Infrastructure is the underlying framework for the resources that governments provide. Institutionalization means that some people, especially people with significant disabilities, have a different and limited access to housing, healthcare, education, work, and community life.  Instead of large state run institutions, institutionalization is now broken into smaller pieces. Medicaid has become proxy funding infrastructure. Provider … Continue reading Shadow Institutionalization

Rights vs Reality.  Disability services feel so unpredictable for adults because public education is an entitlement, and adults services are not.  An entitlement means if a person meets the eligibility criteria, the government has a legal obligation to fund the benefit or service. Social Security retirement and Medicare for eligible beneficiaries are also examples of … Continue reading Entitled to litigate at your discretion

After many different assessments, by the time my daughter turned two, she was diagnosed with autism, communication impairment and intellectual disability. She couldn’t reliably express her needs, or respond to questions or demands.  The only meaningful verbal sounds she made were reciting the alphabet and counting to ten. She could engage in a back-and-forth with … Continue reading The reading emergencies

When Congress passed IDEA in 1975, the assumption was that general education would successfully teach most children to read. Special Education existed for students whose disabilities prevented them from learning through standard instruction. It could be said that special education wasn’t originally designed to teach everyone to read. As explicit decoding instruction became less common, … Continue reading Wait to fail: When reading deficits become disability 

Literacy and disability policy have historically moved in sync, often compounding system failures. Looking at the history of reading instruction and special education helps illustrate the larger picture.  The 1970s: The right to read era. Our government funded the television show The Electric Company as an intervention to prevent the third grade reading cliff. They … Continue reading Fifty years of reading instruction and special education

City stabilization funds are often compared to a family’s rainy day fund, intended for unforeseen expenses. An actual savings account has more flexibility. If a family is saving for a new car and an unexpected medical expense comes up, they can still access their funds. City stabilization funds have restrictions on what the money can … Continue reading More than a reserve