11/18/25 - Education milestones and cuts; working

Good afternoon!

Today we observe an anniversary for accessible education in the US, a lookout how this progress is being dismantled, and some restating of the obvious on employment.

Also, I want to let you know that the next few weeks would be a great time to help support Disability Thinking Weekday by starting or renewing a monthly or annual paid subscription. Or, you can make a one-time donation if you prefer. Any help you can provide will be much appreciated.

Now, on to today's links!

IDEA at 50: Resources To Support Students With Disabilities During the Week of Action

Mia Ives-Rublee, Weadé James, and Casey Peeks, Center for American Progress - November 14, 2025

"Before IDEA, almost 1.8 million disabled students were completely blocked from educational opportunities. In 1970, only 1 in 5 disabled children received an education. But since IDEA’s passage, the number of disabled students and children receiving IDEA services and attending school has continued to rise. In the 2022–23 school year, 7.6 million students participated in IDEA Part B services. Yet rather than expand needed resources, the Trump administrationand Congress have pushed for funding cuts, U.S. Department of Education layoffs, and instability within a system designed to support and protect disabled students."

50 years ago, there was basically nothing in place to require public school in the US to educate students with disabilities. So, while the IDEA continues to be frustrating, underfunded, and now hollowed out, it's clearly worth celebrating and defending. This article has information and strategies for both.

Perry: Federal firings leave oversight of disabled kids’ education in limbo

David Perry, Minnesota Star-Tribune - November 14, 2025

"As I spoke to experts in federal disability education policy, I began to see the cracks. Stephanie Smith Lee at the National Down Syndrome Congress told me over the phone that “OK is a relative term.” She said that if the staff all stay fired, “the staff who handle the monitoring of the states, they’re all gone.” No one is going to collect data on best practices. No one is going to distribute grants for “parent training and information centers, technical assistance centers, technology, all of the discretionary grant funding.” Hopefully the federal special education staff come back, either with the end of the shutdown or through one of the lawsuits combating the RIF, but as of right now, there’s no guarantee. And if Trump and his cabinet are really committed to unraveling protections for disabled children in schools, they’ll just keep trying to fire them ... And of course, it gets worse ..."

This piece includes some personal perspectives, and the local angle from a relatively progressive state committed to doing right by disabled students. There is also a short but clear overview of how responsibilities for educating students with disabilities is distributed between school districts, US states, and the federal government. It's a helpful update on the current disrupted state of a system that's hard to navigate even in the best of times.

Hybrid working could help get more disabled people into work, peers say

Joanna Partridge, The Guardian - November 12, 2025

"The home-based working committee was set up in January to investigate how the rise of remote and hybrid working has affected employers, employees and the wider British economy. It heard evidence that remote and hybrid working made it easier for disabled people to manage their condition, partly through avoiding the commute ... 'Many disabled people, parents and carers may have an improved experience of work or may even be able to work where this would otherwise not be possible,' the committee found."

All of this seems kind of obvious. Having the option of remote or hybrid work does make gainful employment easier for disabled people to achieve and sustain. Where it is available, it does tend to favor higher-end, professional workers. Instead of entirely reversing course "back to the office," efforts to open up employment to more disabled people should focus on expanding these more flexible models. It's just hard to believe we still need studies and official recommendations to realize this and act on it.

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