. Due process for us? No way!