Wow! Tonight’s panel discussion took an unexpected turn. Jazz recording artist and native son, Raul Midon, was commissioned to give the first concert for the New Mexico Jazz Workshop. A panel of local advocates and professionals working in the disability field was assembled to share thoughts about the value and accessibility of cultural programming to people with disabilities preceding the concert. Due to the various hats I wear in the advocacy, arts, and professional realm, I was asked to participate.
We jumped into the topic and shared stories related to accessing various types of cultural programming. As a blind black woman in Louisiana, I found reluctance within the community to welcome or invite my talents into creative ventures. Relocating to New Mexico opened opportunities for me to more actively engage in cultural experiences. Mr. Midon and I had a healthy exchange related to the importance of self-empowerment and creating spaces, when you discover there’s not a seat at the table for you.
Many of the panelists were people with disabilities. The moderator capitalized on this fact, and submerged us into the choppy, touchy, and matter-of-fact controversial waters of barriers to accessing special education services. Enter the pregnant pause! As an advocate for, professional working in the field of, and person living with a disability I took the first bite at the question. In the specialization of blind services, the largest barrier to accessing special education services is the lack of qualified professionals.
Hey, I admit, it was a “duh” answer, but served its purpose. Other panelists gave their opinions. Mr. Midon spoke about being from a small rural Spanish community in northern New Mexico and being enrolled at the state school for the blind. The moderator rephrased his question and wanted us to drill more deeply into New Mexico’s reasons specifically. A lively discussion ensued about poverty, language barriers, transportation factors, and disinterest of parents to participate. The latter point made me livid. While a marginal number of parents simply do not want to be involved, my personal belief is that the aforementioned reasons and lack of knowledge to penetrate the system are the primary maladies. New Mexico has a grassroots organization for parents called Parents Reaching Out. It is comprised of parent advocates who volunteer their time to mentor parents with students with disabilities on resources in their community. More should be done to advertise this wonderful organization.
It was 6:50 and Mr. Midon exited the stage for his final warm-up. The moderator lobbed a timely question to round-out our portion of the program. New Mexico has a high rate of students who exit high school prior to graduation. Many of these young people have disabilities. In our opinion, how could this statistic be improved? Yet again, one could have heard a pin drop. After taking a deep breath, I took the microphone and shared my opinion.
Attending Individualized Education Program meetings (IEP is one of my job duties. On average, I participate in 30-40 IEPs in various school districts annually. These meetings could serve as a sample of what happens throughout the state. In my humble opinion, too few students have their primary and secondary conditions met by the local education agency (LEA). Whether policy, procedure, or historic practice is the culprit, many districts only determine eligibility for one disability for provision of special education services.
Parents who are versed in IDEA, or have an advocate to guide them, are moderately successful in petitioning the LEA or state Public Education Department (PED) into granting the services necessary to appropriately educate the child. However, this should be the rule and not the exception. Districts swiftly lean on the lack of service providers to justify omission of a specific service to a parent or assert the IEP team does not believe a student needs X, Y, OR Z service. Lately, I have been ecstatic to witness more parents recommend services to the IEP team and pushback when given a fluff answer. By law, a school district cannot deny a service to a student because they do not have the resource – human or capital. And then, the moderator closed the panel.
All panelists shook hands and scurried to grab seats in the audience. As I found my seat, I was amazed how many audience members shook my hand when passing their row. The concert began and Mr. Midon performed with fervor and passion. Intermission arrived too soon, and that’s when the fireworks show premiered. Three educational diagnosticians were in the audience and took offense to my comments related to eligibility determinations for more than one disability.
I listened to their explanations and how they felt personally attacked. The only response I could give was I am only speaking from my personal experiences. They continued to explain their philosophies and justify their decision making process. Finally, I explained that the purpose of the panel was to open dialogue about concerns facing people with disabilities. We all gave opinions about the challenges, and hopefully, we’ll all have solutions to proffer when the time is right to address the system.
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