The Education for All Handicapped Children Act was enacted and signed by President Gerald Ford in 1975. As the government’s informational site about the act states, “Since 1975, we have progressed from excluding nearly 1.8 million children with disabilities from public schools to providing more than 6.9 million children with disabilities special education and related services designed to meet their individual needs.”
Fortunately, I was born the year before that so I am one of the 6.9 million who, without this legislation, may have never gotten an education. Students like me, with Down Syndrome, were often taken out of school. People didn’t think we could succeed.
Although academics are hard for us, we do have potential and the law made it possible for us to prove it.
I had early intervention attending a special education-focused preschool. When my family moved to Massachusetts, I initially was assigned to a regular middle school, but with the help of some of my teachers, my parents went to court to fight so I could go to a school with a special education program.
We ended up leaving Massachusetts for New Jersey where I continued my education, attending West Windsor-Plainsboro Middle School, and then West Windsor-Plainsboro High School.
There, I had a lot of help from my parents, teachers and some really good peer groups to help me achieve my goals and reach my potential. My parents and three siblings taught me to never give up.
Here at Mercer, the DREAM program–part of Mercer’s Center for Inclusion, Transition, and Accessibility, Directed by Arlene Stinson–helps people with disabilities to get as far as they can in higher education. It started in 2005 with a grant from the parents of a college student with Down Syndrome. Since then the program has grown and includes about 40 mentors and tutors to help students with their classes.
I never thought that I would go to college, but look at me now! Not only do I take classes at Mercer, but I am also a reporter/writer for The College VOICE, which I love so much. Everyone has a voice here.
One day I hope to have a family of my own and to become a writer of books and music. I love dance and theater, too. These things seem more within reach because I have had access to education.
To all who read this article: please keep trying your best in everything that you do in your life. Be kind to yourself and others, and never give up–with or without disabilities!
Written with support from VOICE staff.
