In Pittsburgh this morning, Gov. Palin gave a speech on special needs. A big focus of her speech was fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). It took a long time, but I'm pleased that 11 days before the election, Palin has endorsed a position that Sen. Obama took more than a year ago, when he issued his policy position on disabilities. His first recommendation is to fund IDEA, a position he has advocated since he was first elected to Congress.
Here's what she didn't say:
In no part of her speech did Palin criticize the Obama-Biden plan for children and adults with special needs, or even draw contrasts between the positions.
She neglected to mention that the McCain-Palin health plan would tax employer-provided health benefits and allow people with special needs to be denied health coverage. Down Syndrome, autism, and other conditions would considered pre-existing conditions that insurers could refuse to provide coverage for.
She didn't explain why -- in all of her speeches and interviews about special needs, even when pressed for details -- she hasn't mentioned IDEA in the two months since she was nominated.
She chose not to mention the government-wide spending freeze she and McCain support, which will make it nearly impossible to fill the huge gap needed to fund IDEA. And she contradicted McCain's comment in the last debate, that no more funds are needed to meet the needs of families raising children with autism and special needs. McCain's solution was not funding, but "transparency, accountability, and reform" of government agencies.
Despite the fact that Palin has had a nephew with autism for 13 years, and claimed today that she and her sister Heather Bruce talk regularly about these issues, this Alaskan parent says, "The only 'special school' that received significant increases to its budget this year is the Alaska Youth Challenge Academy, which is a military youth academy for youth with behavioral challenges. There have been no significant increases to early intervention services (children have to wait for months to get therapy, clearly violating IDEA)."
The campaign has added a policy position to its website. As I promised the day I started this blog, now that they have created a position (11 days before the election), I will add it to my links.
6 comments:
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I completely agree. Thank you!
Excellent post ---actually the Palin Plan would SUBSTANTIALLY DELAY FUNDING OF IDEA ---at an increase of only $3 billion per year, it will take at least the FIVE YEARS MORE they project to bring it to the funding levels it needs to be at now. Sen. Obama's plan is for Full Funding-period-not mandating another 5 years minimum to get to the level they promised 33 years ago!
And by the time we reach the fifth year the costs will have increased more, so in reality their plan will require at least 10 years or more to accomplish --not counting the potentially high costs of their "Voucher" program.
If parents are allowed to unilaterally, from birth, make all educational choices for their children --without "administrative" process (that would be the Special Education EXPERTS essential to the IEP process)---- many more will be seeking residential placements from the beginning, either for personal reasons, due to ignorance of the potential for their children, or due to the influence and coercion of "pathological model" medical professionals. The COSTS FOR IDEA WILL THEN RISE dramatically and pull the desperately needed funds away from public education.
The McCain-Palin Plan is just a Stalking Horse to divert urgently needed public school (both regular and special)funding into private pockets, especially private religous pockets. The infrastructure necessary for Special Education to be successful is at the District level and School Level, not "Per Pupil", Ramps,Adaptive Playgrounds, Universally Designed Classrooms and Common Areas, Assistive Technology, Certified Special Education Instructors, PT,OT, Speech Therapists and other Related Services (just to name a few) can't be divided and distributed on the whims of each parent of each particular special needs child who happens to be in that community at each moment in time, which is constantly changing as well.
While I don't know that I agree with McCain on special needs, I guess I don't really know that Obama will be much better.
What I do know, is that he says that he plans on passing a bill which requires concienciously objecting doctors to perform abortions against their will. So, any doctor who does not believe in killing babies, or in suggesting, for instance, when you find out that your child has down syndrome, that you might wish to consider killing him or her, will either have to do what they do not believe in, or cease practicing. Goodbye to doctors who have conciences.
Moreover, he *alone* opposed a bill which would have required babies born in botched abortions before term to be allowed medical help to survive. He wanted them to die, and refused them medical help! So, if your special-needs child is already born, they could be possibly lucky enough to be helped, *if* you happen to be able to cope with all the paperwork, and *if* he actually does what he says. But if he has his prefrence, they'll be dead instead.
I'm a Special Ed. Teacher and I just want to let you know IDEA is a good thing. It's not just what the parents want. It is based typically on issues that are real and typically court cases that have been won are looked at. Without IDEA I do not feel like special needs kids would have a shot at a free and appropriate education. Even with IDEA in place certain districts don't implement it well and it is still difficult for "my kids" to get an appropriate education I think mostly based on the lack of funding for programs.
Laura, thank you for sharing your important perspective. I think we all agree that IDEA is a good thing, and that's why I was encouraged that Obama recognized it in the policy position he released more than a year ago. The problem with Palin's speech is that it's too little, too late. She never mentioned this program before, and when you look at the details, it's clearly not well thought out. It was simply a speech -- not a serious commitment by McCain or the Republican Party.
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