[blindlaw] Special education question

[Susan Kelly]

Working at juvenile court, I have many clients who have had 504 plans
based on learning disabilities.  I know that's a different thing, but if
the child doesn't get accepted based on the arbitrary vision cut-off,
perhaps the visual impairment could be characterized as something which
causes or contributes to a learning disability, just like dyslexia or
other print disorders....  Just a thought for a way to get help now,
while working out the arbitrary barriers on the other category.

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Andrew
Webb
Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2013 2:19 PM
To: 'Blind Law Mailing List'
Subject: [blindlaw] Special education question

Dear List,

 

Is there anyone here with expertise on special education law?  I expect
so, and wonder if someone could shed some light on my question.

 

I'm helping a client with a visual impairment (not severe) who is
wrangling with his local school district in order to qualify for special
education services. As many of you probably know, eligibility categories
for special education are a matter of federal law, set forth in the IDEA
(Individuals With Disabilities Education Act).  One of those categories
is for students with visual impairments, and the full text of the
eligibility standard reads as follows:

 

Visual Impairment Including Blindness
<http://nichcy.org/disability/specific/visualimpairment/> .

.means an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely
affects <http://nichcy.org/disability/categories#adversely>  a child's
educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and
blindness.

 

 

With regard to the client I mentioned, it's something of an open
question at this point as to whether his vision impairment really does
adversely affect his academic performance.  However, the issue is that
the school district has unilaterally drafted its own numerical cutoffs
for whether students can qualify for services on the basis of visual
impairment. i.e., They have disqualified this kid based on the fact that
his vision is better than 20/70 uncorrected in his dominant eye, and
that he has a visual field of more than a certain number of degrees.
This appears blatantly illegal to me, I just am trying to make sure I'm
not missing something.  

 

There are no supplemental state guidelines (I'm in Illinois); I
contacted the State Board of Education, and they informed me that when
it comes to setting eligibility standards, they simply refer local
school districts to the federal standards.  I'm not aware of any
supplemental guidelines at the federal level, either.  As best I can
tell, the text I pasted is the sum total of the guidelines . if the
student has a vision problem that adversely affects academic
performance, then the student qualifies for special ed, simple as that.

 

So, does anyone have any specific knowledge or comments to add on this
matter?  Anyone ever incurred a similar situation?  I think it goes
without saying that this "sounds fishy" or "can't be right," so I'll ask
folks to just share feedback based on personal knowledge, research and
experience if possible.  This seems like a slam dunk to me, but of
course I'm hungry for additional perspectives if there are any.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Regards,

Andrew Webb

_______________________________________________
blindlaw mailing list
blindlaw at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
blindlaw:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/susan.kelly%40pima
.gov