What You can do to Advocate for Special Education

SEPTA community:

These are unsettling times. We hear your questions about the future of special education and your concerns for ensuring children with disabilities will have continued access to the services and supports they need to succeed in school and in the community, and that schools will have sufficient funding to provide them. We are concerned too. We want you to know that SEPTA will continue to support students, educators, and families; advocate strongly for children with disabilities; communicate with APS; coordinate with partner organizations; and provide information to our community about ways you can make your voice heard.

Here are two ways YOU can take action:

(1) Contact your Representative in the United States Congress to urge them to protect the US Department of Education by supporting House Resolution 94, a resolution that expresses support for public K-12 schools and condemns actions that would defund public education or weaken or dismantle the US Department of Education. 

You can use this link from the National PTA to send a message directly to your Representative.  

Background: The US Department of Education performs important functions that impact students with disabilities, such as investigating and resolving complaints of disability discrimination by school divisions, ensuring states follow the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (the law that governs special education), providing funding for the administration of the IDEA, and issuing guidance on the interpretation of laws that govern services and support for students with disabilities.

News outlets have reported that President Trump is readying an executive order to close the US Department of Education, and Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) has introduced S. 5384, a bill to abolish the US Department of Education. Reports indicate some employees have already been fired and programming funds have been cut. 

(2) Contact your US Representative and Senators to urge them to protect access to effective and evidence-based treatment for ADHD and mental health conditions. 

You can use this link from CHADD to find your elected officials’ contact information and for sample language.

Background: In a recent Executive Order titled “Establishing the President’s Make America Healthy Again Commission,” President Trump directed the new commission to “assess the threat [from] potential over-utilization of medication,” and “assess the prevalence of and threat posed by the prescription of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, stimulants….” These medications are currently prescribed to treat a wide range of conditions, including ADHD, depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder, that impact children with disabilities.

The order also refers to Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, and other disabilities as “health burdens” that “pose[ ] a dire threat to the American people and our way of life.” Medical and disability advocacy groups, including the Autism Society and Autistic Self-Advocacy Network quickly raised concerns, with some condemning “the stigmatizing language and stated purpose of the commission.”