Why?

For years students with disabilities were excluded from schools due to the lack of educators who had the knowledge to teach children with special needs. Before the 1800s, the public feared people with disabilities because they did not understand why these people were different and because of this the public treated ones with disabilities in cruel ways. A lot of children with special needs were deserted and left to die. Witch hunts, burnings, and exorcisms also were common means to an end for such “problem” children (Sacks 2). There were not may people willing to support children with disabilities.

In 1933 parents started forming special education advocacy groups and ultimately were the main people in improving education opportunities for their children. The Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 and the Civil Rights Movement extended equal protection under the law for minorities and paved the way for people with disabilities to receive the same treatment. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act was passed in 1975. It is also known as the Public Law 94-142. The Public Law 94-142 required schools to provide students with a any range of disability with a “free appropriate public education.” It also requires school districts to offer education in the “least restrictive environment” possible. These laws were put into affect because people started to finally realize that children with special needs deserve an education also.