Opinion: Special Education and Race

Oped from today's New York Times by Paul L. Morgan, an associate professor of education at Pennsylvania State University.George Farkas, a professor of education at the University of California, Irvine.

More than six million children in the United States receive special-education services for their disabilities. Of those age 6 and older, nearly 20 percent are black.
Critics claim that this high number — blacks are 1.4 times more likely to be placed in special education than other races and ethnicities combined — shows that black children are put into special education because schools are racially biased.
But our new research suggests just the opposite. 

Looking to Provide States Incentive for Providing More Opportunities

A bipartisan group of senators is looking to provide financial incentives to states for helping people with disabilities live and work in the community.The lawmakers want to establish a new Medicaid demonstration program that would offer financial bonuses to states for encouraging community-based outcomes. Under a bill introduced this week, a five-year program would be established in 10 states.

NFL Star Opens Up About Having a Child with Disabilities

Often times NFL players are larger than life. Whether it is their huge human structures, their bigger-than-life personas or their border-line ridiculous bank accounts. All factors can lead fans to think

these men who wear a uniform and play a game for a living don't truly know what struggles are. However, when former Pittsburgh Steelers DT Ziggy Hood wrote for the The Players' Tribune, even the fortunate suffer and have challenges, regardless of their financial situation.

Editorial: Opportunity to Improve Lives

Bravo to LA Daily News Editorial Board for it's approach to California's service system and the impact of budget cuts.

Sometimes an apparent setback can turn out to be a big victory. Let’s hope that will be the case with Gov. Jerry Brown’s refusal to direct more state funding into the cash-starved statewide system that serves those with developmental disabilities.There’s a great opportunity now for Sacramento to solve the system’s problems, at this moment and for years to come.

Feds Invest in Special Educators

With an eye on improving services for students with disabilities, the U.S. Department of Education is funneling millions into programs to train new special educators.

The Education Department said this week that it is granting $12.8 million to university programs coast to coast to address anticipated shortages in the field.

There's No Place Like Home

When most of us stop and think about it, our home, and the people who share it with us, defines a lot about our lives. It's the physical space where we greet each day. It's the people who we clock the most hours alongside. It's where we welcome guests, cozy up when we're sick, and retreat at the end of a long week.
But, for many adults with disabilities, a suitable home is hard -- sometimes almost impossible -- to come by. In the time that I moved five times, hundreds of thousands of individuals with disabilities across the U.S. have sat on housing waitlists. They're waiting, often many years, to make just one crucial move, the move out of their parent's home into community or independent living.

Congress Urged to Address Wandering

Several disability advocacy groups are banding together to call for federal action to help prevent wandering among those with autism and other developmental disabilities.
Dubbed the Autism Safety Coalition, the collective launched this week includes Autism Speaks, the Autism Society, The Arc and the National Autism Association, among others.