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For this presentation, the national agency of advocacy for people with intellectual disabilities, the Arc, was chosen. It has been on the forefront of fighting for the civil rights of people with intellectual disabilities for over 70 years, and is currently the largest national group of this variety. The organization was first founded in 1950-s by parents, who opposed the popular at the time notion that the only suitable place for children with intellectual disabilities was a special medical institution. As these parents desired their children to lead fulfilling lives with a supportive community around, they created the Arc advocacy group to fight for the alternatives to institutionalization.
With the passage of time, the agency’s mission expanded, including a wider variety of initiatives and services. The Arc has advocated for the rights of children (and, by extension, school students) with intellectual disabilities in civil rights, income security, housing and, most relevantly of all, education. To specify, their advocacy helped the passing of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, known widely as IDEA. This legislation is designed to prevent segregation at schools, instructing teachers to include their disabled pupils into the general educational process with the rest of kids as much as possible. However, there are multiple challenges still remaining in the lives of students with disabilities and, by extension, their parents. These challenges include the still continuing segregation, seclusion, lack of appropriate teacher training and the absence of effective transition between home schooling and public education.
With these challenges in mind, the Arc organization has recently founded a special division, Arc@School, dedicated specifically to aiding children with intellectual disabilities and their parents in the education system. The division is dedicated to the ongoing academic research in the field of the special education advocacy and the network establishment between the national resources in the field. Additionally, it provides consultation and support services to the families of children with intellectual disabilities, helping them to navigate the special education scene.
In this area, the Arc@School provides a wide variety of further services. It facilities the family’s access to the early intervention services and special education services. The online resources of the organization include a detailed elaboration on the rights of children with intellectual disabilities in the school setting as outlined by IDEA. The information sections are structured specifically to provide a comprehensive guide on the ways in which parents may exercise their rights. As the internal regulations of school services may vary between the states, the resources include links to further information with local specifics if applicable. Other education resources available on the website include the information on the individual learning plans, transition planning opportunities and post-secondary education. Finally, a separate section is dedicated to the section 504 of IDEA that prohibits discrimination against pupils with disabilities on the legislative level.
Other public resources include the contact list for the Arc branches and affiliated organizations in each of the states of America, and the archived webinars on the relevant topics. If a parent wishes to know more on the ways they may effectively advocate for the rights of their school aged child with an intellectual disability, they may avail of the advocacy program. The program ensures that those who have completed it are equipped to advocate for students with intellectual disabilities in the U.S. The graduates of the program receive an electronic certificate, as well as indefinite access to the curriculum materials through the Arc website. The program consists of a total of eight modules, listed below to provide a more detailed overview of the contents:
- Building a Foundation for Advocacy
- IDEA and Early Intervention Services
- IDEA and Special Education Services
- Anatomy of an IEP
- Procedural Safeguards
- Section 504
- Educational Records
- Advocacy Skills
As evident, the modules cover both the legislative and the practical skills that parents would need in order to become advocates in their own right. The organization’s website does not provide any definitive information on the age group its services are designed for. However, it is open about basing the majority of its resources and services on the legislative basis of the IDEA act. Meanwhile, the IDEA act is clear about its inclusion of pupils between the ages of 3 and 21 (Yell et al, 2017). By extension, one may assume that the Arc@School’s services involve the interests of children with intellectual disabilities within this age range.
There is no additional information available on the advocacy program’s coverage under any medical or social insurance. The Arc chapters, which are the non-profit private branches of the organization that advocate for the rights of people with intellectual disabilities nationwide, are entitled to the free access to the service. Parents, however, as well as any other members of the general public, might enrol in the advocacy curriculum program for the $99 fee. It is important to specify, however, that the duration of the curriculum availability for this price is limited to the six month, within which the program must be completed. Otherwise, a parent would have to pay again to receive additional access to the educational materials provide by the Arc.
Reference
Yell, M., Katsiyannis, A. & Bradley, M. (2017) “The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act”. In J. Kauffman, D. Hallahan, P. Cullen Pullen (eds.). Handbook of Special Education, 2nd ed, Routledge.
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